Last month, the Centers for Disease Control announced that vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks or physically distance. Life, like it was in the Before Times, is about to resume. If that idea fills you with dread, you’re not alone. Pandemic re-entry anxiety is real, so here are five tips to help you navigate this adjustment.
What is pandemic re-entry anxiety?
Our routines have been completely upended for the last 14 months, and as they change again, that disruption can manifest as nervousness, fear, or even panic. It’s a totally normal reaction given the recent upheaval.
As we adjust to the “new normal,” it’s not uncommon to feel worried about what’s safe to do, what the future of your job will be, or in general what the world will look like. But fear not! These five strategies can help ease your anxiety.
1. Practice self care
Self care is a huge topic encompassing good sleep hygiene, healthy eating, regular exercise, and even social connectedness. There are many ways in which we need to satisfy our bodies, hearts, and minds. Creating a self care habit can go a long way to create a healthy baseline for physical and mental health — during the pandemic and every day.
2. Prepare yourself for the potential “Cov rage”
“Cov rage” is exactly what you think it is — social irritability surrounding the pandemic. If you’ve felt someone throwing shade at you for either wearing (or not wearing) a mask, you’ve experienced it. With more social activities opening up, know that you may encounter or feel Cov rage. Recognize it for what it is then…
3. Practice affect labeling
Affect labeling means putting feelings into words. Research shows that, contrary to what you might think, labeling your emotions can help reduce anxiety and calm your amygdala, where emotions live in the brain. So when someone sneezes near you in public for the first time in over a year, naming your emotions helps tell your brain you’ve got it under control.
4. Practice the 5-4-3-2-1 Technique
One of the quickest and most efficient ways to ground yourself when you feel anxious is by naming:
- Five things you can see
- Four things you can touch
- Three things you can hear
- Two things you can smell
- One thing that you can taste
Clinicians use this technique in practice all the time, but everyone can benefit from its simple refocusing from things you can control to things within your senses.
5. Practice self reflection
Remember your diary from seventh grade? Time to break it out again. Turns out that all the writing we did as teenagers was a valuable coping tool for stress and anxiety. Don’t like words? No problem–doodle away. Your journal doesn’t have to look like anyone’s but yours. Need some ideas? Start here by writing out your wins.
No matter what, give yourself and those around you some slack. It’s been a crazy year, and it’s about to be a little bit more nuts for a while. But with these tips at hand, you’re better prepared to face the new world with curiosity and joy.
Photo by JESSICA TICOZZELLI from Pexels
