You’re likely feeling all the feels right now. I know I am! In moments like this, it can be especially cathartic to allow ourselves to be vulnerable and acknowledge those feelings. “Notice and accept how you feel,” says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Taking care of your emotional health during an emergency will help you think clearly and react to the urgent needs to protect yourself and your family.”

Here’s a template to help you begin identifying how you feel:

(Fill in your own words for everything in parenthesis!)

(Emotion)

If (emotion) were a color,
it would be (color), as (color) as (….).
If (emotion) were a taste,
it would be just like (…)
If (emotion) were a smell,
it would be as (…) as (…).
If (emotion) were tangible,
it would feel like (…).
If (emotion) were a sound,
it would be as (…) as (…).

An example:

Isolated

If isolated were a color,
it would be black, as black as a city with canceled nightlife.
If isolated were a taste,
it would be bland — made of the last ingredients found at an empty store.
If isolated were a smell,
it would be as fresh as the soap used to scrub my hands.
If isolated were tangible,
it would feel empty, like waving your hand through the air.
If isolated were a sound,
it would be as monotonous as a song on repeat.