Make no mistake, whether you have been attending, protecting, isolating, denying, protesting, politicizing or hoping as you deal with this prolonged pandemic, that it not eroding your psyche. I have written blogs (drgaryrichman@wordpress,com) on how to handle this dilemma that we are all suffering from no matter what your attempts have been. As we have all been witnessing everywhere in person and in the news, the ongoing effects of COVID19 it are wearing us down.
We crave to have our “normal” back, and we are sick and tired of it being everywhere and controlling our lives. I get it! I feel much of the same emotion/erosion. It is playing on our psyche and our nerves. It is where ever we look and with every face mask, literally in our face. We want it gone to end the surreal nightmare and wake up metaphorically back in Kansas again.
We held our breath when the out break first ocurred, and we hunkered down to do our best to end it. And then mostly due to mixed messages and community pressure, governors and mayors gave in and opened up too soon and without enough safeguards in place. And guess what, COVID19 came back with a vengence. AND still, people did not what to heed warnings in order to preserve the myth that we had “beaten it.” They even went as far as to blame everything and everyone, rather then their own irresponsible behaviour.
None the less, no matter where you stand on this issue, the erosion continues to wear us down. So what do we do? Like in any war, we have to keep going in a manner that preserves our sanity. How?
We must maintain a consistent routine that allows all of us to feel secure.
We need to work out physically to ease the tension and stress.
We need to video talk to friends and family to stay connected (texting and emails won’t do),
We need to yell and punch cushions and pillows to let out the anger at feeling helpless.
We need to seek professionals who can support and interpret our psychological pain.
We need to hug those around us and allow the vulnerability we are struggling with.
We need to not assume we can just get “over this.”
We need to admit this is getting to us as it is to everyone else and not attempt to macho through it.
We need to attend and support our own humanness that is dealing with something we have no experience with. That none of us have answers or life experiences to draw on here. We need to be clear and check in on how we feel and what we believe/guess is needed to hang in there.
Do all of these things I have mentioned above and you will decrease the erosive process that is naturally going on with you and everyone. Also get angry at the media. Every media station left or right have emphasized medical and political issues, while ignoring the human/psychological ones that are the forefront of everyone that is healthy and attempting to stay that way.
Good luck and take heed not to ignore Corona Erosion.