Last month, my sister in law was diagnosed with COVID-19. She and my brother live in the Netherlands, a country that (at the time) had 3,000 ventilators for 16 million people. Things became very, very real to my family on the day we learned she was sick. The fear and anxiety we experienced during her illness - breathing problems, fever spikes and blinding headaches for 13 days - were sobering. While she has thankfully recovered, we continue to feel some echoes of that time, the feelings of which have been difficult to pinpoint.
Psychology suggests that if people are able to give a name to their feelings, it’s easier to manage them. As time drags on in our fourth or fifth week of sheltering-in-place, we’re all experiencing loss: of jobs, sanity, sobriety, productivity, a sense of safety or peace... but loss is really just the beginning.
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That discomfort you’re feeling? It’s grief. |
Author and mental health professional David Kessler suggests that what we’re experiencing is actually a kind of grief – and, like most intense experiences, there are stages to how we respond. Denial, disbelief, bargaining with the circumstances –and of course, our eventual acceptance – are all part of this journey. We need reminding that they don’t happen in a linear fashion. Each day, we may feel something different, be in a different stage.
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We can find control in acceptance. |
On days I wake up and accept this reality: |
Wishing you a day of acceptance, and through that, something positive |
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