After four weeks of quarantine, we recognized that four weeks isn’t nearly enough. Non-essential businesses and schools have now closed “indefinitely” locally and globally.
As I sit in my house, I can see the skyline of mighty New York City, throbbing in action and inaction. Every night I look at her and remember the heroes and those who are suffering.
At this point, it is likely that you know someone who has become ill or who has passed. And we are shocked by the loss. We knew it was coming and still we are shocked.
We have lost a lot. And there have been gains as well. It’s a lot to hold at once.
We are all heroes, and we are all processing the pain.
As a coach I try to help my clients connect with their emotions, acknowledge and feel uncomfortable feelings. In time, we can move on from the feelings, engage our frontal lobe and create solutions to the problems that keep us stuck.
But first, we feel. So let’s feel it together.
- Here is a podcast I created this week to help you grieve and process loss. In it I review Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’ 5 stages of grief and David Kessler’s 6th stage, meaning. Have a listen.
- Brene Brown also interviewed David Kessler on loss and how we can process it right now. She has another podcast that helps you identify how you process loss — are you over or under functioning? Have a listen.
- Parents are Not Alright — a piece from Medium. Working parents: I see you and so does this author. Be seen, be felt. It’s hard.
In this article on Psychology Today, the author (a therapist) acknowledge that even with his professional training in trauma, there is no clear mental health solution for this moment. He says, “Right now I am allowing myself to be in free fall about what I thought I knew about traumatic stress. In doing so, I am beginning to rediscover my own emotional equilibrium, as imperfect as that may be.”
Give yourself the space and grace to grieve. In time there will be growth. Now is the time to feel. It’s messy and it’s a requirement. You can’t outrun grief; you have to let yourself feel it.
I am here, as always if I can be useful to you in this time.
Great love to you,
Allison
