Licensed Professional Counselor, MA, LPC, AAMFT
Verified
With growth and change (even good change), there is
stress
- and all too often, under
stress
, we go back to coping skills (often not healthy) that we've known, but now, that don't work anymore ! The pandemic has tested our coping skills and basic needs far beyond limits.
We all have what I call some little - or big "holes in the soul": hurts, regrets, anger from unmet basic needs that have occurred or are occurring in our lives. If we stay too much in the past, we are depressed; if too much in the future (especially "what if ?"), we are anxious. The measure of quality in our lives - in feeling more successful, balanced, healthy, happy, and able to deal “in the present“ - is not that we have just "survived", but that we can move beyond survival to truly have a life, by developing better coping skills, self -awareness, & appreciation of life. It's SO about nurturance, trust, and connection !