Cool, calm, collected and in complete Control.? When did you last feel like that?
When we feel in control our stress levels reduce. Panic, fear and negative behaviour patterns trigger the stress response which weakens our immune system and can quickly slide into depressive thoughts and feelings.
Think back over the past twelve months of the pandemic and decide what is within your circle of control and what isn’t. Let’s look back 12 months and use the Change Curve (Kubler Ross Change model)
1 Disorientation and sense of unreality
2.Denial – this cant be real!
3. Frustration, Anger and Panic – How can I cope with home schooling and work?
4. Uncertainty and Blame – can I go out? Will I catch it?
5. Confusion and Depression – isolation, doubts and fear set in, with no end in sight
6.Acceptance – It’s out of my control for now
7.Moving Forward – back in the driving seat
Stages 1-5 are interchangeable and can last quite a while until our minds reach acceptance, then we can move forward, having taken back our control.
Reflect on how you have changed and what has changed in your life over the last twelve months. Enforced change is much harder than change by choice. Look how you have adapted and how resilient you have actually been!
We are ALL going through a process and even though we may move up and down the curve, but we are all heading towards a “new normal” at the top of the curve with some light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccine giving us hope and the prospect of taking back control of our lives.
