According to Greek mythology, the Hydra is a nine-headed gigantic water-snake-like monster. Like the Hydra, there have been many faces to the impact COVID has had on people. For some it has been as traumatic as losing a loved one. For others, outside of being a major inconvenience, it really hasn’t that bad. During these troubling and challenging times, Hercules has not been available to come and rescue us from this monster. We’ve been thrown back onto our own resources to save ourselves.

For people who are more introverted like me, in many ways, it has been an unexpected gift of time. The exile imposed by COVID allowed me time to read, think, meditate, reflect and enjoy the peace that came with the slowing down of the outside world. That said, I was not immune to the fact that life as we all knew it had come to a screeching halt and that all of our heartfelt desires for life to return to return to normal as soon as possible were not going to be answered. And in the course of the last 20 months, my life has changed, and I have changed profoundly in ways that I could neither have foreseen nor imagined.

For the more extroverted among us who thrive on social interaction and get energized by being around others and engaging in out-of-the-house activities, it has been a tough time. Unable to safely and freely move about and be on the go, separated from the touch of friends and loved ones, missing favorite activities, having to find new ways to have fun and connect, has been more difficult. Some have slipped into depression. Others have felt hopeless or helpless or even a sense of despair. Some have gotten very angry. That anger has shown itself in a variety of ways. Angry at politicians. Angry at those who sought to protect themselves by wearing masks. Angry about getting or not getting the vaccines. Angry about others getting or not getting the vaccines. Angry about businesses shutting down. Angry that life as we had known it has gone away.

Life has changed. Many of us would like to say that it was all the result of COVID but many of the changes in our world have been brewing for a long time. In our world, old structures - whether that be media, healthcare, politics, education, international relations, supply chains, alliances, etc. – have and are breaking down and we don’t yet have the new structures to replace the old. In some cases these changes are coming slowly and in other cases coming more rapidly. Some changes are more subtle than others but the old ways, the old traditions of how we thought our world worked or was supposed to work, are breaking down. Order will eventually emerge from the chaos but right now we don’t know what that world will look like and that is bringing up a lot of fear and anxiety and stress in people. COVID added to all that.

Many people felt that they and/or their world was in crisis. The demands made on them - to help stop the spread, to stay home, to give up many of life’s pleasures - were coming too quickly; changes too fast to process; their normal routine, their daily routine had been disrupted and things just weren’t working the way they were supposed to. But we did what we needed to do – we established new routines; processed the changes one step at a time; and we handled the new demands coming from every facet of life as best we could. And this was easier for some than for others. Humans don’t really like change.

Many of us ran into the fact that just because something had worked in the past – job, relationship, hobby, perspectives, goals – did not mean that it would continue to work. Things that we had taken for granted could no longer be taken for granted. Our health, our safety, our survival, our relationships, the things that brought us joy, even our ability to purchase paper towels could no longer be counted on in quite the same way. Spouses and or families having to spend real time together. For some, the increased contact only strengthened the already existing closeness and bonds. Other found themselves looking at loved ones and wondering, “Who are you?”

Many people discovered a desire to not constantly be tied into work and wanting more of a work/life balance. Wanting more flexibility in work schedules. Tired of missing their kids grow up. Quality of life becoming more important than living by arbitrary rules imposed by the workplace. This Hydra-head occasioned the re-prioritizing of life.

Some people found new or alternative or additional ways to make money and survive. Some moved to new places – whether out of choice or by necessity. Many are currently seeking new jobs. That may be for better working conditions, better money, better living conditions or just something new to do as they have become bored and restless.

Having been locked down in our houses for so long, it has been interesting to see people emerge with the drive to be seen and heard. When I was younger, sequins, flashy, sparkly dress was something that was reserved for a very dressy or formal occasion. Now everything glitters, including bedroom shoes – which have moved from the bedroom to everyday footwear. Bling has become de rigueur. Informality in dress and appearance has also become more commonplace. So, in some senses, COVID has changed the way we present ourselves to others as we re-emerge.

COVID also forced people to deal with themselves and then those close to them in ways that they could have avoided before. In the busyness of life, I can keep myself distracted from dealing with me. When I am stuck at home with not a lot to do, eventually binging my fave TV shows, eating, playing with the dog, etc., only will go so far. And then the things like that vague unease you have been feeling starts knocking at the inside of your head. Some people began to rethink what really matters and what is important to them. Others began running into the aspects of themselves that didn’t work for them anymore. Some began to realize how stale their lives had become.

Some began to look at the relationships in their lives and whether they were still important or past their expiration date. The people we cherished and longed for. The touches, the hugs, the warmth of their presence that we so desperately missed but had previously taken for granted. In other cases, people began to get on our nerves – like our spouse or friends who disrupt our equanimity or relatives who we kept in touch with out of a sense of duty and obligation. Nothing was immune from review. In certain cases, we clearly saw what and who we treasured and why, and in other cases, we saw what we had outgrown – people, habits, ways of living our lives.

