During the course of the pandemic, the majority of us wanted nothing more than for our regular routines to be reinstated: to be able to attend our favorite yoga class in person, to meet up with a friend at a restaurant for dinner, or to go into the office and chat with coworkers next to the coffee maker (okay, maybe not so much for the last one). Nevertheless, it is reasonable to assume that a good number of us have yearned for increased interaction with other people throughout the course of the last year.
Many individuals are excited about the prospect of going back to the get-togethers they used to attend before COVID was implemented since it is now possible, or at the very least is getting more likely on a daily basis. And despite the thrill that comes along with it, there is also a strong likelihood that you will be a little spooked out by all of that more exposure.
The reality is that these emotions are very natural, and you should be prepared for the fact that it may take some time to readjust to your new circumstances. “I’m calling it the stranger-danger redux,” Cynthia Ackrill, MD, a stress specialist and editor of the American Institute of Stress’s Contentment Magazine, told Health. She compares the anxiety of interacting face-to-face with another person after COVID treatment to the anxiety she felt as a young child traversing public spaces. Dr. Ackrill adds that when you were a toddler and you’d rush up to a stranger at the mall, your parents would exclaim, “Woah, that’s a stranger.” Now, people are more likely to say things along the lines of, “Woah, that’s another person—without a mask on.”
We have been instructed throughout the course of the past year that everyone who is not a part of our bubble, whether they are a stranger or not, poses a threat to us. Even the ones we care about the most may hurt us. According to Dr. Ackrill, “We’ve gone back to this ‘Whom are we supposed to trust?’ [game], and our brain has been doing this for over a year.” It may seem counterintuitive to the entire “getting back to the normal thing,” but there is a reason, or several reasons, why so many people are feeling a little of hesitancy about doing something. What you need to know about any post-pandemic anxiety you might be feeling, as well as how you might deal with it, is outlined in this article.
It Took Your Brain a While to Process Wearing a Mask—and It’ll Take It a While to Process Not Wearing One
You will likely find yourself in close proximity to individuals outside of your pod as limitations continue to be relaxed as a result of the usage of vaccinations that are safe and effective against COVID-19. This may be out of need (if your company mandates it), or it may be out of choice (if you choose to attend a friend’s birthday event).
According to Chivonna Childs, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Adult Behavioral Health, who spoke with Health about this topic, it may take some time to retrain your brain not to worry about associating with other unmasked folks when faced with scenarios like these. “We’ve become hyperaware of the people around us,” says Childs. “We feel as if we’ve turned into the mask police: we don’t know their health, and we don’t know if they are carriers. We’ve become used to that by this point.”
Dr. Ackrill notes that it took a lot of work for your brain to adjust to the reality of the coronavirus pandemic. He points out that you taught yourself to monitor people around you, and that you are now attempting to convince your body that it doesn’t need to worry about that anymore. This adjustment required a lot of effort. “That’s a lot of training for the brain—we’ve really made it a habit of considering other human beings a danger,” adds Dr. Ackrill.
We Still Don’t Know What’s Considered “Safe” in the Post-covid World Yet
Even though the United States is still in the process of closing its borders, it may appear as though we have been dealing with COVID-19 for an eternity. However, the virus is still relatively young; it has been around for less than two years. Health professionals are still attempting to completely understand the virus, even while the US continues the reopening process.
Even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has stated that people who have been fully immunized do not need to wear masks when going outside or inside, there are still a lot of unanswered questions regarding how or if unvaccinated people will be differentiated, as well as how risky it is to simply take people at their word when they say they’ve been immunized.
While professionals are doing all in their power to figure out how we can go forward in a secure manner, the unpredictability of the current situation may be contributing to your concern about rejoining society. According to Dr. Ackrill, “it’s not even black-and-white yet what’s safe—there’s a lot of confusion,” According to Shannon O’Neill, PsyD, an assistant professor of psychiatry, who was interviewed for this article by Health, this can have a significant influence on your mental health: “Anticipatory anxiety can be fueled by elements of uncertainty, such as not knowing what to expect.”
