We are all paying the hidden toll of the pandemic

While many people are back to working from office, or using the hybrid model, I see many still struggling to feel fully engaged, motivated, or hopeful. A sense of vitality which is so key to our wellbeing, is what seems to have been impacted by the pandemic

Mumbai: A 45-year-old male client who has been working in therapy for a few years recently asked me, “Am I the only one who’s still struggling with the impact of the pandemic? It feels like its side effects are still disrupting my life and I am exhausted. On some days I blame myself for not being able to cope, and on other days, I try to be kinder to myself knowing well how for everyone in my profession struggled for these last few years.”

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As a psychotherapist, this is a sentiment I hear all the time from clients, friends, and also from those in corporate spaces. COVID-19 may no longer be the global emergency it was, but we are all still dealing with the residual stress of that time. What’s clearly emerging now is that the pandemic may have led to chronic stress for a lot of people and we have possibly not fully acknowledged or embraced what this has done to our mental health. A general sense of anxiety, continually feeling wired, mistrust, sleep concerns, excessive time spent in scrolling, weight concerns, exhaustion and apprehension about the future is how this stress is manifesting in different people.

While many people are back to working from office, or using the hybrid model, I see many still struggling to feel fully engaged, motivated, or hopeful. A sense of vitality which is so key to our wellbeing, is what seems to have been impacted by the pandemic. Clients often describe how ‘jaded’ or ‘unenthusiastic’ they feel about life. A theme that is also showing up is how employees feel that they are putting in significantly higher number of hours per week at work than what they did prior to 2020.

Young adults and children in therapy sessions speak of how their capacity for focus, attention, and ability to socially interact, form friendships have been affected because of the years they spent in online classrooms. The pandemic has cast its shadow on several marriages where breakdown of communication, concerns over joint finances, and a shared vision for a life ahead have been hit. All this along with our dependence on technology and social media has led to a lot of people feeling socially isolated, lonely, and a sense that their relationships are changing. Not just this, even physical mobility and social interactions for many people have been impacted. With many of our shopping and daily grocery needs being met by delivery applications, there’s been a significant drop in our micro social interactions. These micro interactions whether it’s a conversation with a vegetable vendor, the local chemist, grocer provide an opportunity for people to not remain stuck in their own thoughts. A smile, or a brief interaction has the potential to shift our mood, and to look at the world beyond tasks and the problems one is surrounded with.

At the same time our desire to compensate for lost time, is impacting the pace with which we are leading our lives. This is resulting in a tunnel vision, leaving very little space for contentment and satisfaction.

No matter, how old you are, begin by assessing if a sense of being overwhelmed or feeling chronically stressed has gripped you, and is beginning to affect your mental health. Ask yourself, what needs to change, and how you can practice developing an attitude that allows you to build hope, cultivate a sense of joy, enthusiasm, playfulness, and the capacity to be present. Given the scope of the staggering change we have witnessed, and how our own lives have been affected these last few years, we may all need to work towards reimagining how we want to live, work and even rest. May be the question that we need to ask ourselves is this: ‘How do I build a life and work in a way that feels aligned with my values and allows for connection and satisfaction’. Dealing with chronic stress also means allowing ourselves to look at mental health from a cognitive, emotional, physical, and interpersonal lens. Our ability to focus, to be able to work towards short- and long-term goals, to plan, to invest in and enjoy relationships, to experience moments of just being rather than constantly chasing problems, to feel gratitude and most importantly to trust in what life has to offer, and in our own capabilities, is what good mental health looks like.

Choose to make time for all of this, be self- compassionate and acknowlede the stress you have been through. That is how healing begins.