Mindful Impressions

I have been thinking about the issue of “not knowing” for a long time. The topic of this post is about walking into the unknown.

What I didn’t understand until late 2021 is that there are a lot of people that don’t like surprises. The Pandemic spun a lot of lives out of complete control. Many people like routine. They have a routine for everything. They wake up at a certain time, drive to work at a certain time, eat lunch at a certain time, eat dinner at a certain time, and lay their head down at the same time every night. Routine is comfortable for them. This is how they truth the world and how they navigate the world.

In the middle of 2021, a lot of these people started flipping out! They weren’t used to the “unknown”. They hadn’t walked “into the unknown” in years and they weren’t ready to do it now. They wanted no more surprises. They wanted answers for everything. They didn’t want to “let’s see how it goes”. No, they demanded the play-by-play from here on out! I never played by that rulebook. I never was big on routine.

I now understand the desire for routine. I understood it going into 2022. I started having conversations with people about all of this and learned where the frustration comes in. The frustration comes out of losing control. It finally hit me one day! People don’t like the unknown because of fear and the loss of control. They need to be able to control what is going on around them. The loss of control causes anxiety which causes anger and frustration.

The Pandemic caused a lot of people to feel tired or burned out. It’s understandable. Employers and administrators need to provide more guidance to handle the transition as people go back to work or school.

I can speak on one thing that may be familiar to some of you. The biggest part of my own anxiety “re-entering” the world again was dealing with overstimulation. I feel like this doesn’t get talked about often. I started to get used to not going out, dealing with fewer people, enjoying my own company, and just an overall slower pace.

I liked the less traffic, the shorter lines at the grocery store, and the social distancing. Honestly, I wish social distancing would never end because there are too many people that don’t understand personal space. When I had to go back to the office it was really hard for me to talk to people again. I’m a social person, but I got used to not talking. It was such a funny thing.

There were many days that would go by when I never spoke to another person. My vocal cords were probably about to shrink on me. I never thought the day would come that I didn’t want to speak….like literally just speak. Haha. It’s funny to me now. I wasn’t in a hurry to be in meetings or go to social events. I forgot what it felt like to be around so many people again and it gave me a lot of anxiety. Yes, overstimulation has been a HUGE issue for a lot of people. I truly thought I was alone in this until I had conversations with others.

I know a lot of people suffered from these things during 2020 and 2021. The biggest lesson I wanted to share on how to deal with anxiety so it doesn’t lead to fear/frustration and anger is to take it slow and manage your time wisely. Don’t push yourself to do more than is comfortable for that day.

I know a lot of people suffered from the following things during 2020 and 2021. The biggest lesson I wanted to share on how to deal with anxiety so it doesn’t lead to fear/frustration and anger is to take it slow and manage your time wisely. Don’t push yourself to do more than is comfortable for that day. Stop telling yourself you have to complete 10 things if you know you have the capacity for only 7. It’s OK! Don’t freak out.

• Feeling powerless.
• Low motivation.
• Sadness.
• Poor concentration.
• Insomnia.

Please don’t allow anyone to make you feel guilty for how you interact with people now. It’s a process. Be respectful.