The Discomforts of Wearing a Face Mask

I can't breathe

Can we talk about the discomforts of wearing a face mask? I don't enjoy wearing them. Do you? I rushed out of Trader Joe’s and finally took my face masks off for a gasp of fresh air. I couldn’t breathe in my mask. I was suffocating in there. How long are we required to wear face masks?

I know that wearing a face mask can reduce the spread of coronavirus. I know that. And I am grateful for it. I really am, but it doesn't take away from the fact the wearing face masks is very uncomfortable for most of us. It is downright suffocating and that's the truth. Wearing a mask is also very upsetting because it reminds me of all the terrible things happening in the world.

Wearing a Face Mask Can Protect You

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that people wear a cloth face covering to cover their nose and mouth when they are out in public. It can protect you and others from whatever it is out there that can harm us, but I can’t breathe in my face mask.

And the struggle is even more real if you wear glasses. You know how it fogs up your glasses and blocks your vision.

I would retreat and just stay home to avoid constant wearing of face masks but food. If you want to eat, you have to go to the store and you can't enter a store without a facemask. So staying home 100% of the time is not an option.

But I Can't Breathe.

Although face mask keeps us and others safe, I have a love-hate relationship with it. The physical barrier of the mask makes it harder to breathe in fresh air and it also traps some carbon dioxide as you exhale, meaning you end up breathing in air that is warmer and moist. Wearing a face mask sometimes causes symptoms of claustrophobia.

Face masks are a necessary evil. The role of the face mask is to protect me while suffocating me. Protecting me while restricting my ability to breathe. Protecting me while causing me discomfort.

The coronavirus is still lingering around and no one knows when it will completely go away, which means no one can say when we can go outside without a face mask.

Unfortunately, the feeling of having trouble breathing in a mask might get worse as summer approaches. My child hates it! She rips them off of her face. She says she can’t breathe. And it’s so hot these days. It doesn’t help the situation.

It Won’t Go Back To Normal

I’d like to know when things will go back to normal. Will things go back to normal? I doubt it. Do I even want things to go back to normal? I don't. I want different. I want extraordinary. I want things to change. I want freedom.

I want to breathe with nothing restricting my ability to do so. No cloths covering my nose. I want to breathe as God intended me to.

Grateful for the Bad Times

It makes me appreciate the good. I’m grateful I can use a face mask to protect myself and others, but I also pray that sooner than later I won’t need it. That soon I can breathe freely with no restrictions. Grateful for those days where I feel like I can’t breathe. It makes me appreciate it when I come up for fresh air.

It makes me see life from a different perspective. Be grateful for the bad, for it is here to teach you something. Enjoy the moment you take a deep breath and feel alive.

It is overwhelming wearing something over your mouth and nose, especially during a scary time like this. Breathing in a face mask is uncomfortable, but I will endure. I will endure the struggle because I can. I will do the best I can every day and I will not allow myself to feel guilty every time I leave the house without a face mask. Worried that I will be judged for wearing or not wearing it.

Now I want to hear your thoughts? Do you have any issues wearing a face mask? Let us know in the comments below. Thanks for reading this article!

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