The new normal?
I’m hearing a lot of guilt. A lot of anxiety tainted by guilt about anxiety.
I’m hearing “I don’t know why I feel so bad’ and ‘I’m normally stronger than this’ over and over again from clients.
Folk feeling impotent. Powerless. Scared.
Well, guess what? It’s normal to be scared. The war in Ukraine is scary – and not just because it’s close to home for many or because, as many news outlets have claimed, because ‘they look like us.’ It’s scary because of its potential to escalate. And if you are a child of the 80s, you’ll be triggered by talk of nuclear war. Kids -and adults- were genuinely afraid during the Cold War. You’ll perhaps remember government advice about storing canned food and water in the cupboard-under-the-stairs .
It’s normal to feel scared. It’s normal to feel anxious. And in normal times, you’d have reserves of confidence and resilience to dig into. But wait – we’ve used those up on two years of COVID fears and uncertainty. So, now, when you need those resources to buoy yourself up, they’re not there.
These are not normal times. Maybe stop holding yourself to your ‘normal’ standards. Normal isn’t normal right now. Give yourself a break.
Photo by Kayla Koss on Unsplash