For Dr. Katie Boyd, a licensed psychologist in St. Louis who has been practicing for the past nine years, navigating life during the COVID-19 pandemic isn’t about anticipating a return to old routines. Instead, it’s a process of accepting the new normal and finding new routines that bring fulfillment and happiness. A generalist by training, Dr. Boyd specializes in individual therapy treating anxiety. In the days and weeks after the COVID-19 virus hit the St. Louis area, Dr. Boyd says that people experienced something akin to grief as they adjusted to life during the pandemic.
“There's no magic solution to make their grief go away—it's more about accepting, facing, and feeling their feelings and navigating through it instead of challenging it,” Dr. Boyd says. “This is a very large stressor that isn't going away, that is creating a lot of grief, and we have to just figure out a new way to navigate through it. There's not going to be a way to completely overcome it.”
One potential positive outcome worth focusing on is that quarantine has allowed people the chance to slow down and reevaluate their priorities, Dr. Boyd notes. For some people, the prolonged time at home has highlighted how overworked and overscheduled they felt pre-pandemic. For others, it’s provided an opportunity to enjoy more outdoor activities and spend more time with family.
“In times when we face such significant stressors, there can be a values shift, in which certain things we used to care about become very unimportant,” Dr. Boyd says. “With things coming to a halt as they did, we have the chance to start from a blank slate and rebuild our routines in healthier ways. I could see us potentially moving forward in a way of living less stressful lives by being more selective with what we choose to value and fill our time with.”
For people who have experienced anxiety issues for the first time during the pandemic, Dr. Boyd reaffirms that it’s critical to approach the future not as a return to our routines but to adapt to a new normal. “That adjustment can create anxiety, as the ‘new normal’ is an unknown,” Dr. Boyd says. “People worry about what the new normal looks like and how their lives will be different.”
To establish a sense of normalcy and familiarity, Dr. Boyd suggests creating new routines, rituals, and schedules that reflect elements of your pre-pandemic life, if possible, to help decrease stress and anxiety. If you miss working out at your gym, for example, but don’t feel comfortable resuming that routine yet, try attending an outdoor exercise class or invest in home gym equipment and virtual classes to re-create that experience. Rituals that bring you relaxation and peace, whatever they may be, are more essential than ever to reducing anxiety.
That can be “anything that's relaxing to a person at the time, whether that's meditation, deep breathing or relaxation exercises, watching Netflix, taking a nap, taking a bath,” Dr. Boyd says. “When I talk about self-care, I always make the point that it's going to be different for everybody, and it's going to be different even within different hours or day for the same person. Self-care isn’t about doing some list of activities that someone else tells you is good for you; it's about honoring your own needs. So if you're feeling run-down and tired, a nap is what will help you that day. If you're feeling like you need to get some things done and that would help you feel better, then being productive would be self-care another day.”
One easy way that everyone can alleviate pandemic-related anxiety is to spend less time on social media, Dr. Boyd says, and to decrease your consumption of COVID-19 news in general.
“Whereas before they might have been able to look at social media or the news before without it inducing too much anxiety, now especially with COVID-19, where the information has been constantly changing and at times conflicting, it can be confusing and overwhelming,” Dr. Boyd says. “Paying attention to how it makes you feel to read about it and trying to limit how much information they're taking in [is important]. Get the information you need but also take a break.”
Since the onset of the pandemic, Dr. Boyd’s own routines have changed, including connecting with patients virtually in telehealth sessions using secure, HIPAA-compliant software. This shift has been beneficial for patients, she adds, as it eliminates any anxiety surrounding leaving home. “While different from in-person therapy, this shift to telehealth has its benefits,” Dr. Boyd says. “I think it's a great tool for people with anxiety who might be hesitant coming into a therapist's office, which can be anxiety-provoking, and may prevent someone from seeking care. Having the option for telehealth, even going forward, would be a good option for people.”
