Emerging from Lockdown
by Natalie Edwards-Moss
Things will not be exactly the same again, and for many people this fills them with extreme fear and anxiety. However, we can reassure ourselves that we have survived this pandemic far better in comparison to the devastating Spanish Flu of 1918, that also came in the aftermath of a horrific world war. Indeed, this pandemic may lead to a public more willing to trust, accept and act on public health messages going forwards, which will generally make us physically stronger, healthier and increase life expectancy.
For those of us that have suffered from anxiety and OCD brought about or made worse by lockdown, we can assure ourselves of the fact we were only doing what humans do naturally during a crisis situation, and that is survive. Our fight-flight-freeze response has made us ‘up our game’ in survival tactics. Anxiety is actually useful sometimes, otherwise if we didn’t get scared and anxious, we couldn’t shield ourselves and our loved ones effectively. We should therefore commend ourselves on doing a good job of adapting and protecting ourselves.
However, some people might feel their anxiety has reached another level. If you think you might have developed OCD tendencies, you need to measure how much of an impact they are having on your everyday life. For example, if you are unable to leave the house at all without first washing your hands many times and doing the same on your return, then this could generally be said to be having an adverse effect on your life. The important thing here is to not blame yourself. By gently recognising how much it is controlling your thoughts, feelings and behaviour, you can start to pause, reflect and attempt to do things differently. Be kind to yourself by remembering you have done enough towards protecting yourself and others. Instead, try and reward yourself. For instance, rather than washing your hands again, try massaging some soothing moisturiser into your dry hands instead. Also, give yourself a gentle hug, across the chest with hands on both shoulders, gently stroking or patting yourself and breathing slowly.
Gratitude and appreciation for the small things in life have helped us get through this past year. Acknowledgement of a deeper appreciation of nature and the environment and the benefits of being in the outdoors regularly, breathing cleaner, less polluted air. Appreciating how important a simple, ‘hello, how are you?’ message can make us feel; and how good it feels to show concern and offer help or support to others who might need it.
Our social skills may be a little rusty by having been more isolated, but we will soon bounce back, and most importantly we can help each other process what we have been through, individually and together, when we do regroup and interact again.
We have gained insight and can feel proud of how much we have adapted and evolved. By seeing this pandemic as a wake-up call to the planet and its inhabitants, we can celebrate our change, growth and innovation as a species.
These are helpful things that we can remind ourselves about and strive for as we move forward out of lockdown and beyond.