Others began to dream new dreams and have different hopes and goals. Some went back to school or learned new things from a variety of available resources. Others took on new projects that they had not had the time for before like finally repainting the kitchen or remodeling a room.

We can’t begin to cover all the changes COVID has wrought in the world. COVID, in many senses, made us all realize that we’ve been going with what we know or knew to be good and true and right for us in life, at least up until the pandemic. Nevertheless, for so many of us, it forced us to come face-to-face with – Is this all there is? What now? What’s next? Do I want something more or new or different? Do I deserve more or new or different? Do I dare ask for that? The answer is always, “Yes.”

Living Skills offers positive psychology counseling, spiritual counseling, and life coaching services in Atlanta, and online. We are sensitive to the needs of the LGBT community. Sessions available by Skype. Please email us at livingskillsinc@gmail.com or visit www.livingskills.pro. Podcast: “The Problem with Humans” now available on Apple Podcasts, Buzzsprout, Google Podcast, Amazon Music, and Spotify, Overcast, Castro, Castbox, and Podfriend, as well as on my site. Follow us on Twitter - @livingskillsinc

The world is changing. That becomes more and more apparent with every passing day. Whether you embrace and welcome the changes that are afoot or are horrified by what you see in the news, there is no getting around the fact that nothing has been the same recently.

Have you stopped to take a minute to really assess and sit with how all of this is affecting you? The times maybe a changin’ but, if you aren’t yet aware of it, so are you. For many people, they are finding that the things, people, places, ways of doing and being that they have held onto tenaciously for years no longer work for them as they once did. It maybe something as seemingly silly as you have eaten Cheerios every morning of your life for the last however many years and you woke up one morning and one more bowl of Cheerios just wasn’t going to cut it. And you were surprised.

It may be something more substantial like you no longer find your job or your work fulfilling as they once were. You may find yourself moving away from friends or relatives with whom you have been close because the relationship no longer nurtures or comforts you. And you are surprised.

Technology has changed so much of the way in which we relate to one another. And you are suddenly surprised at the effects it is having on the way you feel about or relate to others. And you are surprised.

Finding a job used to be an easy thing but the world has changed and making sense of the “new rules” of job hunting may seem alien or unfair or incomprehensible. Healthcare has changed. The way we get our news has changed. The way politics works has changed. The feeling of being in charge or in control of our lives has changed. And we are surprised.

The problem is that most people don’t like surprises - even the positive surprises, much less the surprises that are unwelcome.

Many of us have constructed our lives based on our past and what has worked for us successfully in the past. Others of us have constructed our lives as a defense against that past, trying to ensure that our future is nothing like our past. We cling to the rituals of our life that we have composed, hoping to stay safe and happy and successful. If we just focus on our job or make sure we have date night once a week with the spousal unit or talk to friends every other day or take our vitamins or make sure we do our oil change on the car every 3000 miles without fail, things will be fine. But as 2017 draws to a close, many of us are beginning to realize that the things that used to work for us aren’t working anymore. And we are surprised.

What in your life is starting to feel confining to you? What no longer gives you the feeling of freedom or the feeling of safety or the feeling of hope that it used to? What no longer makes you happy that always used to do the trick? Where is your routine breaking down or no longer serving you? How are you coping with the “new normal” when you aren’t even sure what the new normal is? What are you doing with the feelings of unease that have started creeping in from under the floorboards? How are you answering the questions – Am I still OK? Is life still OK? Are the important relationships in my life still OK? Are my routines and rituals still OK? And what are you doing if the answer is, “No,”? As the world around you gives you less solid things to hold onto, as old ways of doing things no longer work, what can you hold onto? How are you dealing with the surprising fact that you find yourself surprised, in not downright astonished? WTF? Right?

The first step is to recognize that maybe somethings really don’t work for you anymore. “But I always . . .” Honestly recognize that maybe some of the beliefs you have held about this or that in your life no longer serve you. Maybe they never did. Maybe they are beliefs that were given to you by parents or friends or family, school, job, society, the media, whomever. What beliefs do you find being called into question by you? Sometimes just that recognition can be enough to free you from old and outmoded beliefs and let you look at life with fresh eyes. Beliefs affect attitudes. How have you found that suddenly some of your attitudes toward people, places, things, have shifted or changed or even done a 180 degree turn? An example of this might be that with all of the uncertainty in the world, with all of the confusion and doubt you find that your normally sunny disposition has become ever so slightly, or maybe not so slightly, cynical? How are you feeling about that? Surprised? Confused? Uncertain?

What we think and how we feel are directly impacted by our beliefs and the attitudes we carry and rely on. Maybe, given the craziness out there in the world, thinking and feeling is more than I can deal with right now. I’ve got too much to do to stop and worry about what I am thinking and feeling. I just need to get everything done and then maybe I will look at my feelings about whatever or what I think about this or that. The problem here would be that the thoughts and feelings are there anyway. That is a process hard-wired into us humans and so what we think and what we feel is always there, whether we pay conscious attention to it or not. Do you find you are having new or different ways of thinking about things? When you look at your life, when you look at the world, have your feelings about things changed from their usually reliable position?

