Who else is feeling it? Pandemic Brain seems to have hit me with; total exhaustion, lack of motivation, an underlying sadness and a strange feeling Bill Murray is going to walk around the corner of the kitchen because we’re probably in the movie “Ground Hogs Day” with him.
Because I’ve worked virtually from home for 20 years now, I was fortunate to not have to adjust to that part of this whole thing. Suddenly after the inauguration, the lack of going anywhere for days at a time needed to be changed up as I realized one day blended into the next. Many of us were living in a state of fear about the inauguration and the safety of our cities after the January 6th Insurrection at our Nation’s Capitol. It was a huge relief that January 20th had no violence. Living with fear is wearing on a person it turns out.
Ricka Kohnstamm’s article this week nailed it for me…so spot on with what I’ve been experiencing and have had so many people tell me they’re feeling this past week. Thank you to my fellow coach for reminding me so gently that taking stock of my values would help get me out of this funk.
So I decided to remind myself of my top 5 values (thankfully with all the coaching training I’ve had, I’ve done a lot of values mining work and it was easy to gain clarity on which are the top 5).
My Top 5 Values:
- Respect
- Honesty
- Fun
- Honoring my mind, body, spirit
- Living my purpose
Having clarity on these values makes the decisions about what to do next to getout of the slump easier and we can then get clear on the HOW of stopping the “Ground Hog’s Day” cycle. For me, it meant playing a mental game of ‘how many things can I do differently today?’ while going about my usual routines. And, despite tiredness, getting outside and moving in ways that give me joy. I’m making more of an effort to reach out to friends even though it’s all virtual.
Figuring out creative ways to stay ‘in community’ will help us all. We don’t have to do this pandemic thing alone, even when we feel so alone. We can have fun in silly new and different ways even though all we want is to just do what we used to do. It’s okay to ask for help and it’s okay to ask if your peeps need help.
Take good care.
