Stress-Filled Times:
This time of world chaos is a stressful time for us all. We all worry about our health and safety and the health and safety of our loved ones. And we each show this worry differently. It is a time of ‘not knowing’ and of ever-changing and fluctuating information. It is a time when untruths seem commonplace and we cannot rest securely in information that conflicts, is misleading or is inaccurate. This is distressing. We can feel insecure, angry, anxious, frightened and helpless.
As a result, how we view our home lives, our work lives, our family lives and our community today in a way that was unimaginable to us several years ago.
To manage, that is, to feel ‘better,’ or less anxious or more in control, we may tend to overuse our ways of coping. It’s a natural response to overuse our familiar ways of coping, but the over-doing of any coping style leads to increased stress and strained relationships. And we feel worse.
So, what do we do? As stated above our tendency is to ‘ramp up’ what we’ve been doing, but as we know this doesn’t help us in the long term.
Let’s give ourselves and others a little more space and grace. Recognize that they too are worried and may be expressing this differently. Place a pause on our familiar ways of coping. Slow our routines, pace ourselves. This may help us to ‘catch up’ with ourselves, i.e., get in touch with ourselves again. Continue to involve ourselves in activities that we find satisfying and that are important to us; and do this with kindness to ourselves and to others. If possible, talk honestly and openly with friends and loved ones.
And, seek out the support of our health care providers in order to clarify what is of value to us and so that we can practice effective and different ways to support our core values.