Coping With a Pandemic
Happy Monday, everyone. At the time of this writing (mid February 2022), we’re still living in a pandemic. Things in some ways feel different from March 2020 when all of this began, but it’s not quite over yet and the myriad changes that have happened and have required adjusting are taking their toll. Today we’re going to get into what kinds of things you may be able to do to offset the emotional toll that the pandemic is taking on you.
First, acknowledge that this is hard. While pandemics are not unprecedented in human history, for many of us living today, this is new and this is difficult. When we pretend that things are fine or hold ourselves to our pre-pandemic standards, we’re essentially gaslighting ourselves. Similarly to our conversation about toxic positivity, there is power in acknowledging the reality of the situation. This does not have to lead to wallowing in self-pity. This is allowing yourself the ability to emotionally shift your expectations from a typical experience to those of an atypical experience.
Next, create your own risk assessment. With all of the changes that have occurred and have contributed to changes in what feels safe, it has been hard to find an agreement across agencies, states, and elected officials about how to act and what is safe. The general consensus is to get vaccinated and get your booster if you’re eligible and that is where the commonalities stop. This requires each person to develop their own risk assessment regarding what they are comfortable taking part in and how. Determine your own boundaries around your behavior. (For example, maybe you feel comfortable attending something but only if you wear a mask. That is perfectly allowed. Or maybe if you’re going to spend time with others, you would like everyone to test first and if others are unwilling to do that, you make the decision to not attend). You can also always shift and change your mind. With the frequency things change, you may decide that what you agreed to a month ago, you’re no longer comfortable doing-and that is okay. You may also find yourself factoring the risk to your physical health against the risk to your emotional health- it’s okay to make decisions that serve each of those.
In looking at the ways you’re spending your time, work on developing healthy habits. Healthy habits take a variety of forms. For some of us, spending two plus years largely at home has caused our physical health and movement to take a dive. Create opportunities for joyful movement. Exercise is a protective factor against various emotional difficulties. For others of us our emotional health has been better. To protect your emotional health, create opportunities to process emotions-journal, create art, create music, work with a therapist. Pay attention to what you’re taking in between music, movies, tv, books, magazines, and social media. You are not always in the headspace for heavy content. It’s okay to avoid heavier content when you’re feeling particularly fragile.
Grant yourself grace. Many of us really like consistency in how we make our decisions and the ability to predict outcomes. As people, structure is a gift. The pandemic has largely removed the ability to do that very far out. Forgive yourself for maybe being less decisive or changing your mind in ways that you weren’t before the pandemic. Grant yourself grace when your criteria for making a decision changes. Grant yourself grace when you change your mind about what you are comfortable with- even if others whom you made a different decision with question you. You are making an effort to adjust with an ever changing world- you are doing the best that you can.
We’re soon to be entering year three of this pandemic. Optimistic articles have suggested that the crisis portion of the pandemic may soon be over and hopefully they’re right. In the meantime, you’re surviving something that is extraordinarily difficult. You’re being asked to be more cognitively flexible than you’ve potentially ever had to be. You’re doing your best.