While non-stop coverage of the COVID-19 continues to permeate the globe, so does anxiety and dread surrounding the fast-spreading virus. But Drew Barrymore wants us to pause and ponder a thought-provoking analogy about new motherhood.
While the virus has affected many, and with uncertain outcomes for each new case, the actress wants to calm the anxiousness with a mindful perspective on the situation.
“For any of you who have had kids, this sort of feels like after you have a baby. Everything feels trivial,” Barrymore states in a 7-minute-long IGTV video on Friday.
“And you feel like, ‘Wait, I’m sorry. You want me to look at that Excel spreadsheet, or make that appointment, or talk about that important conversation? I’m sorry, everything you’re saying doesn’t make sense, and I just had a baby — and I’m afraid, and I want to keep this alive. And just, you don’t understand. The world doesn’t understand. I’m isolated on this island of anxiety and euphoria. But I’m here and everyone else is over there.'”
The mother-of-two then snarls and growls like a rabid animal before continuing on.
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“Then everything a few months later starts to feel like, you know, I don’t know where I’m going because I’ll never get back to where I was,” Barrymore goes on. “Life is different and I have to embrace a new normal. And that new normal is something I’m trying to figure out. And that, too, takes a little time. But eventually, we need community. We need to sit around and have a meal together. We need our co-workers, or our friends.”
“You start to look at that baby and realize that if I keep psycho-staring you with all the love in the world, day in and day out, I don’t know if this is going to be healthy for either of us.”
Barrymore then touches back to how it traces back to the anxiety surrounding the coronavirus, a pandemic that has impacted over 132,000 people around the globe and according to the World Health Organization, has caused over 4,900 deaths.
“So how about it? How about we go and join that human race in our new normal? And eventually, we get tired of being so worried and so anxious — and we want to break free of it,” she says. “And I believe that’s what will happen here. And I believe everything will be OK.”
Barrymore also added how “in a strange way” the current situation “can be anxiety and euphoria at the same time.”
“I have also experienced a tremendous amount of joy and gratitude in the wake of this new normal in the world,” she explains. “I have noticed the little things, I have appreciated my life thus far. I appreciate every day that I get. moving forward. And it has placed me in a state of being present …. aware, and extremely humbled by just simply the gift of the day.”
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“I know that’s easy to lose sight of, but if we keep that in our heads and in our intentions and in our hearts, we allow ourselves to be safe and listen to what everyone is telling us in the medical community of what we can and should do, eventually things will resume,” Barrymore says.
At that exact moment, one of her daughters opens the bathroom door crying and freaking out because she could not find her mom.
“It’s OK, I’m right here,” she says to her little girl. “Just stay with me here, OK? Everything will be OK.”
“That’s what we all need to hear, is that everything will be OK,” Barrymore goes on, turning back to face the camera. “And we’ll all get taken down a peg from our children, and at the same time, nothing is more important than kids. So, one foot in front of the other. And we’ll talk about all of the little stuff, and the big stuff, and everything in between.”
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