A SIMPLE WAY TO DEAL WITH GLOBAL PANDEMIC STRESS

Have you been feeling a little bit more agitated or frustrated than usual? Or perhaps snapping at people when you really wish you would provide a kinder response?

If so, you’re not alone. There’s still a lot of stress in the air.

Here is my message for anyone dealing with pandemic anxiety right now:

While we are transitioning out of the lockdown, the initial phases of fear and insecurity related to the pandemic, and the state of being hopeful that there's an end in sight—life still has not returned to normal.

We're dealing with vax, anti-vax and another new variant coming around the corner. Besides the health issues, there are still concerns such as you can't buy what you want, or if you wanna hire a company, there’s a high chance they’re short-staffed, or some businesses that you love have closed. 

It's not as easy and smooth to accomplish the things that you want to do anymore—as we know life. Stress creates uncertainty around us and it is also contagious. While people hear that, they don't understand what is genuinely meant by that.  

Think about antelopes or grazers on the savanna in Africa. You'll notice that there's always one or two looking out while the rest are eating grass. The purpose of those look-out is to guard and see if a predator is coming around or if they're in danger. When they look out and notice, “Hey, there's a lion coming down the path”, the ones on look-out let everyone in the herd know and they all take off.

Now the rest of the herd don't get into an intellectual conversation during look-out to say, “Is it really dangerous?” No. They catch the danger, they sense it and the rest of the herd take off. This  is what I mean when I say stress is contagious.

Even if you don't feel restless, agitated or anxious when you go out the door, or when you interact with others facing these frustrations, struggling with financial insecurity, or maybe they’re upset about things they couldn’t do despite wanting to, whatever the reason is, you're going to feel that uncertainty, you're gonna feel that level of “It's not quite right now”. So we need to address that. 

We need to wind down, turn off that fight or flight sense that danger is in pending and allow ourselves to rest, relax and recover. 

So when you come home, create extra time for self-care these days. Allow yourself to have the time to decompress before you interact with the rest of your family so you can shed that socially-induced stress and anxiety you caught while you were out of the house interacting with others. 

What can that self-care look like? It can be as simple as conscious, deep breathing for a full minute, turning on soft, peaceful music that allows you to feel relaxed, sitting outside the garden, allowing the feeling of the sun or the wind against your skin, smelling the fragrance of whatever plants you have around. What I do is I bring beautiful fragrant flowers right into the house. It’s so refreshing and it reminds me of how nice it is to be connected with nature. 

Offer yourself something to allow the stress to dissipate so you can connect with the part of you that is calm and happy to be with the rest of your family or your partner. Connect with the part of you that is glad to be home so you can finally exhale.

I hope this has been helpful for you during these times. Take care.