Coping with COVID fatigue
This is part two of an earlier article I wrote about COVID fatigue. As spring has sprung, there have been so many positive developments. Many people are finding relief from COVID related anxiety due to the more wide availability of the vaccine. We are starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel and that is great. However, there do remain a lot of personal decisions that need to be made and continued issues that exist. I wanted to focus on two specific skills that might be helpful in managing COVID fatigue and burnout, wise mind and non judgmental stance.
Wise mind is a DBT skill that focuses on the idea that we have three different minds we operate from, the emotional mind, the logical mind and the wise mind. Our emotional mind is where we operate from when we are feeling impulsive and well, emotional. We might make split second decisions without considering longer term consequences. Common behaviors we might see when we are in our emotional mind include lashing out in anger, hurting ourselves, engaging in disordered eating, substance abuse, etc. Our logical mind is more about making linear decisions without considering our emotions. We use this mind when trying to solve a math problem or other problem solving. Our wise mind is the coming together of both of these minds, our deep down knowing or intuition. The idea here is that we generally know the right decision to make, we just don’t always make it.
So, as it relates to COVID fatigue, it is important to tap into your wise mind when making important decisions. Our emotions or the advice of others might make us want to stray from our wise mind, but it is important to listen to it and make the best decisions for you and your family. For some it might mean getting vaccinated as soon as possible, while for others it might mean waiting longer to see what side effects might emerge. For others it might mean not getting vaccinated at all for a number of reasons. The point is, when we listen to our own intuition, we make the best decisions that we can for ourselves and our families. It is important to remember this when we find ourselves questioning our decisions or the decisions of others.
It is also important to tap into our wise mind when we find ourselves judging our own decisions or others. That is where the second skill, nonjudgmental stance comes in. It can be helpful in reducing our emotional minds and reactions to be more aware of our judgments. As we become more aware of our judgments of ourselves or others, it can also help us to try and become more objective in our thoughts and actions, or words. I know I have found myself judging the decisions of other families and this is a perfectly natural urge. However, it is also helpful to examine why you might be judging yourself or others. Are you not confident in your decision and you are seeking validation of your decisions by judging others who have made different decisions? If so, remember we are all doing the best that we can for our families. Everyone’s backgrounds and experiences are different, so what might be the best decision for you might not be best for your friends or family and that is ok.
When you notice yourself rushing to make judgments, it is helpful to explore them and then if you decide they are unhelpful or unproductive, work towards re-framing those thoughts. It can be helpful to reduce judgments by becoming aware of all or nothing thoughts, words like always or never are indicators you might be adding judgment to your thoughts or feelings. Remember, you are in control of your thoughts and feelings, which also drive our actions. So, becoming more aware of and changing problematic thinking patterns can go a long way in making positive changes and coping better in this ever changing world.
The DBT skills information included in my articles is all adapted from Marsha Linehan’s original work in developing dialectical behavioral therapy, as well as from the DBT workbook for PTSD by Kirby Reutter. If you have any questions or would like to learn more, please check out my website at Marlarstarneslcsw.com
