Nothing makes you creative like idle time… so I’ve been thinking, how do we manage these unprecedented times emotionally? There are lots of psychological approaches to loss, denial and many other difficult situations… so what about a pandemic? what are the stages we’ve been through?
Here is what I believe happens… please comment and let me know what you think… the 5 stages of a Pandemic!
- Denial
- Anger & stress
- Panic
- Distraction
- Acceptance
- DENIAL – It’s not that bad, it won’t affect me, it’s only old people, it’s not here anyway, I can still go to my countryside house or on the beach… it won’t be everywhere anyway… for sure…
- ANGER & STRESS – This is unfair, why do I have to cancel my party? I was looking forward to my holiday… and what about my AirBnB? What do you mean no income? I was relying on that… where’s my support? They are giving money to businesses why not me? this is so unfair!
- PANIC – So… numbers are growing, what if I have to stay in like they did in other countries… let’s go and buy everything we can find… hang on… those idiots have cleaned the shelves already!! this looks serious…. I don’t know anyone who had it yet… but the news are bad… and it’s not just old people… what if I get it?
- DISTRACTION – So it’s bad, we are in lockdown, there’s no clear info, a lot of people not paying attention to the rules… I should be more careful, stay inside… still no news on support.. let’s claim universal credit, but how do you do that? The system crashes, online chats are full of people in distress trying to make sense of this… its not worth it… £90 a week won’t do much anyway… forget it, let’s work, set up the new business, create that online program that I’ve been putting off for so long… use the opportunity, they say, now is the time… hussle… find people to help you, sort out the tech … hang on… overnight everyone and their dog has come out with an online program on the same thing, who to follow? And how can you compete?? Oh well, it’s sunny after all, let’s just drink and dance on the balcony!!
- ACCEPTANCE – So here we are, and here we are going to be for the next 3 weeks (-19 days… or more … who knows). But it’s not prison, it’s not the end of the world, it’s a temporary situation… yes there will be changes, yes the economy will suffer, but ultimately people will still be here, needs will broadly still be the same with hopefully a bit more attention for the important things in life like your friends, a coffee and natter, a hug. Is this an opportunity that you need to capitalise on? Maybe, but the lesson is not how to make more money, it’s how to enjoy every day, even the ones in lockdown, laugh, dance, cherish the sun and clean skies and work on what you really really want, not what you think you should be doing…
This is your chance to take time and discover what really makes you happy, don’t waste it…