Resiliency During COVID-19:

Resiliency Pause 

05/30/2020

Dr. Lydiana Garcia 

The pandemic we are still experiencing has probably made most of us realize how things may not be the same. Even though we may have access to a lot of tools and resources that in the past have been really helpful to us, it may not be the same. Yes, we can communicate with people through phone or video calls, but many of us have experienced that it's not the same. There would still be that aspect of wanting to freely be able to go outside, or do things with other people and be able to feel their energy, especially if you are more of a hugger or someone that likes to be physical. 

There is also that aspect of having a smaller bandwidth and access to the resources we used to have. If you are like me - working from home, and you have kiddos and you’re coworking/coparenting and if you’re also pregnant, plus add all the different other factors, every day can take a huge toll. And this is just my kind of story. How it could also be a lot for people that are just by themselves the whole day every day. Right now, we just also have to figure out ways to accommodate and adapt and be flexible with this new normal. 

Practicing Resiliency Pause

One of the simplest ways to help you stay regulated during this pandemic is practicing resiliency pause. This means finding different ways throughout the day where you can just pause and assess. Assess how you feel, how your body feels, how are your emotions, how are your thoughts, and then taking an action with a coping skill, even if it’s just something small. 

If you are working from home, you can take a resiliency pause even during your meetings. It doesn’t require you much of talking because it’s all internal. While sitting there for hours, you can have some resiliency pause and reflect on things that can be as simple as “I'm being in this position for a long time and it's hurting me.” You can then take small actions to make you feel better, like moving to a different chair that will make you feel more comfortable or taking a little break to do some stretches, or if you’re facilitating the meeting, maybe inviting others to take a few moments to have that resiliency pause as well. 

When you take that resiliency pause and you go inward, try to reflect the changes that you can do and kind of tweak your coping skills to the little things that you can do at home since we are sheltering in place. You might think like this can be an amazing time to go hiking or go swimming, or just go outside to visit your friend next door. But since you can’t, then think of some other things that you can do. You can try easy and simple things like going to the kitchen to get the drink that you like, or doing some stretches, or having your favorite blanket while you’re working, or getting a pillow to make you feel more cozy and comfortable, or if you have any pet, you can pet them at that moment. And the list can go on and on. 

In general, it’s pausing as much as you can throughout the day, doing these little changes and then noticing what happens right after. Because the more that we do this, the more our bodies would feel that we are paying them attention. Our bodies don’t have to be yelling and screaming with so much pain later on because we listen to them and we make all the necessary changes - tweaking our coping skills to fit to our current situation. 

Taking a resiliency pause also feels somewhat empowering. Because even though we are in a very weird situation and we cannot do most of the things that we enjoy or were kind of helpful to us, we do still have some choices and we do still have some ways of making ourselves feel a little more comfortable as we move forward this pandemic. 

I hope any of these skills are helpful to you and that you and your loved ones stay safe and healthy. 

If you want to listen to the full episode, please visit https://www.thebeyondresiliencelife.com/blog/bonus-resiliency-during-covid-19-resiliency-pause

With love, 

Lydiana