Be gentle with yourself right now. This is an extraordinary time to be a human. In pre-pandemic(s) life, you might have been waking up at 6 am to exercise, physically going to work, dropping your kids off at school with a healthy and balanced lunch, limiting screen time for the family, making time for date nights, planning weekend adventures with friends, using self-control to not eat the entire pint of ice cream all in one sitting... then COVID hit and you launched into super light speed! Everything changed in a matter of days and you turned into a real-life superhero putting out one fire after the next. It was both exhausting and exhilarating, but you had clear purpose.

Now we are over 3 months into the pandemic(s), and things just seem hard. The challenges are never-ending. All the motivation from the first few months has evaporated and the little things are starting to really get to you. If this is how you are feeling, you are NOT alone! There is a reason you feel like crap. Merete Wedell-Wedellsborg a Ph.D. in Business Economics and an M.A. in Organizational Psychology and author of Battle Mind: Performing Under Pressure describes the three phases of a crisis as “Emergency. Regression. Recovery”. In both the pandemics we are currently experiencing, it is important that we check in with ourselves regularly to make note of what phase we are currently in.

For many of us, and maybe even as a community, we are likely in the “Regression” phase of the COVID-19 pandemic and the “Emergency” phase in the Black Lives Matter pandemic. The regression phase is particularly uncomfortable, and yet, it cannot be skipped or avoided. This is why we request that you all be gentle with yourselves and with others right now. Take time to unplug, watch a funny movie, leave work early, prioritize your physical and mental health, and know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. As Wedell-Wedellsborg writes; the regression phase is your opportunity to become “a contributor to the resolution of a complex health, social, and economic event.”

These hard times now will make for a better and stronger tomorrow!  

This piece was taken from a Bridgercare newsletter. Due to Covid-19 Bridgercare will have an unexpected shortfall of at least $100,000. People in our community are losing their jobs, income, insurance and security – but they should never lose access to reproductive and sexual healthcare. Bridgercare needs your help to make sure that Covid-19 never affects our community’s right to these essential services, visit bridgercare.org/donate to donate.