Resilience – The power to bounce back emotionally after a major disappointment or event.
Here we are. COVID cases have dropped dramatically…right along with COVID deaths. We’re slowly transitioning from the pandemic to what we hope will be post-pandemic. Slowly over time. It won’t be a one day change, but an advancing progressive adjustment to a less restrictive environment. Some people have stopped wearing masks. However, many of us still do. The CDC says fully vaccinated people can go without wearing masks, especially around others who are fully vaccinated. But this doesn’t apply to those who are unvaccinated. This is one of a thousand frustrations all around you. So you’ll want to stay resilient when life changes–and we’ll give you some ideas how to do that.
A crowd of employers have begun calling employees back to work. Most employers of office workers have moved their employees home to avoid spread of illness, and all those employees are beginning to go back to work little by little. It’s not that they’ve not been working, but they haven’t had a commute as they work and meet on Zoom at home.
Many others, if not most, will wait yet awhile. It does still seem early.
But do you know what we’ve seen?
People struggling with fear, worried whether it’s safe to re-enter company buildings. People who succumbed to depression, PTSD, and anxiety during the worst of COVID-19 and haven’t yet recovered.
So this is not as simple as it may seem.
Of course, our role is NOT to tell you when you should return to work in your company facility. Or when the kids should be back in school.
We just want to help you make the transitions ahead, embrace the adjustment within yourself that will allow you to make this change when the time is right. To help you navigate your concerns or anxiety if you face it.
You may have lost a loved one over the past year. Maybe you had to watch the funeral of a loved one over Zoom or Facetime. That must have been difficult for you. So many incidents and events were shocking. For so many people.
You may have had a baby over the last year. Did you have a COVID baby? We’ve learned that the birth of a baby during all the isolation, social distancing, and mask wearing has created such intense loneliness for some new mothers that postpartum depression has been more widespread and support has been hard to come by for many isolated moms.
One first time mom, who was weeping in frustration and overwhelmed, said, “I’ve always heard it takes a village to raise a child. So WHERE’S MY VILLAGE???” If you’re one of those parents, you will have to find your own transition and recovery. Make sure you’re fully vaccinated so you’re free to seek out friends and family to get their support, and improve your own resilience.
Then there are the children. Children who’ve been involved in distance/remote learning have displayed behavior outbursts and other forms of acting out. But on the other hand, some children thrived from the closer nurturing they felt while being home. And as they move into summer, and then repopulate schools in the fall (or whenever that will happen!) they may need guidance to help them adapt smoothly, re-socialize, and integrate in their school’s routine.
Maybe you’ve asked “Why me?” through the crises and losses the last year and a half. But when you think that way it nurtures self pity…which can be suffocating. Better to ask yourself in that instance…”Why NOT me?” Because if you’re alive in this world you’re going to have struggles, difficulties, and losses.
And you may be tempted to want to run. But resilience comes when you plant your feet, square your shoulders, and get through it. You can be resilient when life changes.
When my friend heard there was a pandemic wrapping around the world, her first thought was to get on a plane and escape it. Then she looked at the charts and maps on the internet and saw that this infection covered the globe, and there was nowhere to run. What a shock that felt like.
But by staying where we are, using personal protective equipment, and isolating ourselves, using social distancing when in public, we as a nation and as a planet have survived together.
Many say, “Failure is not an option”…but actually failure is a requirement for resilience. And in terms of the pandemic, as well as working at home, learning at home, there have been countless efforts that failed and required we try again and again to get whatever the need was to work. Stronger internet connections, getting food to people who needed it, keeping online services up and functioning well.
Here are some strategies for building resilience now:
Recognize that difficulties, losses, and inconveniences are part of life. Realize right off that all these things are not a sign of unfair punishment of you or me, but just part of life. And realize that you’ll find your way through it.
Make the serenity prayer a part of you…to accept things you cannot change. To change those things you can (or change the things you cannot accept.) And hold onto the wisdom to know the difference. So focus on where to put your attention… changing the things you CAN change. And choosing peace about the rest.
Choose Life. Choose what is good for you. Walk away from things that aren’t good for you. (Yep, we said walk away. Seriously walk away…) Then be patient and compassionate with yourself.
Here’s a challenge for you: Every day, list 3 things you’re grateful for. It will help you maintain peace and the strength to face new challenges…because you know that challenges are part of being alive too, right?
And… you know? every time there is a failure, or disappointment, or loss… once you’ve responded to it and moved forward, ask yourself, what you might learn from it… or whether someone was help from the natural fallout of it, etc. There is meaning all around you, and when you’re stressed with difficulty, it’s easy to miss it. So make a point to focus on the meaning you find in all those challenges… that will deepen those roots of resilience, too.
Stay Resilient When Life Changes — If you fall, you can snap right back up on your feet
Of course, not everyone can effectively build their own treasure chest of resilience. A disorder can make that very difficult. So we do offer IV ketamine treatment to help restore your resilience. To help your brain restore it’s own synapse connections, to take the G proteins off those rafts in the cell membrane and put them back to work. To slow down the bursting cells in the lateral habenula. And to generally help your hippocampus and amygdala function better, so YOU can function better.
Sometimes it takes more than well-intended exercises. Sometimes it takes an intervention. And even though IV ketamine treatment doesn’t work for everyone, it can be transformative for the vast majority who have treatment resistant depression, PTSD, bipolar depression, social anxiety, substance use and alcohol use disorders, and suicidal thoughts. It can replace those miseries with resilience, motivation, confidence, initiative, and especially hope.
So Reach Out for Resilience and the Life You Long to Build
At Innovative Psychiatry, we have the privilege of seeing people who have achieved remission from these disorders every week. Remission means you have energy to support others, to build your own life and healthy strong relationships, and to face difficulties with strength. Remission means you once again feel like the very best self you’ve ever experienced. It means you stay resilient when life changes and can snap back in the face of difficulties.
And while we’re transitioning from active pandemic to a post-COVID world, we’re not there yet. And we want you to have the confidence that in our office you’re completely safe from infection caused by any virus, bacteria, or mold. Our plasma cell technology that continually scrubs the air you breathe to keep you safe from viruses, bacteria, and molds while you’re receiving treatment with us.
Reach out for resilience. If you struggle with the disorders we talked about, reach out for the hope of remission.
We want that for you and we can help.
To the restoration of your best self,
