As we make our way back to school and the workplace, the Real World if you will, I am noticing how many of us are struggling with The Return. Trying to find our emotional and physical footing looks to be more of a challenge than we planned.
It doesn’t help that the disruption advocated by national groups is still ongoing. Now is a really good time to call it and wrest back our personal equilibrium and our physical Health (they are connected!) We’ve loaned out our strength to others for long enough.
What Was the Plan Again?
When the shock of a pandemic first hit us, we naturally looked to our leaders to guide us and keep us safe. As that devolved to a gigantic ego boost to a number of frightened individuals in power, we lost track of the original message.
We asked others to keep us safe. Safe from civil unrest. Safe from sickness. Keep us safe from death.
When the message was flipped from staying at home to be safe to stay at home because we told you, the steady diet of fear-inducing messages began to erode both our ability to withstand physical stresses like COVID-19, not to mention the erosion of our self-confidence. A frightened individual however is always easier to manipulate.
Now Then – Where Exactly Are We?
It’s okay to say it. We are stressed and exhausted.
The prospect of returning to those community activities of work and/or school now seem somehow alien. We’ve been through a lot these last 18 months. Somehow reality doesn’t seem as real as it once did.
- Know that what you feel is normal. Like the first day of school when were little kids, a little anxiety is expected. The feeling of normal will come with time and practice of these now new routines.
- Tap into the strength of character that you keep safe inside. You know the one. The parent character that you were or wanted to be when younger. We’ve all had a wild vacation from a lot of personal responsibilities. We over-indulged our inner child because it gave us a sense of comfort during a time of considerable personal fear. Time to come in for dinner now.
Some Ideas to Try
- Return to those self-supporting activities you may have set aside. Who didn’t have some additional TV time during lock-downs? Junk food and binge watching became too good to pass up, especially when it gave you some feel good thoughts but now is the time to put all of that indulgence away. We’ve got work to do.
- Approach your return to group interactions with confidence and strength. Attitude is everything and it really counts now. Even as we feel uneasy with gatherings, masks, etc., a positive and engaging approach is infectious, if you’ll pardon the pun. Funny. When you assert yourself often, you start to believe it. I’ll go for supportive self-fulfilling prophecies any day.
- Go for those walks. There is a strong connection between our crawling as infants and the motions our bodies go through when walking. Walking actually resets some of our nervous system and calms us. That is one of the reasons why we feel so refreshed after a walk. When I was in school, I intentionally walked around campus just prior to sitting some very stressful board examinations. I still didn’t feel relaxed but I was better focused on those exam questions.
- Eat for Healthy (again). Comfort food has been fun but those extra pounds are less so. Good real (read: Healthy) food contributes to feeling better, which is the idea here. Restore habits that once made you feel strong and happy. They still work.
Return to a Normal World – Whatever That Means
Did I Miss Anything?
I’m not trying for a comprehensive list here, just a few ideas that you can use in approaching the challenges at hand.
I get it. Most of us would rather not do any “adulting” in the world but once we’ve been here long enough, we’re stuck with the job.
In some ways, this return to activity during COVID is reminiscent of coming back from injury. Lots of feelings of uncertainty that do fade as you engage in the old familiar activities. The choice to be strong is ours.
If you enjoy being told what to do, tell yourself what to do for a change. Your group will survive just fine without your subscription to their agenda. Besides, this way you are sure that the person giving the orders has your best interests at heart.
Take care and be Healthy.
Accept yourself, love yourself, and keep moving forward. If you want to fly, you have to give up what weighs you down.
― Roy T. Bennett
You must be logged in to post a comment.