Regardless of what your role is in your professional life or personal life, everyone is being affected in at least, one way with the events of 2020, whether it be the pandemic, the racial unrest, the political unrest; there are many things to choose from as stressors. Many are experiencing a vast array of negative impacts that are altering their way of life both at home and work and challenging their usual coping skills they utilize when feeling stressed. And some are experiencing the full weight of the global pandemic to the degree that it is resulting in experiencing it as traumatic. We have a term we’re using now, “pandemic fatigue” for the heightened state of arousal that is being asked of us, for a long period of time. Our arousal state of awareness, our sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight), is built to raise us up and quickly address the threat, then return to parasympathetic dominance (rest and digest). But this bear has gone on for MONTHS, and many of us are exhausted by it.
The key thing I wanted to communicate in this podcast I did with the Better Business Bureau’s Sara Kemerer was as we are all in a heightened state, we may inadvertently forego empathy and understanding, because our system may not naturally allow for that, simply because we are all revved up. So while some may take advantage of the leniency offered during this time, I urge to you resist your own urge to assume malintent, staying in a place of hypervigilance when it comes to employees or loved ones “getting one over on” you/the system/an employer, etc. Rather, assume no malice, offer empathy, understanding, and options that can simplify an already difficult time. The harm that can come from assuming malice far exceeds the benefit of catching those who are abusing a system.
Here are the links to listen to the podcast:
https://bit.ly/37QVqNp on Stitcher
https://apple.co/3oAJKoI on Apple Podcasts
https://spoti.fi/3gy0om8 on Spotify
https://apple.co/3oAJKoI on Apple Podcasts
https://spoti.fi/3gy0om8 on Spotify
