Over the past month as we head into the Fall Equinox, I am often brainstorming with my clients who are anxious about making it through the colder months. The many restrictions of a pandemic and the uncertainty of the aftermath have certainly made this a very challenging year. It’s time for all of us need to ‘up the ante’ on our stress resilience skills.
So it seems that most of us accepted that ‘we are all in this together’ in the first months of the year, but now that we are six months into the restrictions and the economic fallout that is beginning to make itself more obvious, we are tired, discouraged and more frustrated.
As I have mentioned before, humans like a certain amount of structure and certainty to feel safe, and there has been little of this to rely on. Therefore it is important in our personal world to give ourselves some routines to help us cope. Good sleep, exercise and regular eating is a given. Since many are finding the home has become not only a place to sleep, but an office and a childcare space, it can be helpful to have some boundaries. If it is at all possible for those who work from home, make the office/workspace ONLY for this, rather than letting work spread into the bedroom. And as many couples are trading off childcare or supervising at-home education, make a firm plan about where the schooling or care will happen and when the study and breaks are. There is some research that suggests that folks who study or work from home tend to push themselves to get more done, tend to not break for meals or eat at the desk, and forget to step away from the computer and get some exercise for a balance from their head work.
It can be helpful to make a list of activities for personal de-stressing, as well as self-care; some of us need to take up a new hobby for winter- knitting or learning a language. Luckily in Colorado we have the gift of sunny days in winter where getting outside can be enjoyable. Need to invest in some snowshoes, or at least some Yak Trax? Anxiety and stress can respond to self-nourishment through hot baths, warm soups and protein-rich foods.
Since isolation has been a real problem with COVID, how about making a list of your inner circle friends whom you can vent with or have a Happy Hour virtually, or form a small ‘cohort’ of trusted friends you could do some activities with. We have been enjoying Zoom meets with relatives in Australia, some of whom we have never met before!
And there is also the need to have a sense of ‘agency’ or control in our lives; as one client describes this, agency is feeling we have the ability to affect an outcome. This might be a personal sense of control (I got my wardrobe cleaned out) or of something beyond ourselves, like going to vote or contributing to a charity.
If you are having a struggle with planning for the months ahead, I am happy to brainstorm with you. Yes, we are indeed ‘all in this together’.
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