As you may have heard, our big city of Chicago has officially begun the process of reopening. The city is now in Phase 5 where most mandatory COVID-19 regulations have been lifted. Most businesses have started the process of reopening within safety guidelines. People have started going back to work in their offices instead of in their homes.
However, not everyone is comfortable with the city’s reopening stage. Some people have been experiencing what experts call “reopening anxiety.” If you are one of those people feeling anxious about life gradually starting to return to normal, you are not alone. This type of anxiety is real, natural, and expected. Here are a few ways you can cope with this.
Discuss Your Problems with a Friend
If you’ve been experiencing reopening anxiety, it is always good to express your concerns to someone you know and trust. Share with them why you are experiencing these anxieties. Share your feelings with your family, friends, or co-workers. By communicating your thoughts and feelings to them, you will be allowing them to be a source of support for you.
How do you know when you have to seek professional help? You know this when your anxiety starts to become severe. When your anxiety starts to affect your ability to function properly, you must start to seek a mental health professional. A professional could help you identify the root of your anxiety and best practices in coping. He could also help you take small steps in being comfortable with going out.
Take Things Slowly
If your employer is starting to reopen their offices, try to take things slowly each day at a time. Set aside some time to re-familiarize yourself with the office and your cubicle. Social awkwardness is to be expected so just be yourself to your co-workers. Don’t think or worry about what’s going to happen in the future.
Learn to tackle a new challenge each day at a time. For example, you could spend the first day walking in the park for a few minutes. Perhaps you can try spending time with a friend you haven’t seen in a while on the second day. Why not spend the third day with your mask on getting yourself a mani-pedi? All of these things require either making personal contact with people and having the bravery to go outside again. Doing these simple activities will help slowly eliminate your anxiety.
Follow These Three Options
When dealing with anxiety about the city reopening, you could also try these three techniques. These include challenging your thoughts, doing an exposure, and trying a coping skill. These options are usually good for dealing with anxiety in general, but they could also be helpful when experiencing it during this time.
Challenging your thoughts teaches you to examine the current COVID-19 cases in your area and figure out whether it’s safe enough for you to eat at a restaurant. Doing an exposure involves recognizing that a certain thing makes you anxious, and doing it anyway. Being exposed to this thing is hard, but it will help you build confidence and tolerate uncertainty. This will help your anxiety decrease.
Practicing a coping skill will help you to relax effectively as you face re-entering the world. Try cultivating some mindfulness techniques like deep breathing, guided meditation, and progressive muscle relaxation. While being exposed to that problem that makes you anxious can help you mentally, doing these mindfulness techniques could help you physically.
With our city entering the reopening phase, it’s perfectly natural to start experiencing some anxiety. But if we open up to someone about our anxiety, take things slowly day by day, and follow three anxiety-reducing techniques, we would start to feel confident about getting our lives slowly back to normal.
