The global spread of COVID-19 is affecting us all. Companies shift to remote work – by now, 98% of intivers worldwide work from home – and individuals try to deal with ever-changing government policies and their upended daily routines. Earlier this week, we spoke to Anna Schattovits, a psychologist, certified coach and intive’s Learning & Development Business Partner. Anna specializes in motivation and personal development, conducts training for intivers and recently has been teaching us how to deal with unprecedented stress caused by the global pandemic.
We’re all experiencing many challenges right now, as people, employers and employees. How to cope with anxiety in the face of global health emergency?
I think this question may no longer be relevant. What we’re dealing with at this point is a mix of anxiety, anger, frustration and many other emotions.
To understand what’s happening to us, it’s important to take a closer look at the mechanism behind fear. There are three components to fear: a thought, physiological response and a certain behavior. We hear some news, we immediately think and feel something, and then behave in a certain way.
Physiological response comes first and it’s easy to observe: Your heart starts beating faster and breathing speeds up.
When we experience this reaction, what do we do?
The best thing you can do is to pause for a second, stop and observe: What’s happening to me right now? What am I feeling and how does it show? We need to calm down first to be able to focus on our thoughts and actions.
You can consider:
• breathing exercises and other mindfulness techniques (you’ll find plenty online),