Opinion: Can We Please Stop Talking About C- All The Time?
A few days ago, I came across an increasingly familiar feeling. I had just finished doing an online yoga class which ended with a heartfelt message about our current health crisis, and the importance of compassion and unity.
What was meant to be a heartwarming message, intended by the yoga instructor to feel like a warm hug of reassurance, instantly spiked my stress levels and sent me into an instant state of anxiety. My first thought was, “F***, this again!”
If I were writing for Vice, I would have used my reaction for the title above. I’ve since switched to a yoga course recorded over a year ago, which will hopefully not make a single mention of the words “virus” or “pandemic”.
Why are we constantly talking about C —?
People feel the need to share and connect over things that form a shared experience, and about anything really. It doesn’t take a psychologist to realize that. People are social beings, and in this instance we’re faced with a shared problem that is seen as a threat. It may even have affected someone we know. We need to talk about it. We need to encourage our friends and family to listen to advice about social distancing, be the virtual shoulder for them to cry on and try to create a semblance of a normal social life with our loved ones.
The issue isn’t the messages themselves, it’s our inability to opt out. Conversations about the strain of lockdown, about our need for unity, about prayer, symptoms, birthday songs and health tips have spilled over from social media, with which we have more of an option to disengage with, and into: recipe videos, advertisements, every single mailing list you have ever signed up to, and even yoga videos.
Why it’s anxiety inducing
Constant exposure to information, especially that which is repeated multiple times, leads to information overload. In that way, the human brain has a similar mechanism to a computer’s RAM memory, and there’s a limit to how much it can process. Information overload is defined as a perceived feeling of shutting down and no longer being able to engage with information. Fittingly, just as we face an overload of information on a global scale, it’s been recently shown more conclusively than ever before, that perceived information overload strongly predicts depressive symptoms.
The constant stream of pandemic-related information is tiring, and once we feel overload, that becomes risky. Depression and anxiety have already markedly increased since the start of social distancing measures in the UK, and the problem is unlikely to go away easily.
Let’s try to make space for normality instead
At the risk of adding to the problem, I’ll restrain myself from giving advice on how to deal with lockdown. That content is out there, it’s everywhere, and you likely have an idea about how you can take care of yourself in this strange moment in time. If you are feeling particularly on edge, use trustworthy advice or professional help if you feel like you need it.
The one thing I do want to share as a takeaway is: let’s remember to make space for normality. Let’s support each other in creating a new normal, in continuing to engage in the things we value without a need for constant grand gestures. Let’s allow life to flow, and allow ourselves to find a flow in it. And for the love of all that is good, let’s let ourselves practice yoga, learn a new recipe from a video and enjoy the good things in life without the need for derailment into despair.
