Photo by taylor hernandez on Unsplash
Wow! What an incredibly stressful time full of unknowns! As we’re all sheltering-in-place, please be kind to yourself and those around you. Maybe get out of the house and take a walk, do an online exercise class or try a new recipe. Read a book you’ve been putting off, share something new with your children that you loved as a child… Engage in activities that will help you feel healthy and sane.
Connection is more important now than ever
Reading through some of our previous blog posts, I was struck by something Karen said about our need for connection:
So many people live in solitude and wish they had more connection. We all know that feeling lonely is emotionally distressing, but science also confirms that it can lead to a whole slew of health problems. And conversely, people who are well connected live longer and happier lives.
Karen called it “The loneliness epidemic,” and that phrase certainly is hitting home for a lot more people during this outbreak. Not everyone has pets or a partner or children at home to help them through this time. Some people are not only staying home under a mandatory shelter-in-place order, but they are also doing it completely alone.
Connection with others is what buffers us during times of stress. The more stressed we are, the more we need to feel connected to others. To know that we’re in the company of people who care and understand normalizes our experiences. Their connecting with us helps to lower our cortisol levels. Their presence, even on a screen, can help to co-regulate our emotional ups and downs.
If you know of someone in your life who feels alone right now, please reach out and check on them. It can mean the world to them.
A heartwarming sense of community all around
It’s one of the most amazing things I’ve seen come out of this whole scary, crazy time in the world: a renewed sense of community. I’ve been connecting with friends over video chat everyday, scheduling virtual happy hours with people I love near and far but have not previously taken the time to do so with. It’s been refreshing and given me something to look forward to each day. This helps to break up my week when the days feel blurred together. Though I don’t live alone, it has reminded me that my network is not as small as it sometimes feels.
Good things are still happening from the safety of our homes
There is so much scary stuff going on in the news, and everyone is probably experiencing information overload. But in the safety of our homes, people are dancing, playing, creating, and loving. And I have some good news as well amidst all the chaos!
My boyfriend of five years popped the question during the first week of the stay-at-home order! It’s a strange time to get engaged, but it was such exciting news to share with our loved ones. We made a huge effort to make phone and video calls to share it before we posted it on social media.
We had a family member who wanted to buy us dinner to celebrate, but due to the outbreak we will not be able to see them for who knows how long. They sent us a photo of their credit card and told us to find the nicest restaurant in Seattle that we could that was still offering takeout. We brought dinner home with a bottle of wine and ate with our family over FaceTime. It wasn’t traditional, but it was lovely.
While we are living with a cloud of dread over us, we also continue to live our lives from our homes, the sweet moments, the family time - good and bad, is still happening and life quietly goes on.
Some of these changes are for the good
My boyfriend, er, FIANCE and I fortunately have not yet grown sick of each other. I have actually felt our connection grow during our forced togetherness because we are taking the time to do things we never have the time to do. We have been taking walks around our neighborhood a few days a week. We are watching documentaries and learning new things. People out on the street are saying hello to each other, even if it’s from six feet away. I’m appreciating the smells of trees, the beautiful sight of cherry blossoms when I go outside.
I’m hopeful that some of the social changes happening will stick around long after this pandemic. I want to hold onto our desire to connect again, to appreciate the outdoors more, to be more creative.
I hope you are finding a new appreciation for simple things too.
Reach out - we are here for you
If you or anyone you know is experiencing the loneliness epidemic, please reach out to us. We are a dedicated team of clinicians ready to connect with you online. We know a thing or two about working from home, trips to the store, everyone being home and how to creatively connect with people who matter to us.
Sarah Reijnen is the Director of First Impressions at People Bloom Counseling, the latest addition to our tribe. It has been a crazy time to begin training for a new job! While learning the ropes as the new intake whiz, she is also in the midst of completing her internship in Marriage and Family Therapy. She loves sunshine, paddle boarding and dogs of any kind.