According to Wikipedia, “patience is the ability to endure difficult circumstances such as perseverance in the face of delay; tolerance of provocation without responding in annoyance/anger; or forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties.”
Today marks Pandemic Day #123980943257692485923850 (or it feels that way), which means people are running low on patience.
I understand the desire to return to “normal life.” We want to go back to our old routines, visit our usual haunts, hug our loved ones, travel beyond our local grocery store, mingle with our coworkers, work and have financial stability, and not worry about sanitizing our hands every 30 seconds.
Just because we are tired of this situation, doesn’t mean it is over. We can’t will the virus into extinction. Although, I definitely wish it could be that easy. It can be difficult to see the reality of a situation when we feel like we aren’t really living it – when you aren’t in the epicenter of the virus and feel as if you are beyond its reach.
I live in a state that has chosen to reopen with little guidance on how to do so safely.
As an “essential worker,” I could have continued with business as usual. I opted for what felt was the most responsible and caring route of moving all of my clients to teletherapy. I know that was not a possibility for all mental health providers – some clients are not appropriate for telehealth for a variety of reasons, there still need to be inpatient services available, etc. Mental health crises don’t stop for a pandemic – if anything, they increase.
This pandemic has taught me about patience – with myself, others, and all of the things outside of my control.
In these last two months, leaning into patience has helped me to move away from Anxiety Town and move into the City of Here and Now. It has opened me up to creativity – in the art that I am making, the goals I am dreaming up, and in planning how to manage through this situation with flexibility.
My wishful thinking had me planning for a June re-opening of in-person sessions. Reality has me accepting that teletherapy may be the best option for the time being – and that’s okay. But really, a great reframe is that teletherapy is here to stay and is an option that I now feel comfortable in regularly offering. This means I can help people all over this beautiful state and not just those willing to fight the traffic to get to central Phoenix.
We live in such an individualistic culture in the United States. This pandemic and the feelings that it evokes has really highlighted this fact.
My hope is that we learn from this difficulty – that we find the meaning from the suffering. I hope that we learn the importance of caring for one another. I hope that we learn that the most important workers aren’t the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. I hope we learn how to respect and value each other more, while being more purposeful and thoughtful in our communication.
I’m choosing to care for my community by staying at home as much as possible, continuing with teletherapy until it is truly safe to return to in-person sessions, donating/ordering from businesses and organizations that I care about, and to remain patient to ride out this wave.
How will you choose patience?
