In Practice

about the increase in people experiencing greater challenges with keeping themselves and their families feeling grounded and positive.

Psychologist Dr. Ana Nogales wrote in her article “The Stages of Coping With the COVID-10 Pandemic” on the Psychology Today website, that most people will go through the following stages as they deal with COVID and the uncertainty that comes from any massive systemic societal change.

COVID Stages

• Panic

• Action

• Confusion

• Anxiety/Depression—fueled even more by uncertainty

• Anger

• Adaptation

I can certainly attest to having gone through these steps, and I also believe that having my holistic goal has helped me find the “middle ground” that feels right to me as the media shares the extremes of people choosing to remain self-quarantined to those who feel they do not need to wear masks. As a family we have looked at our desired outcome and our unique

Mimicking Nature

risks and opportunities. We have then defined our family policies about when we will and won’t wear masks, who we will let in our house and with what precautions, etc.

We are trying to adapt to these new rules to be able to engage and connect with our family (which includes grandchildren and a 95-year-old mother) and our community while being responsible citizens within the context of new state regulations. We also recognize our good fortune of living out in the country with the freedom such a lifestyle affords us while surrounded by nature and flexible work schedules.

But part of our efforts to stay grounded include recognizing that 2020 and all its challenges is a once in a lifetime experience (at least that is certainly my hope). While my mother’s generation lived through two world wars and the Spanish flu, many of us have not had to adapt to this kind of global challenge before.

In talking to numerous friends and family members, and taking the pulse of my own energy levels, I am aware of a certain fatigue. Given that I don’t have school-aged children at home who need home schooling during work hours like many young parents in the U.S., I can only imagine what other people’s fatigue levels might be.

I think there are a lot of people who are beating themselves up for feeling like they can’t keep going. But, I think we need to look at the toll that occurs after the collapse of most of our systems that have broken down or had to be significantly altered over the last six months (i.e., religious institutions, schools, community support networks, etc.). We have used up our “surge capacity” to make that transition.

The idea of “surge capacity” is articulated in the article “Your ‘Surge Capacity’ is Depleted— It’s Why You Feel Awful” on the website Elemental. They define “surge capacity” as “a collection of adaptive systems — mental and physical—that humans draw on for short-term survival in acutely stressful situations, such as

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HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT® IN PRACTICE

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