How to Keep COVID-19 Stress From Becoming Chronic Stress
You're a caretaker by nature - type A, organized, calm, and selfless. You're well put together on the outside and it’s rare if someone doesn’t like you. You prioritize everyone else's needs before yours. Does this sound like you? Read on!!
Now with the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone is looking to you as they fall apart and experience fear, worry, loss, sadness, etc. While you're probably successfully maintaining your caretaker role and doing your best to support everyone else's needs and emotions, underneath you’re depleted, exhausted, and anxious. You're overcome with the legitimate uncertainty that faces our world and you’re worn out with worry and stress. Social isolation and a focus on everyone and everything else may cause you to feel understandably lonely. Perhaps you find yourself asking, "how am I going to get through this," but it won't help to complain or let yourself go there.
You probably want to collapse but you can't. Everyone is depending on you! I'm here to tell you that you deserve a place to fall apart too. I'm offering a place for you to fall apart and unload your fears, anxiety, and uncertainty. Together, we will come up with a plan to control the things that are within your control and develop tools to calm your anxiety on all the things that you can't control.
If online therapy isn't a current option for you, let's talk about ways for you to independently feel a little better. There is no denying that we are living in a situation without clear resolution and a lot of uncertainty. As you continue to feel unresolvable stressors during this pandemic, it's possible to develop chronic stress. Chronic stress occurs when we're in constant fight, flight, or freeze and it's linked to health concerns such as digestive issues, suppressed immune system, and an increased risk of heart disease.
Here are 3 tips to help your stress:
Get exercise. There are many streaming exercise programs and if walks/hikes/runs/bike rides are available while maintaining social isolation, this can be a real stress relief.
Clarify what you can and can't control. I suggest writing it down to help your brain focus as much as possible on putting energy towards what you can control.
Try not to compare your stress to anyone else's. Different people respond differently to stressful situations and when we get caught up in comparison, it can lead to feelings of inadequacy, frustration, etc. These means limiting social media!
Remember that stress is a biological response that is a normal part of our lives. While this situation feels completely NOT normal, the way you manage your stress will help you get through this.
If I can be of any help and you need a place to fall apart, please reach out to me here .