“My barn having burned down, I can now see the moon.”
― Mizuta Masahide
17th century Japanese poet and Samurai
Part of this experience is a mind game.
Difficult issues require planning, preparation, practice, and a solid mental mindset. In spite of what are usually my strong suits, I may have hit my runner’s wall this week.
In every interaction throughout this week, I could see fraying in my friends, colleagues, clients, and in the people I encountered during my daily errands. Even individuals with strong coping skills and deep competencies expressed symptoms of chronic stress. And I, too, am fraying.
How about you?
- Are you experiencing mental over-load?
- Are you finding yourself forgetting names, can’t finish your sentence, or remember simple actions?
- Are you letting something routine fall through the cracks? Or having multiple scheduling mishaps?
- Is your emotional state riding a roller coaster of highs and lows?
- Have you said to someone recently, ‘I am working harder now than at any other time in my life?’ But despite your hardest-ever-work, you’re not getting everything done on your list?
If this sounds like you, too, congratulations, you are human. You have joined The Club of The COVID 19 Experience.
The challenge we face now is not so much of not being deathly ill, but of keeping safe and maintaining a positive mindset while the wheels are falling off. It only takes one additional negative surprise to upset one’s well-being apple cart.
What are your strategies for maintaining a positive mindset?
- Are you getting enough sleep? The right nutrition? Are you connecting with friends and family in a meaningful way?
- Do you have a favorite way to escape for a while? Exercise? Movies? Bread making? Meditation? Gratitude?
- Have you found a way to stay informed and keep it all in perspective?
- Is there one aspect of this colossal experience that you are struggling to wrap your arms around?
I remain committed to being engaged, listening, acting within my circle of influence, behaving safely, and being helpful. Yet, in spite of my commitment, I am feeling somewhat powerless to affect change on any of the big life-challenges sitting on our shoulders. But, I do have a strategy for next week: work my list and priorities and …. Deliver Georgia peaches secured from the Peach Truck Company to friends, colleagues, and clients!
I am keeping life simple. A Georgia Peach (or a pint of ice cream) makes my world go round.
- How about you?
- What is your mind hooking into?
- What kinds of things are you using to manage your stress and mindset?
- What kinds of things are you avoiding because they unsettle your ability to dial back your stress?
Now is the time for us to find the gear that carries us through the middle of this pandemic. The mental component of the game is essential to our playing through.
What do you need to achieve a mental mindset to find your second wind?
Every day I realize that my strongest need is to maintain my physical, social, spiritual, and mental well-being. Interestingly, this is always my strongest need. This pandemic experience just helps me see it more clearly.
Leslie
“The human capacity for burden is like bamboo – far more flexible than you’d ever believe at first glance.”
― Jodi Picoult, My Sister’s Keeper
