Sasha Wray Occupational Therapist mental health and complex persistent pain (Fremantle area)
Covid19 has changed all our lives forever. It has reminded us to expect uncertainty. Of course there is nothing new about the concept of uncertainty or as John F Kennedy famously said “The one unchangeable certainty is that nothing is certain or unchangeable.”
The problem with uncertainty is the cognitive dissonance that comes with it and the subsequent chaos and exhaustion. Long covid is a new term but it is highlighting conditions that have been around much longer than the pandemic. These are conditions such as chronic pain, fatigue, unexplained pain, neurasthenia, CFS/ME, fibromyalgia, chronic migraines and many chronic diseases. These are the patients I treat and this article in the Guardian shares some peoples stories.
So how are you doing?
Truly?
Do you adapt, roll with the punches, pivot or ricochet with uncertainty and change?
Humans are creatures of habit and routine. All our daily activities (the things we do) shape how we be in the world. These are our occupations which give us meaning and purpose in life. So if uncertainty is forced upon us, and we cannot do these things, stress and allostatic load builds,.
How do we juggle the allostatic load?
This is a big question…. there are many answers but some that come to mind are
~ We open up or develop acceptance for the ever present uncertainty in life that has always been there.
~ We see this time in history as an opportunity to grow and learn.
~ We build resilience, not to bounce back, but to be present in what is happening in this moment.
~ We ask ourselves, :am I doing what matters?”
~ We develop self mastery or as Deepak Chopra quoted “When we find our core certainty within, then we no longer look for certainty outside.”
~ We be kind! to ourselves, all parts of ourselves and others.
Finally we look to nature and we adore what we see with awe and gratitude. Nature’s magnificence, beauty and intelligence is the stabilising force in the ever changing landscape of our lives. It is the very real and ever present constancy of nature and the cycles that exist within life that keep us grounded in the here and now… beautiful, peaceful, wild, vital and alive.
