With restrictions slowly lifting, how can we ease back into the world with confidence?
In the last months, our world and the very essence of our human-ness have been rocked to the core. So how can we best transition back into life feeling ready to face our new normal? According to Kate Kirrane, it’s all in the prep.
As restrictions start to ease and we continue to navigate our way through the haze of uncertainty, many people I speak to are finding their day to day experience getting harder as the weeks pass. Said one friend, “Each morning I wake up wondering how I’m going to feel that day. I never know which emotion is going to show up.” Another friend aptly referred to it as ‘Coronacoaster’ – an apparently new term for living through the ups and downs of a pandemic.
This totally resonated with me. After 10 weeks in lockdown, the novelty of a slower pace and spending time with family doesn’t quite hold the same appeal. One day I’m feeling happy in my bubble, where home schooling doesn’t seem quite so bad and teaching a yoga class to an Ipad is a breeze. The next I’m experiencing an unrelenting sense of anxiety, missing human connection so much it hurts, drinking wine at lunchtime and wishing I could just release the pause button and salvage what I can from my former life. I feel done with Zoom being my portal to the world. I want to be featuring in my life – not observing it all from the other side of a screen.
According to acclaimed psychologist, Abraham Maslow, our requirements for optimal health and happiness are based on a five-tier pyramid called the Hierarchy of Human Needs. Starting with our physiological needs such as food, water and shelter, it moves up through four further tiers that help us to both survive and thrive, from personal safety to love and belonging, self-worth and development.
On thinking about the impacts of this seemingly never-ending pandemic, this model has helped me to understand why I go up and down like a yoyo, loving life one minute and crying into a pillow the next.
Whether worrying about the health of ourselves and our loved ones, our livelihoods, our sense of security, our desperate need to connect in a room with real life people, questioning our sense of purpose and worth and / or all of the above, the reality is that our fundamental human needs have been rocked to their very core.
What to do? I guess, like any rollercoaster ride you wish you weren’t on, you can close your eyes and hold tight until you can finally get off. Or you can try to mitigate the impacts and prepare mentally as best you can for when you are back on your feet.
In any situation of perpetual bad news and uncertainty, the key is to look for the positives. And as we know, there have been many, as we have witnessed the best of our human ability to express love, compassion, kindness and appreciation to everyone from friends and neighbours to total stranger on the street.
Personally, getting onto my yoga mat is my way of finding peace, equilibrium and strength as we transition back into life. But we are all different, with our own unique needs. Now is the time to find your own ‘yoga’ in whatever method works for you, be it breath work, meditation, training for your own self-created marathon or cooking up a storm. Whatever it is, ensure it is something that you can commit to regularly to help balance you from the inside, release anxiety and build up your resilience so you can better cope with whatever awaits as you ease back into the world.
Next week, as we kick off our ‘Easing Out of Lockdown’ Campaign, our experts will be providing their best wellness tips and advice FREE on how you can further prep & transition safely and effectively through the coming months.
IF YOU ARE STRUGGLING AND NEED ADVICE OR SUPPORT, PLEASE CONTACT US
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