Are you slowly melting down under the new world of lockdown?
The return to school this week seems to herald another milestone in the slow ‘return to normality’. For some of us this may be something to celebrate, for others it will be a source of stress and anxiety. For many of us, we will be feeling a combination of the two – feeling conflicted and experiencing a mixture of relief and apprehension. This may feel uncomfortable – especially as we realise that, in many ways, our ‘old’ life isn’t there, because everything has changed with social distancing, masks, and constant hand cleansing.
Many of my clients tell me – because they and their relatives haven’t contracted CoVid19, they haven’t really been impacted financially, and there have been some aspects of lockdown they have enjoyed and they will miss – that they don’t understand why they are feeling so stressed, anxious or depressed and some even feel ashamed or guilty about these feelings.
We don’t have to have lost a loved one to Co-Vid or to be financially impacted to feel a very real and negative emotional effect from the pandemic that may be seriously impacting on how we feel about ourselves, our loved ones and our lives in general.
Yes, we hope the storm is passing, but we are still finding ourselves living in a different world – one not of our choosing. Changes to how we work, study and communicate with our friends and loved ones have all changed massively and at great speed, which we may find unusual and unsettling. We may really yearn for what we feel we have lost and left behind. And we may also feel uncertain about the future – about how we and our loved ones are going to live and work.
If you’re struggling with these any of these feelings, counselling can help. Talking to someone outside of your family and friendship circle can help you put your thoughts in order, process what has happened and is still happening, and so bring some clarity and calm to help you feel more in control and optimistic.
You may feel daunted by the idea of counselling or particularly about the prospect of counselling by phone or video. Usually an informal initial chat can put your mind at rest and allay any doubts, so why not contact me for an informal initial chat, I’d love to hear from you.