by Paul Malone –
These are unprecedented and complicated times with a 100 year pandemic taking away many of our supports and coping skills occurring in a context of growing distrust of authorities and each other. The work to recover from the almost total disruption of our lives is going to be difficult and will take time. The good news is that we do have innovative tools and understandings that will help us solve the problems. We Americans also have resolve to persevere regardless of the obstacles, witness the development in the shortest time ever of multiple, incredibly effective vaccines to eventually end the pandemic.
More than 40% of us are now experiencing clinical levels of anxiety related specifically to the coronavirus, with difficulties sleeping and eating. The coronavirus has killed more than 500,000 of us in the past year, with more than 5,000,000 of us dealing directly with the grief from these losses of loved ones. Even more of us are also dealing with grief from multiple violations of our core beliefs that we are good people who live in a benevolent world where things make sense, more or less, and events happen in a more or less orderly way that gives us time to adapt and grow using existing skills and understandings.
We have many techniques to help reduce our anxiety including relaxation exercises, movement activities such as yoga and tai chi, and mindfulness practices. We also have practices to help us process our grief more effectively, such as processing the “event story” of a loss by the death of a loved one and telling the “back story” of our relationship to the deceased person in order to restore attachment security and resolve unfinished business.
The single most important activity that helps reduce anxiety and helps to successfully process grief is being able to talk about it with others to share our stories and to offer support and encouragement. The opportunities to do this have been almost ended by the pandemic. An innovative response to this limitation of normal interactions has been the development of virtual communities of care where individuals come together virtually to create opportunities for sharing and supporting.
On March 16, from 6 to 8 p.m., there will be an initial virtual meeting on Zoom hosted by Jane Wenner and Candice Smith that will include a presentation by Dr. Paul Malone, a resident of Urbanna, on COVID-19 anxiety and grief followed by a virtual community of care where participants will be given an opportunity to talk about their experience in the pandemic.
If you are interested, please send an email to Connectedcommunities1@gmail.
