Through my experience as a life coach at We Care Life Coaching and a certified member of NVR Counselling Therapy Centre, I have found that most of our clients have become so used to being housebound that it has become the norm.
They turned to their mobile phones and other online devices for company, feeling safely connected and entertained.
In doing so, they have neglected their family and friends. They are now not sure how to interact in a psychosocial healthy way with people again.
Family dinners in front of the television have become the norm in most households. This brings about a lack of children feeling needed or contributing to family matters and events of the day, which are normally discussed around the dinner table.
Also as a result the trust between partners has been damaged as they are left to their wild imaginations of who their partners’ are interacting with on the phone or computer. Communication has been affected as WhatsApp messages to friends or family don’t always convey the proper perspective as words are spoken aloud combined with body language convey.
Our young community members have become so comfortable in the security of their bedroom and immediate family that they have forgotten how to socialise or interact with classmates and teachers in the normal school environment.
Social distancing and masks have been an absolute necessity and a welcomed one in trying to contain the virus, but the challenge now is how to get back into the real world to talk face-to-face with others without hiding behind the mask worn physically and psychologically.
It was absolutely refreshing to go out on the weekend and actually see people’s faces and smiles. Please continue to take precautions as the threat of the virus is a real one and is by no means going to magically vanish anytime soon.
Tips to assist locals during this transition period while keeping safe:
• Recognise that your feelings are normal.
• Find new ways of making meaningful connections.
• Focusing on healthy ways to take care of yourself while getting back into the mainstream again.
• Talk to someone you trust about your thoughts.
• Continue to take care of your physical health such as eating healthy and exercising.
• Start doing other activities that you used to enjoy.
• Steer away from harmful substances.
• Take more breaks from the news.
• Create a new adapted schedule.
• Do a worry drop – write down all your fears in a journal.
• Make a daily list of what is going well and better.
Yolanda Dannatt
