Emotionality in times of COVID-19
Emotions are certain human reactions that arise in response to a specific stimulus, internal or external, and these depend on the personality or traits of each individual. The arrival of the pandemic has awakened a range of emotions that go beyond basic emotions such as fear or sadness. After more than a year of intense and sustained stress, our brain's mental system begins to generate an internal struggle that leads to emotional exhaustion, and as a consequence, people often experience an emotional crisis.
It could be said that the pandemic situation has led to a crisis with several components: a health component, since we feel our health is threatened; a mobility component that has led us to live in confinement; and a productivity component because, by confining ourselves to protect our health, productivity has decreased and incomes are lower for most people.
This multifactorial crisis has generated anguish, fear, uncertainty, sadness, and anxiety among people who feel they need to find ways to manage their emotions in the best way; even more so knowing that the solution is not near and that we do not know when it will occur.
What can we do about the negative emotions that assail us every day?
Once we understand the circumstances we are experiencing, we can look for ways to reduce the crisis from an emotional point of view by applying some strategies:
- Realistic acceptance . We cannot deny reality. The pandemic exists and we have to learn to live with it.
- Mind control . Thinking too much about the past generates nostalgia, and thinking about the future generates fear; that fear is what leads to anxiety.
- Information regulation . It is necessary to be informed, however we must not allow too much information to overwhelm us and fuel our fears.
- Social support . When we are accompanied, when we feel supported by people who encourage us, confidence increases and fear decreases.
- Creative adaptation . Once we accept reality, we must find strategies that apply to our abilities, talents, and knowledge. We must reinvent ourselves to become productive again.
- Spirituality . Everyone has their own beliefs. Prayer, meditation, or any other practice can lead us to achieve the spiritual peace we all need.
The pandemic has also generated positive emotions.
While it is true that the pandemic has generated negative emotions, it is also true that many of the emotions generated can be considered positive and become part of the values acquired:
- Valuing solidarity, empathy, unity and social awareness.
- Valuing the interdependence that helps us protect each other.
- Valuing the environment, understood as less pollution, caring for animals and the ecosystem, but also linked to a change in people's attitude towards nature.
- Appreciation of family and friends. The lockdown has led us to a closer relationship and greater understanding of those closest to us.
- Assessing resilience to cope with the moments we have lived through, reinvent ourselves and move forward.
We don't know how long the pandemic will last, nor how much we still have to learn; what we do know is that every day new challenges arise that strengthen us on the path we have to travel to continue learning how to manage our emotions.
Ramona Ávila Núñez, PhD