Adjustment During COVID

Adjustment during COVID times

All of us have gone through a series of adjustments during COVID. Adjustment and stress occur for all of us normally but COVID has brought additional crises and challenges because of the cumulative effects of COVID our emotions haven’t had time to ‘catch up’ and process what is happening around us. Our ability to catch up to our emotions is important so that we can feel stable and integrate our experiences. Integration means our ability to put our feelings, thoughts and experiences all together and not feel upset, triggered or overwhelmed by them. What are some ways we can catch up and integrate the large scale events that are going on in our world and our lives? Knowing all of us react and act differently in times of stress some general ideas area:

• Acknowledge that you should have emotions. You may have ups and downs and that is normal during crisis.

• Try to identify and talk about your emotions. Share with friends and family your feelings and reactions. Ask others about their feelings and reactions. In talking you might notice and identify that you have similar feelings or that your reactions are different.

• Take action in areas you can. Having a plan can help organize you during stressful times. This can be on a small scale such as making sure you have supplies, or it could be volunteering for an agency, or helping a neighbor. Doing something to engage in and not ignore what’s going on in yourself and in the world are ways to align your feelings with action. Other action areas can be finding personal ways to cope and supporting others.