Sick of it All? Solutions for Pandemic Saturation.

“How are you?”, I ask my client as we greet each other through our computer screens.

Nearly a year into the pandemic, this has become normal life. I will sit in my office all day hitting the start and end buttons on virtual sessions. Dogs at my feet, the hypnotic rhythm of snow falling perpetually outside my window and a cup of warmish tea between my hands. It feels a bit like living on a movie set.

My client screws her face up and looks up toward the sky. Or maybe she’s consulting the Heavens.

“I’m freaking SATURATED!”, she groans. “I hate my family!”

We both laugh because this is not true. She adores her husband and her two boys. But at the same time, it is also a little bit true. The way all absurd feelings contain an irrefutable realness at their core.

There are two complaints I hear pretty much daily in my practice right now and they are both extreme. “I’m saturated” and “I’m dying of loneliness.” This feedback is perfectly aligned with the times we’re living through, which are devastating to our collective mental health. There’s too much togetherness or a painful experience of isolation and precious little in between.

For those whose cups runneth over these days with an overabundance of family time, I’ve noticed a theme…