Last week we looked at the psychological effects of lockdown and the importance of the population’s mental health wellbeing at an unprecedented time like this.
We have seen and heard of many cases where people struggle to adapt to this “new way of life” but on the other end of the spectrum are also those people who have been enjoying social distancing and the lockdown.
To be fair, if everyone had enough food and essential supplies to get them through a month, who wouldn’t be happy about spending more time at home and doing things they enjoy that they wouldn’t normally have the time to do?
If we can think of one positive that this pandemic has brought about that would be an evaluation of how busy our lives have been, how much time we spend on work, and how much little time we spend with family and doing the things we really enjoy.
Rather than lamenting the loss of a packed agenda, many people around the world are enjoying the much needed “break” that social distancing and lockdown have brought. Many are actually delighted that they can work remotely from home in their pajamas and not have to worry about the formalities that come along with an office job. In the case of Guyanese public servant, the rotation of staff means that work only happens a few days in the week and there is more time at home to relax.
If you’re workaholic, then you’ll have been forced to re-examine your life and realise that you probably didn’t have a work-life balance. By no means is it easy to transition from a 9 to 5 job or perhaps even longer for those who are self-employed to being at home for 2 to 3 days of the working week. In fact, many persons have reported that before they started enjoying their time at home, they did go through feelings of anxiety and panic. But when they made a decision to accept this “new way of life,” being at home became a whole lot more enjoyable as they began to not only discover new passions but recognise the importance of taking a breather from a hectic work schedule.
So while it is true that social distancing and lockdown can negatively affect us at first, we can find positive ways of coping by looking on the brighter side of things as many people around the world have been doing. Enjoy all the time you have now because when this is over, we will all miss the days we social distanced.
Alicia Roopnaraine is a Psychologist at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation’s Psychiatric Department. You can send questions or comments to her at aliciaroopnaraine@gmail.com