What about decisions and choices? Decisions precede the action of choice. I’ve made the decision to go on a diet. “Yep. I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna loose that ten pounds.” OK, but have you made the choice to stop buying ice cream every week at the store? Have you made the choice to try eating fruit when you want something sweet? A silly example but you get the point. How have your decisions and choices changed? I have several friends who several years ago would never ever ever have considered owning a gun. But in the world they currently find themselves in, not feeling safe in their homes, they’ve decided that they need a gun and made the choice to buy one, as example. I know people who have made the decision to start keeping people at arm’s length or have started avoiding people when they can. They just don’t want to be bothered anymore. What decisions and choices have you made recently that surprised you? That were “out of character” for you?

Recognition of what doesn’t work anymore. Recognition of how you find yourself changing in relationship to yourself, your life and the people and places and things in it – and these changes are not necessarily negative. You may have made some really good changes but you still feel more unmoored than you’d like to be.

Recognition of how you find yourself changing in a world that seems to be losing it mind. And with the recognition then comes the acknowledgment that, ‘Yeah, that’s where I am right now. For good or for ill, that’s where I am right now. Doesn’t mean I have to stay here but I need to acknowledge that this is where I am right now with this belief or this attitude or my thoughts and feelings or my decision and choices.” Maybe I just don’t feel I have the same amount to give to other people anymore. Maybe I don’t want to spend the time investing in this person or that hobby or that job anymore. Maybe I don’t want anymore Cheerios for breakfast. I need to acknowledge that this is where I am at the moment That acknowledgment doesn’t mean that I will stay frozen or stuck here. I can choose to move beyond where I am whenever I am ready.

Then I need to forgive the fact that I may or may not like the changes that I find are happening within me or within my life or within my world. I need to forgive the fact that through no apparent fault of my own I find myself where I am. Forgive the fact that somethings no longer serve you like they used to – be it in whatever area or arena of life you are finding these changes. And then, finally, decide what the next step is. If the changes are going to keep coming, what kind of changes would I like to see based on where I am now? How do I move forward? How do I incorporate the changes in myself and in my life? I don’t need to decide my entire future right now, just what is the next step – however big or small that step might be?

Give all of that time. Things are changing. I am changing. The world is changing. How do I begin to cope, to deal with all of that? All of the above is a good first step.

But beyond that, how do I deal with how surprised I am by all of this? "Well, I’m just too damned depressed by the whole thing to deal with it." Maybe you are. There are ways to deal with depression so that you don’t get buried under its weight. If you are dealing with depression, get help. None of us is supposed to be so self-reliant that we never need to ask for some help or guidance.

Maybe you find yourself just so shocked by it all that you have no idea where to turn. No, not the faux shock that we read about every day in the news or in social media. That kind of, “I’m shocked, I tell you, shocked that this or that is happening,” usually followed by hand-wringing and false piety about the way things “should” be. No. But we all have had a great deal to deal with – politics and the governance of our country has gone off the rails. There have been horrendously destructive fires and hurricanes and droughts. There have been mass shootings in places where people thought they would be safe like churches and schools. There has been a lot to be truly shocked at. OK. Where in your small corner of the world can you regroup and begin to handle your shock at the world or your shock at some of the changes you find happening? You can’t do it all at once. Do it the same way you’d eat an elephant – one bite at a time.

Suppose you find yourself slipping into being judgmental about everyone and everything? When judgment comes up, ask yourself is this really the way you want to be? What will being judgmental accomplish besides freezing you in place, unable to process or deal with anything because you have erected your judgment in front of you like a shield? What will judgment do except encourage you to want to punish those whom you have decided deserve to be harshly judged?

If you find yourself feeling alienated from the people in your life, from those who you love and care about or you find the surprises of what is going on in life making you fearful and wanting to shut down or you feel that you are alone against a world that no longer bears resemblance to the world you thought you knew, return to step one: Recognize that that is where you are and acknowledge that the thoughts and feelings and decisions and choices and beliefs and attitudes I am encountering are mine. I am angry. I am shocked. I am fearful. I feel alienated and alone. I am feeling judgmental. I can’t cope with any more surprises. Then forgive the fact that that is where I am right now and acknowledge that in that recognition, I can do something about it. And then go out beginning to deal with the fallout from the surprises life has been bringing you.

These are tough times but they can be successfully navigated. Ask for help when you need it from friends, family, business associates, professionals, whomever. Go within and take care of yourself. Nurture yourself. Look for answers within yourself. Life will always bring surprises and sometimes they will be welcome and sometimes they won’t. And it won’t always be easy. But there are places to start and remember, you are not alone.

Living Skills offers positive psychology counseling, spiritual counseling and life coaching services in Atlanta for the LGBT community. Also available by Skype. If you have questions, comments or want to find out about our services, please email us at livingskillsinc@gmail.com