Covid-19 and Tornadoes-A Nashville Therapist's Perspective
I have often thought about my grandparents' generation. How they faced The Great War, Great Depression, their lives (among so many generations before us) were profoundly impacted by world events. Their lives had to change. Generations before us faced famine, concentration camps, great financial woes, war, war-era food rations….. How have I made it this far in my life without having much change?
When asked, I answer the question of, “Where were you when 9/11 hit?'' with “I was in Mrs. Jones Algebra II class. There were 5 desks in each row, white boards in the front of the room, and the TV was in the top left corner of the room.” But living in Tennessee, my life didn’t change much. I was working during the last recession, but things, while maybe more difficult in some ways, did not profoundly impact me.
Now here we are. Fun ideas of re-visiting the “Roaring 20s” are currently squashed. 2020, with a global situation most of us haven’t seen, or maybe dreamt could happen in our lifetime. This is something that seemed (for some to a degree, and to some completely) foreign to us sitting in Nashville. How could something in Wuhan, China affect us here in middle Tennessee (or Maine or Miami, or California or where you happen to be)?
Then overnight, the Nashville and the middle TN area was forever changed when several devastating tornadoes hit not only our beloved city, but so many of our Tennessee towns. We came together. We went #Nashvillestrong, #Cookevillestrong, #MiddleTennesseestrong. We had plentiful volunteers walking unrecognizable neighborhoods with hearts to help, chainsaws to cut, trash bags to clean up. We had families at home preparing food, donating, teaching kids about what just happened. We had hospitality workers and music industry professionals out of work. We had students from entire schools displaced. We had parents and teachers worried about how their kids were going to eat since schools were out for extended periods of time.
Then as if overnight, our city in tornado recovery mode faced not only another significant weather advisory, a little too soon, and we began to see our first cases of Covid-19. I mean… what in the world? We are trying to recover from tornadoes? And now this. Costco was slammed, toilet paper was gone. Panic ensued. So now.. Here we are. Some of our schools have been out for nearly 2 weeks. Teaching our kids another new scary reality. And yet again, and more profoundly, our hospitality workers and music industry professionals are out of work. Our students were displaced. We have parents and teachers worried about how their kids are going to eat since schools are out. This time, an indefinite period of time.
Anxieties are rising. In sessions, I often refer to this as “anticipatory anxiety”. The fear of the unknown. Generally we have two types of anxiety. Eu-stress- a good stress. It keeps you showing up to work on time so you don’t get reprimanded. It keeps you paying your bills or going the speed limit to avoid consequences, or doing your homework and studying for (your now online!) test. On the other hand we have dis-stress. Just like distress. It can be debilitating. In physical sense when you are in distress we sometimes hear about respiratory distress (especially now!). Emotional and psychological distress can also be debilitating. Here in our pandemic times, distress is growing in every sense of the word. The world is shifting from PTSD to Pre-TSD in anticipation and fear of what this virus is to bring.
So what do we do? How do we handle the novel Coronavirus in reality? We can share as many memes of Corona beer being shunned by other food in the refrigerator, or jokes about social distancing and coughs being the new bad word or behavior (and as someone that suffers from allergies I feel ya!), but what do we actually do to deal with this emotionally?
Cut out social media when possible. Everyone has opinions. Everyone has stories. We know medical professionals are having to make unimaginable and life changing decisions. We know other countries and ours are struggling. It is like nothing we have ever experienced. Don’t drown in it.
TURN off notifications. Updates are coming out rapidly. Things are changing and more information that we could ever consume is flowing through our electronic devices. Set a certain time to check in, gather information from credible sources, and then turn it off.
Get moving. Get outside, take a walk, go for a hike, sit on the porch. This social isolation isn’t going anywhere quickly, it’s going to be tough. We can do this.
Talk to your therapist! Or find one. It might be on videochat. It might be over the phone, it might be in person. Do not neglect your mental health. We can #flattenthecurve for mental health issues too if we tend to them regularly and ongoing instead of neglecting our emotional well being during this time.
FaceTime your friends and family during this time to create social connections. For some it's no different, for some it is. For introverts this time is fine, for extroverts… well… it could be interesting!
Find some sense of grounding. Whether it be creating a routine, or setting up daily yoga to help identify the time of day. I know that when a Friday regular of mine comes in on a Thursday my whole concept of time is thrown off, so familiarity in most regards is important!
Lastly, laugh when you can laugh, cry when you need to cry, celebrate when you can and grieve when you are forced to. Support each other. We can do scary things, be scared, keep going, and come out on the other side.
While this is by not means a comprehensive list, it is a start. Something you can build off of to support yourself and those you are socially isolating with. Whether that be family or roommates, start to create your own “new norms”. We don’t know what tomorrow looks like- let alone the next couple weeks or months, so let's take it one day at a time, work to minimize anticipatory anxiety, and keep going.
Have grace for yourself, grace for those we are socially isolating with. Marvel at the undeniable fact the history repeats itself (bad 80’s fashion to pandemics). Take deep breaths when your kids/parents/roommates/neighbors/co-worker’s breathing starts to aggravate you after hours/days/weeks together as we #flattenthecurve. We bound to get tired of each other. Send funny memes. They are never a bad idea.
Loving and sarcastically-
Mary Ann
Check out our Covid-19 services via Telehealth HERE. Currently serving all of Tennessee and California for Tele-Mental Health.
P.S. Ready to deal with the emotional and psychological side effects of tornadoes, Covid-19, #socialdistancing and isoloation (oh my)! Email us at info@nashvilletherapy.co or visit our online scheduling and we can get you set up to meet us #virtually #socialdistancingapproved #telehealth.