Nearly two years after the first lockdowns and “two weeks to flatten the curve,” it’s hard to believe the world is still contending with restrictions, cancellations and disappointed hopes. But that’s the stark reality of COVID, which continues to persist.

Meanwhile, pressures at home and work have mounted and people are burned out. The American Psychological Association (APA) found via a recent survey that almost 80% of respondents had experienced work-related stress in the month prior. In general, according to the APA’s 2021 Stress in America study, 63% said uncertainty about the coming months was causing them stress and nearly half said it feels impossible to plan for the future.

In the face of the physical and mental stress that prolonged anxiety, frustration and fear are causing, how can we be resilient and model graciousness and flexibility to ourselves and those around us? In this live episode of Promo Insiders, executive editor Sara Lavenduski speaks with Dr. Melissa Whitson, a licensed psychologist and associate professor of Psychology at the University of New Haven in Connecticut, about practical ways to address the stress.

“We need to give ourselves a break,” says Whitson. “We need to alter our standards, and be kind and compassionate towards ourselves and others. … We’re feeling disappointed, exhausted, angry, and that’s all totally normal and in some ways healthy, because we should be feeling these ways about disruptions in our lives. There’s not one right way to feel.”

The days are full of stressful moments, from spending hours chasing elusive inventory, to virtual learning, to angry customers, to yet another canceled vacation. Whitson says there are tried-and-true ways to calm the overwhelm so the mind is able to perform.

“Oftentimes when our bodies are reacting to [chronic] stress, our body systems are activated, like fight-or-flight,” says Whitson. “We’re always on the alert, waiting for things to happen. … [Consider] deep breathing, mindfulness, yoga, even coloring or puzzle-making. We can calm our system down so our frontal lobe can do the work it needs to do.”

Watch on YouTube