Staying Calm during COVID

It's difficult to plan for life after lockdown, and this could one of the things contributing to people's sense of futility and frustration.

Will we be able to go to see that play, that festival, that concert, that match or any of the other social outings we previously accepted as part of normal life?

We can't make plans that we don't know will exist. How enormously frustrating, and how grossly unfair. They even take away our daydreams.

Planning for a future we can't determine can add to the feeling of isolation. But there are two things we can do to feel more in control now.

We can plan ways to connect with friends and family right now. And we can practice gratitude forecasting. If we're struggling with the present we can look at how grateful we will feel when life progresses.

I can look forward to enjoying coffee with my friend in her (much nicer) garden. I can look forward to a Sunday lunch around a table with my parents and siblings. Imagining the taste of  my mum's roast...

Whilst the demand from people to meet virtually seemed like a great resource for connecting in the early days of the lockdown, the lack of separation from home, work and social space can start to feel overwhelming.

No longer can we make our usual old excuses for not joining in when we just need some time out. No longer do we have a commute to offer us separation from home and work which gives a chance to decompress whilst we move between the two aspects of our lives.

If you just need some space, finding ways of kindly but politely refusing a ‘virtual’ catch-up is important to ensure you protect your needs, without causing offence. This article offers a great validation to this need and a couple of tips to help you too!

We’re learning how to conduct our professional and social lives through virtual platforms, and we are also having to learn how to adapt to this new form of interacting.

Where previously we could gather emotional cues from our colleagues, friends and family from non-verbal communication and body language, we now have to rely on what we can see and hear through a tiny rectangle on the screen. 

Vulnerability researcher and professor Brene Brown offers this great tip to create emotionally intelligent virtual meetings.

And there’s no reason that you shouldn’t apply this to your social meetings too. Meeting socially in virtual settings can prevent us from being emotionally distant but we need to make sure that the screen separation doesn’t stop us from sharing how we’re really feeling with close friends and family.  

This article is a great reminder about the importance of remaining emotionally connected in times of lockdown.