If I am to be transparent with you all, as much as I am grateful to continue to be working during this worldwide pandemic to support my family, it is difficult to overcome my anxiety everyday in preparation to enter the field to maintain positivity and support for others out in the community while I know I am risking my health. Today I am feeling so very grateful for every doctor, nurse, healthcare worker, every grocery store employee, pharmacist, and every person whose work requires them to keep showing up and risking their health while the rest of the community stays home.
This is a truly unique and interesting time period in our nation/world. I work with patients up to high 90's in years of age who have been through the end of the Great Depression and World War II on the battlefield. Even living through those historical moments, they report to me that this scenario cannot quite compare.
With the increasing heightened stress of the situation, Governor Whitmer of Michigan declared a state shutdown in the fight of COVID-19 that began at 12:01 am Tuesday, March 24th secondary to the increasing rate of coronavirus cases growing more than 1,000 in 13 days in our state. Per department of homeland security and the state of Michigan, occupational therapists are classified as essential healthcare works. Therefore, the show must go on to continue to take precautions for the safety of ourselves and others, to enter the facilities, and to provide the treatment to the patients on caseload.
Regulations for us include the requirement of treating patients in their rooms, maintaining social distancing with other employees as much as we can control for a six foot radius, and morning COVID-19 screenings prior to entering the facility. I realize through all of this, my anxiety is stemming from a feeling of loss of control of my environment. Another term most commonly comparable to this is called Learned Helplessness. You may have heard it through a psychology course during your educational years or through the increasingly popular Netflix show called 100 Humans (my guilty pleasure), but it perfectly describes the essence of why humans are responding in this particular way during this crisis. Learned helplessness is a state that occurs after a person has experienced a stressful situation repeatedly and come to believe there is little or not much at all they can do to control or change the situation.
What can we do to combat this? At a personal level, there is a way to maintain normalcy and routine in your schedule while at home. There are strategies that you can implement into your daily practice to help you gain control of your own life such as getting enough sleep, exercising daily, drinking enough water, washing your hands, practicing good hygiene, cooking and preparing nutrient dense meals, spending time for yourself in an valued activity/occupation that you enjoy to reduce stress. These are the same concepts I emphasize with my patients through the lens of occupational therapy. What is important to you? What drives your motivations and fulfills your soul? Integrating your own values and priorities into your daily routine will not only improve your mental health and well-being, but it will improve your overall quality of life.
Then we have at the community level, it is the governor's orders and all of our efforts for social distancing that will allow us to assist in the control of this situation that will help us to decrease cases of exposure and "flatten the curve" as they call it.
So today and every other day after that, I will wake up, drink my coffee, say my prayers, and do the best I can given the situation at hand. I will treat my patient's with the best level of care possible and give them the smiling face they need and deserve. I will alleviate their fear the best that I can and continue to educate on how they can take precautions as well. And I will repeat that day in and day out until we see the light at the end of the tunnel.
We are in a trying time as a nation/world, but this can only make us better. I am praying for those who have been impacted during these challenging times. It is time to have a glass half full mentality and control what WE can control. Use this time to plan for the next move, to work on those skills we have neglected, and to get closer to those we haven't connected with in some time.
So shout out to everyone who is still grinding day in and day out, with your families at home or within the community for those jobs who are deemed essential and need to continue for the sake of our community. I thank you for you efforts and am rooting for you maybe not in person, but in spirit! Keep grinding Michigan, America, World. Love is...being transparent with your fears and concerns while maintaining that half glass full mentality and staying positive.
Please comment & tell me about the people in your life who are working to help all of us stay healthy- we're so thankful, and we honor your brave work.
