A crisis forces us to face reality and clear the horizon. Leave only what is important and essential to our eyes. It is up to us to bring this clarity to everyday life to make it better.
Last update: June 22, 2020
Psychology, or rather, the research carried out in its field tells us that reality conditions our feelings. However, it is not an empty process of which we are mere spectators. More than events, the interpretation we give of them acts. We therefore work with a subjective and individual scale of priorities, useful for identify what is important in a crisis.
Why is the coronavirus crisis so special mentally? Suddenly, without planning or organizing, we were forced to change many of our habits. The state of alarm and distancing continue to give a different shape to our days. What are the changes? Of all kinds: personal, work, social, family ...
They are variations, combinations and situations that affect us on many levels. We are faced with unforeseen situations. Couples who were about to separate and who had no choice but to prolong cohabitation indefinitely. There are those who have made a major investment and now find themselves on the ropes, in a worse scenario than they initially anticipated.
There could be many examples. In this circumstance, clearing the fog and identifying what's important is a good place to start: solid certainties, even if small, on which to start working.
Learn to manage change during the crisis
The order of psychologists has provided advice and guidance guides to deal with the covid-19 crisis in the best possible way. Some recommendations of psychologists are in line with the need to restructure or reformulating our routine so as not to fall into a kind of temporal chaos.
Others have advised to focus on physical exercise, to combat the sedentary lifestyle on which it is so easy to settle down. Or to be more aware of your thoughts (their type, frequency, how and how much they affect us).
In addition to these guidelines, it is very important to become aware of your personal situation. We have already talked about the difference between acceptance and resignation. The current crisis is a good opportunity to challenge our capacity for acceptance, but not for resignation.
It is also a time to try to grow, to try to improve ourselves or, for some, to make the most of the time available. We can also allow ourselves a day of sadness, of melancholy, but it is important to know how to curb obsessive thoughts.
Let's take advantage of this crisis, instead, to continue to train, study, learn to relax, give ourselves time for ourselves, meditate, read with pleasure or watch our favorite TV series.
It's time to understand what really matters
Probably none of us have experienced a situation similar to the one we have been experiencing in recent months. We find ourselves immersed in a sea of ​​emotions and thoughts, but we have the possibility to choose how to feel and how to interpret what is happening to us.
What if we try to learn from this situation? And if we did an analysis of what really matters to us, what is important now.
Since the start of the quarantine, we have witnessed unprecedented gestures of union, solidarity or community. Without realizing it, we met our neighbors, we looked out the window to ask "how are you?".
We've also taken the old cliché 'you don't know what you have until you lose it' to the extreme. If we have considered the embrace of our loved ones precious, now this gesture takes on a new dimension.
Before the Coronavirus we had some concerns, no doubt. But much of what worried us now probably occupies a lesser place on this symbolic list of values.
Because now we are worried that our sister or our brother are well, that our parents care, that our dear one who lives alone in the house does not feel too much loneliness. Now we are worried that our children do not suffer from always being at home, that they are happy, that they do not stop learning and that they continue to play.
The crisis and its small revolutions
With a greater awareness of what is happening at the end of the crisis, everything can translate into a great change: the revolution of a simple life.
Revolution is not needing anything but a conversation, a few laughs to feel satisfied. Or to appreciate a sunny day, a walk outdoors, leave the house without having to justify yourself.
The revolution of spending a nice evening with the family, of walking the dog. With the thousands of small daily revolutions, the great crises, those that seem to suspend time, shake us. But they are a great opportunity to clarify our priorities, to sift through the important values from that plot in which the bitterness of superfluous things often creeps in.
