It’s hard to know how to respond to an unprecedented situation like the Coronavirus pandemic.
My job is to help people, especially moms of young kids, manage anxiety. And yet I, a mom of young kids, am now immersed in an incredibly anxiety-producing, upsetting situation, and like everyone else I am struggling with how to cope with this new (hopefully temporary) reality of contagion fears and cancellations and quarantines.
Not surprisingly, I’ve spent most of my therapy sessions over the past week talking about the virus and ways to cope with it. One of the pieces of advice I’ve been giving patients is to commit to doing something every day that helps you feel accomplished, and provides you with a sense of control. Set a goal for yourself, however small, and achieve it. It doesn’t matter what the goal is—it could be going out for a run or finishing up a lingering work project or reaching out to a long-lost loved one.
In true physician-heal-thyself fashion, I’m following my own advice. I’m turning to writing, something that brings me joy and a sense of accomplishment and control, to help me cope. While this crisis continues, I’m going to try to share one CBT-based “corona-momming” tip per day here on the blog. It’s my hope that readers will be able to digest small posts like these, as opposed to longer ones (which, let’s face it, no one has the attention span for right now).
Hoping you are all safe and well. Please feel free to reach out to me via email (dimarco@njcbt.com) or on social media (@DrCBTMom on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram) if you’d like me to address any particular issues.
P.S. Please check out a wonderful recent post by my friend Dr. Rebecca Schrag Hershberg discussing the virus from a parenting perspective. As is typical of Rebecca’s writing, it’s wise and comforting.
