To help you understand what post-pandemic stress is, I will first discuss what happened during lockdown.
More than two years ago, we went into lockdown: travel bans or restrictions meant we were unable to visit our loved ones.
We have read and heard about how the pandemic affected us, but I certainly believe we are experts in our own experiences during that time.
Along the way, we collectively experienced many stresses and fears.
The fear of becoming COVID positive:
- The fear of uncertainty of what might happen for example we may worry about recovery or managing life with long COVID
- The stress of losing sense of taste and smell.
- The stress of caring for loved ones who became COVID positive.
Most of us also experienced many kinds of losses:
- The loss of loved ones, friends, colleagues.
- The loss of jobs.
- The loss of routine.
- The loss of not seeing our family and friends.
- The loss of travel and freedom!
As a therapist working throughout the pandemic, I braced myself every time a new patient came to speak to me. To help that new patient, I needed to understand the type of lockdown-related challenge(s) they had faced or were still facing.. The reason I said “braced myself” was because, for the first time, this was a situation both the patient and I were experiencing together. Therefore, usual CBT strategies and tools did not always cut it. However, somehow, we worked through the challenges. Some patients left feeling less stressed, anxious, or depressed, whilst others recovered and attained all their goals.
When the lockdown ended, we believed life would go back to normal once more. But would you agree that it hasn’t? That some of us still feel the later effects of the pandemic? The post-pandemic stress?
Although some of us found it easy to get back to pre-pandemic life, I see a lot of people still struggling to re-adjust. After speaking with patients and having discussions with colleagues and other professionals, I have begun to reflect on these themes:
Readjusting is still a type of change
We got used to a new kind of normal since March 2020 – early 2022. There was a level of order, there was routine, there were some things we could control, and a certainty within uncertainty. People knew their boundaries, their dos and don’ts. This, as most of us may have found out, became easier to manage after some time. I saw how this brought a certain level of simplicity, calmness, and control into peoples’ lives..
Once the lockdown was eased then completely lifted, everything became uncertain again. There were no specific rules, nothing that was “strongly suggested” not to do. Therefore, we emerged from a highly controlled environment to a completely uncertain, boundary-less world.
Understandably, this change became very difficult for some of us to re-adjust to, especially because we knew how easy it was to function within a “controlled environment” – much like a scientific experiment.
Re-training ourselves
Another commonly identified challenge people said they faced was the re-training or re-learning of things they thought they knew so well or took for granted.
One such skill, interestingly, was socialising. After two years of avoiding crowds/social gatherings and foregoing touching/physical contact for fear of contracting of COVID, people felt like their one-to-one socialising skills had gotten worse. This left them feeling out of control.
Returning to the old-but-new routine
Although we initially found it difficult to adjust to working from home, during those two years many of us found ways and strategies around any challenges. Working from home became . However, many people struggled when companies and organisations decided to bring employees back into their buildings post-lockdown. This was another re-adjusting challenge. Some employees felt almost forced to come out of a place they were very comfortable in – literally their homes – to waking up early, rushing to work (public transport or battling traffic), and being in an enclosed, not-so-free place for most of the day. I personally feel a bit more pacing and gradual easing into this situation would have been more effective. Patients who came to me felt stressed due to having to make these
If you feel you are someone who struggles with post-pandemic stress or finds the discussed changes challenging, keep an eye out for next week’s post about coping mechanisms. With a little help and guidance, you’ll soon feel balanced again.
So, keep an eye out for next week’s post!!