Millions of Americans are struggling to maintain focus, forgetting the days, miscalculating the months, and becoming increasingly unproductive.
Relax.
You are in good company. COVID-19 is causing confusion for many. It’s kind of a real thing. Seriously. The symptom of feeling time warped is not the only sign.
Symptoms of Feeling Time Warped
- Headaches
- Body Aches
- Insomnia
- Anxiousness
- Depression
Each of these are associated with quarantining for lengthy periods of time, isolating, and having limited human interactions. While it is important to do so for the health of everyone, it does have an effect. It may seem contradictory to our well established nature and traditions, yet, because of the raging pandemic, our greatest defense is isolation.
For the owner of a residential assisted living home, the pandemic is especially difficult to manage.
With residents, many of whom are tender and may have compromised immune symptoms, isolation is a must. It also may seem unhealthy to isolate seniors from their families and the world around them. However, the risk of visitation is greater than the benefit of doing the same.
Therefore, we isolate.
The residential assisted living homeowner is also navigating these peculiar times while quarantining and feeling the symptoms of time warp.
There is a solution. In a word – resilience.
The path to resilience is a positive mindset. It’s facing reality with a solution-oriented thinking process.
It’s accepting what you cannot change, acknowledging you are unable to change it, and moving forward with grace and dignity.
These positive qualities coupled with humor will enable you to lead your staff and residents through the most socially challenging modern times.
It’s all in the way you as a residential assisted living homeowner and leader guides those who rely on you through these murky waters.
SOLVING THE FRUSTRATION PROBLEM
Frustration is to be expected, but sole focus on why you are frustrated will only result in you being more frustrated.
Focusing on negative realities is counterproductive.
It creates a mental loop that will leave you exhausted. So, make another decision. But what decision can one make when engulfed with frustration?
Avoid it – laugh at it – this is resilience.
You are empowering yourself to take action in a different way. Success may look different than it did a year ago. Accept it.
Things are different, but that means things are new. In the United States, much remains the same, though. Many of us fortunately still have:
- A safe place to live
- Food on the shelves in our grocery stores
- Clean drinkable water
- Toilets that flush
- A hot shower in the morning
- A car that starts and has good tires
Be thankful. These things did not change but other things may have. On second thought, other things have changed which can be exciting.
FACING COVID WITH RESILIENCE
Stress is everywhere. People watch the 24-hour news cycle and confound themselves with the same news that has not changed in the past 12 hours. Don’t get caught up in the negative news loop.
Change your focus and live your life in the community where you reside.
There are serious situations covering the globe, but it’s especially important during these times that you learn how to focus on your own reality.
Suggestions On What Things You Might Want To Obsess Less About
- Rising COVID number and death tolls
- Fluctuating unemployment numbers
- Violent political uproars
- Racial protest and unrest
- Physical isolation
These things are real and they are important; yet, your reaction to them does not have to be hysteria. Each of these realities have happened before and somehow mankind continued.
How? Resilience.
THE PHYSIOLOGY OF FEELING TIME WARPED BY SOCIAL ISOLATION
When human experiences create feelings of anxiety and fear, the limbic system in your brain goes into a “fight or flight” response. It is a built-in mechanism that goes as far back as the cavemen.
Yes, COVID-19 is dangerous, but it does not affect everyone the same.
You can’t change that it is happening, but you can embrace the solutions – wear a mask, wash your hands, clean surfaces and social distance.
How to Build Resilience
- Acknowledge all the facts.
- Accept that things have changed.
- Embrace the solutions, even if they may be inconvenient.
- Meditate: literally think and focus on things that are pure, good, solid, true.
- Be grateful for all that you do have.
- Name the negative emotions and speak the truth to yourself.
- Go forward, even when nervous.
Building Resilience to Combat Symptoms Associated with COVID
Presently, many research institutions throughout the nations are researching the benefit of resilience in these times. Top notch researchers are clinically investigating how resilience has contributed to the following in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic:
- Reduction in depression.
- Reduction in anxiety.
- Improvement in sleep patterns.
- Increase in productivity.
- Overall feelings of well-being.
Sounds weird? Well, to some it may be, but the reality in America is that some people are collapsing under the stress of this pandemic.
What’s the solution? Resilience is the solution to not just surviving the pandemic but engaging in a purposeful life. Fear is defeated when resilience is central.
Resilience takes responsibility, accepts the truth about the situation, fosters clarity, and carves a path to freedom.
Here are some characteristics of the resilient:
- Knowledgeable, not ignorant.
- Aware, but not scared.
- Encouraged, not disillusioned.
- Caring, not overly cautious.
- Meticulous, not a hypochondriac.
- Thoughtful, not anxious.
THE RESILIENCY OF RESIDENTIAL ASSISTED LIVING NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
To you, the residential assisted living homeowner, it’s not over. The sky is not falling nor is it your limit. The sun is sure to rise in the morning and a new day will dawn upon us.
The question you must ask yourself: “How do I see the day? How will I face the day? What will I make of this day?
Have no fear. Take on resilience. To shake yourself out of this stupor and lead your business into new horizons use more suggestions from Residential Assisted Living National Association.
Your residents need you. Your staff needs you. And many families in your community will need you in the very near future. Accept the challenge and get comfortable with being uncomfortable. It’s called growth.
There is a path to come out of this better than when it all began.
