The last year has been a year of hormonal somersaults. You feel giddy about working in your PJs but vexed about the increased work hours. Some days it’s outright existential crises, while other days are peaking with productivity. A sneeze snowballs into us picturing our gravestones.
We are experiencing 2 million different things right now; which are valid..or not? We don’t know. It’s our first pandemic, too. We talked to Poonam Dsouza, a medical doctor specialising in health and wellness, and Jasdeep Mago, a neuropsychologist and counsellor, about the range of emotions people are experiencing right now. It is a mixed bag of positive and negative. They advise us to embrace each feeling. It’s *totally* normal to feel these emotions right now:
Spiralling anxiety
Covid related media exposure can make you anxious about your security and survival. Uncertainty around “When will this come to an end?” is real.
Dr D’souza explains, “A stressful situation – a looming crisis can trigger a cascade of stress hormones. These hormones produce physiological changes known as the “fight-or-flight” response. This survival response traps you into negative thought loops, making you anxious. “
To not be thrown off by anxiety spirals, she suggests, “Regulate your emotions. Be self-aware and look at the stressful situation from a new perspective. This processed time gap between the stressor stimulus and response will prevent you from feeling anxious.”
Getting the loner vibes from yourself
Psychologists worry that the pandemic is triggering a loneliness epidemic. It’s saddening how so many people are feeling lonely together. To help feel better, you could :
- Pre-plan a day you know will make you feel lonelier, e.g. holidays. You could cook a three-course meal or re-do your interiors.
- Reach out. It’s time to catch up over video calls and defeat friends from school at an online chess championship.
- On ordinary days, sticking with your routine and celebrating that you are making it through another day during a difficult time is enough.
Feeling guiltily calm
“Some people tend to assume responsibility as soon as panic strikes. Those people would be the ones feeling calm when everyone else is anxious, from an innate need to take charge of the situation”, says Jasdeep Mago. So, it’s okay to not guilt yourself into feeling joy. It’s a sign of strength to be calm in these uncertain times.
Increased concern for our loved ones
Caregivers have been experiencing waves of panic for their loved ones walled off in faraway places. Sometimes their concerns are not well-received, and this further upsets them. If you’re the caregiver, it’s in your best interest to understand that your children are on their own and responsible enough to take care of themselves. The children can give in an extra few nods and check-in calls to comfort their parents in troubled times like these.
Burned out MAX
The pandemic has increased the existing effect of burnout. There are no cafe-hopping or work commutes to release the stressors. Mail notifications bait you into working three hours extra without you even knowing it. It is thus essential to adjust yourself to the new virtual working environment.
Dr Dsouza suggests setting boundaries and sticking to them. “You need to safeguard your productivity, as well as your time to recharge. Set your own disengaging and disconnecting time. Make this time sacred to you.”
Lowkey sad about cancelled events
Weddings were postponed, birthdays were spent watching reruns of Netflix specials, and there was nothing *fun and frolic* about holidays. Pandemic has been the biggest party-pooper of all times.
In such an event, it is customary to grieve over these lost days. Shubham Singh, an 18-year-old, shares, “My first day at college was a zoom call with muted black boxes. Such a bummer.”