deepstash
Beta
Anticipatory Grief and Other New Pandemic-Related Emotions
Prolonged uncertainty
We are dealing with the feeling of uncertainty, and we don't know when our feeling of uncertainty will end.
We dream about when we can safely leave our homes, see our loved ones, and go back to normal. We wonder if our businesses will reopen or when we will stop feeling so paralyzed with fear.
57 SAVES
This is a professional note extracted from an online article.
Read more efficiently
Save what inspires you
Remember anything
IDEA EXTRACTED FROM:
9
Key Ideas
Mental health during a crisis
The crisis caused by the new virus has left us with an unprecedented set of unfamiliar emotions.
We have highs and lows on top of the undercurrent of an unbearable dread. The undercurrent is multi-dimensional. Breaking it down into parts and naming it is crucial to our health, safety, and sanity.
Prolonged uncertainty
We are dealing with the feeling of uncertainty, and we don't know when our feeling of uncertainty will end.
We dream about when we can safely leave our homes, see our loved ones, and go back to normal. We wonder if our businesses will reopen or when we will stop feeling so paralyzed with fear.
Ambiguous loss
We have lost so much, and many elements missing from our normal lives are intangible and can hardly be identified. Because it is ambiguous, we find it difficult to know what we are mourning.
It is a loss of the way we have lived, the boundaries between work, home, school. Our plans, weddings, birthday parties, loss of safety and trust in our leadership. The loss of connection, the fear of economic toll.
Anticipatory grief
We live with the realization that we could lose our loved ones.
Those who are alone in quarantine grieve the loss of all direct human connection. Many are grieving the loss of loved ones who they couldn't touch or even be near at the end.
Coping well during a crisis
Those who always look on the bright side are not the ones who cope the best in crisis. It's those who cultivate an attitude of Tragic Optimism - the ability to maintain hope and find meaning in crisis.
When we cultivate Tragic Optimism, we could turn life's negative aspects into something positive and constructive.
What we can do
We can identify and articulate our feelings to ourselves, our diaries, or our loved ones.
Identify your stress triggers and check in with each emotion: guilt, shame, helplessness, irritation, anger, disconnection, but also gratitude, love, and compassion.
Do rapid interventions
- Pay attention to what you’re paying attention to: news, arguments, and otherwise.
- Get outside as best you can.
- Short term strategies start in your body; breathing and stretching will help you relax and restore.
- Reassure yourself that you are okay right now.
- Focus on one breath at a time.
- Thriving doesn’t always mean being productive.
Resist advice to only be forward-looking
- Take the time to look back at the stories in your family and cultures that deal with adversity and triumph.
- This is not the first time we have risen to meet the challenge.
- Some of us find that we’re well-prepared for this moment; for instance, OCD is a good character structure during this time.
Reaching out
- Check on each other. Who has reached out to you? Whom have you reached out to?
- Organize or join a meaningful virtual group to keep you social, active, and accountable. Parents should talk to other parents. Children should talk to other children.
- Start a Zoom yoga group, film club, or whatever else you’re into.
- Call people while you’re cooking or walking, as you would do in normal life.
- Volunteer online or in person. There are many groups that can use a helping hand. An added benefit is that it can pull you out of depression, guilt, or boredom.
SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
5
Key Ideas
Anticipatory grief
Conventional grief, the kind of grief that occurs after the loss of a loved one, or even loss of one’s dreams, is commonly discussed and understood.
Anticipatory grief is a lesser-known...
A Cauldron Of Emotions
Grief involves anger and loss of emotional control, often a state of confusion.
Anticipatory grief, for those who experience it, is sometimes even more severe and stressful. It does not lessen the burden of actual grief after the loss has been experienced, and is not a substitute for it..
Purpose of Anticipatory Grief
Anticipatory grief is a chance of closure and personal growth which comes at the end of life. It is a chance to reconcile differences and heal the heart with forgiveness.
2 more ideas
4
Key Ideas
Couples under lockdown
Lockdown poses unique problems for couples who are isolating together.
People who are used to seeing their partner at the end of the day now are now living with the new reality of not only being full-time with their significant other but also working alongside them. This situation, together with the uncertainty of the whole pandemic crisis can create tension.
Different coping styles
There is a polarization going on around the way that people deal with fear, with anger, with the preparations in the face of disaster. You can find:
- People that become clear organizers because order for them means making sense of the chaos of the external world and the one that is rising inside of them.
- People wanting to talk all the time with other people and have a sense of what’s going on with everyone.
- People thinking that their partner is not cautious enough.
one more idea
The value of complaining
As important and healing as gratitude is, we can't be grateful all the time. There is a time when we also have to make room for complaints.
For weeks, we've been going through p...
Complaining is better with others
- Make space for other people to vent aloud. They know that they are powerless, and they have to accept the situation. Venting gives them the illusion that they are in control.
- Have a little competition with your best complaints.
- Create a house chart of complaints where your kids can let out their own.
- Avoid complaining mistakes (such as: getting carried away by anger, firing too many complaints at a time or thinking that complaining alone will save us from our problems).