Jan 7th – When the path isn’t clear

Today’s photo is from a very foggy dog walk this morning. It got me thinking about today’s post, and the similarities between this weather and the uncertainties facing us all during our lives.

Just like a foggy day, many people sometimes struggle to see where they are going in their lives, especially during the Covid pandemic. This can be distressing and depressing, but just like the weather, given time, things change. With today’s picture, just because we can’t see the bright sun, we know it’s always there and we will get another weather day.

So, what we need to deal with is change, and which emotion is triggered by change. Generally there are 4 emotions that people can experience during a change:

1. Anger – Why did this happen? Who’s fault is it? When do we get back to normal?
2. Grief – Missing the old ways? A sense of loss…..
3. Acceptance – We are where we are. Adopt the new normal
4. Excitement – What will things look like after the change? what opportunities are there? What have we learnt?

And so we all react in different ways, based on our life experiences, our education, our personalities, our current mood, however it is difficult to control these emotions, but faced with an awareness of these emotions hopefully we can reduce the negative energy and improve our mental health.