You May Want To Dismiss the Trauma and Grief You’ve Experienced Over the Last Year—Don’t Do That
Think back to where we were at this time a year ago: there were no vaccinations that had been licensed, and the number of deaths caused by COVID-19 in the United States was growing at an alarming rate. It was exceedingly dangerous to go into public places where masks were not required, and professionals in the field of medicine advised everyone to avoid having any kind of interaction with anyone who did not live in their family. Now, the majority of individuals in the United States have been provided a COVID-19 vaccination that is both safe and effective, the number of deaths caused by severe COVID has significantly decreased, and many people are able to see those [persons] outside of their close family without experiencing any anxiety.
It is, without a doubt, wonderful news; nonetheless, it may be challenging to square the present reality with the norms to which we have been accustomed. “There are so many levels to this,” adds Dr. Ackrill. “We’ve seen individuals in distress, and some of us have experienced it directly. There is some apprehension about what may happen.” She argues that we could be hesitant to embrace the new reality after vaccination out of concern that the agony that we through over the course of the last year would lose meaning if we do so: “Does it imply all of this didn’t mean anything? We were unable to come to terms with what had happened, and our brains require that events have some significance.
Childs repeats this sentiment, stating that the lingering feelings linked with the epidemic are not any less significant than the worry that is accompanied with a diagnosable mental health condition: “The trauma that comes from being in COVID—it’s really scary, and I kind of liken it to post-traumatic stress disorder.”
Childs says that survivor’s remorse is one of the feelings that one could have while reflecting on the catastrophes that have occurred over the last year. “That can be survivor’s guilt not only in terms of someone losing their life, [but also] someone losing their job, someone losing their house, and I didn’t,” the author of the article said. How am I supposed to be okay when so many other people have lost so much? We feel bad for not having anything to complain about.
How To Cope With the Stress and Anxiety You Might Be Feeling Right Now
It goes without saying that your brain will most likely be processing a lot of feelings the first time you head back to the office or head to a large concert or other community gatherings, and you shouldn’t necessarily ignore them, says Dr. Ackrill. “When you feel these feelings, I think it’s really important to name them,” she says. [You should ask yourself], what exactly is going on for me right now? What exactly do I require?”
After you have taken the time to recognize what you are thinking and feeling, it may be beneficial to formulate concrete goals to combat the unpredictability of the present moment. If you are uneasy about going into a particularly large crowd, you should inquire of a friend how many people are expected to be present at the party so that you can determine whether or not you will feel comfortable going. “Know your boundaries [and] limits ahead of time,” advises Dr. O’Neill. “You have to ask yourself, how much are you prepared to put up with? Is it the size of your group, the fact that you wore masks, or the length of time you were present? Then you need to stay true to that strategy.
Take some time to think about what the epidemic taught you and what lessons you’ll be taking away from it if you’re having trouble coming to terms with all that’s been lost over the last year. If you’re finding it difficult to find closure for the things that have been lost over the previous year, this may help. Dr. Ackrill encourages patients to “Take Some Time to Reflect,” and they should. “What is it that you hope to take away from it? What do you hope to take away from this experience before you go back out into the world? For instance, the pandemic may have shown you that your current method of self-care required significant alterations, and it provided you with the opportunity and the breathing room to make those modifications in order to lead a better way of life. Dr. Ackrill says that it may be easier to move into a society in which vaccines are no longer used if one gives significance to the anguish that they have endured over the previous year.
According to Childs, there are additional methods for overcoming survivor’s guilt, particularly now that we are able to gather with others in a safer environment. If you are suffering survivor’s guilt because you are alive, you can visit the gravesites of people in your town who lost their lives to the virus. If you are experiencing survivor’s guilt because you came through the pandemic relatively undamaged, you can volunteer for charities that aid the homeless. If you are experiencing survivor’s guilt because you are alive, you can volunteer for charities that help the homeless. “We can have memorials, [and] we can still say our goodbyes,” adds Childs. “We have options.”
Childs suggests that when you are feeling overwhelmed, it may be useful to focus on the positive aspects of the pandemic. Each day in a post-COVID-19 world will be different, and despite the fact that there may be hiccups along the path, each day will be new. She continues, “If the pandemic has shown us nothing else, it has shown us that we are resilient.” Let’s move forward with that idea.