(CNN) –For a brief and wonderful two hours the other night, the weight on my chest lifted, and I could breathe regularly again for the first time in about 10 days.

I have been struggling with the question facing many of my mentally anguished cohorts in this time of uncertainty: Is my inability to get a deep breath a result of anxiety or am I getting the kind of sick I keep reading about in horribly sad personal essays?

The answer to my silent question was crystal clear as I rode a Jaxi through the Sand Kingdom in “Super Mario Odyssey.” I was not thinking about coronavirus. I was focused purely on where I was going to get my next Power Moon — and I could breathe.