NEWS YOU CAN USE
COPING WITH COVID FATIGUE AND UNCERTAINTY
Most people have probably heard the word “resilience” quite often lately.
Collectively, we’ve been told that we need to be resilient in many areas of life – in work, with family matters, and even with our own personal and emotional concerns. While we thought vaccines meant an end to the COVID-19 pandemic, a delta variant of the virus diminished hope for resuming ‘‘normal” life anytime soon. Now, organizations are wondering how their employees can stay resilient for such an extended period of time when there is stress amid uncertainty about managing new COVID variants today and the future.
According to The Institute for Organizational Neuroscience, it is our brain’s job to process all of the information that we take in each day and to keep us safe. Outside of our conscious awareness, our brains are also making assessments about our physical and social psychological safety. When our brains interpret a familiar situation, it is easy to process and react to that situation. When given a new or ambiguous situation, however, our brains have to work much harder to process and determine the best options.
This is where resilience comes in. There are external ways to support our brain and give it a break in uncertain times. Here are three ways you can build resiliency in your daily life:
- Taking breaks – Continue to build in micro breaks throughout your day in between meetings, and be sure to get outside each day to create a calmer, more focused brain.
- Connecting – Take the last few weeks of summer to create special moments and memories with family and friends. At work, pick up the phone once in a while instead of always relying on email.
- Controlling what you can – Limit the number of information sources you track and your overall consumption of news. Our brains are very impressionable first thing in the morning, so resist the urge to check your phone and instead take a moment to express gratitude or meditate on the day ahead.
Employees and employers can work together to enable the resilience necessary to survive COVID fatigue and the stress of uncertain times. Companies can work to provide a fit environment for managing the stressors that arise, and employees must increase their own awareness in order to utilize these new offerings when they need to reset.