FLATTENING THE CURVE

What a time it is to be an American, to be a global citizen.  As I write this, the snow is melting in the middle of March, a painful reminder of the perils of climate change while we self-quarantine due to Coronavirus/Covid-19.  Groups at this office are now officially on hiatus and I anticipate most individual and couples/family appointments moving to the teletherapy option temporarily.

As social primates, human beings require connection with each other.  How do we connect in the most healthy way now?  Ironically, the best thing we can do for each other at this time is social distancing.  It feels silly, it feels like overreacting, but the reality is that the health and safety measures recommended by scientists and trustworthy governmental authorities demonstrate appropriate anxiety.  It is incumbent upon all of us to flatten the curve of this pandemic.  If it looks like we overreacted later on, if things don't get as bad as we fear, that might just be the demonstrated evidence that the actions we took worked.

This strikes me as similar to the resistance we all feel to making a change in our lives with regard to the way we treat ourselves or in relationship with other people.  It might feel like too much, or even impossible, to say no to someone or something in our lives that isn't working anymore.  We might be accused of overreacting.  But this very reaction might be the one that is required to make the change.  Once we make what feels like a drastic change, things might not turn out as badly as we feared.  This might be the demonstrated evidence that the seemingly extreme action we took worked.  Frequently we have become too used to something that is harmful to us.  We may need to temporarily or radically distance ourselves from business as usual to prevent further damage. We might be required to flatten the curve to heal.