When it comes to the pressures of family life, it’s impossible not to look at life through the lens of COVID and lockdown at this time. It colours everything for everyone in so many ways.
For those who are feeling vulnerable – pregnant mothers, those families with young babies and those with underlying conditions – it is an anxious time.
Initially we had clear boundaries to follow, knowing what we could and could not do in no uncertain terms. The lack of choice and narrowing of our worlds was for many very uncomfortable. For those with babies and young children, a huge challenge, particularly if both parents were working – the pressures on family life during lockdown was undeniable.
Being so stuck in one place externally can, however, challenge our internal world to expand and explore our reality, often on an unconscious level.
As we start to emerge from full lockdown there is now an opportunity to look at how we survived it:
As a mother with a baby, or young children what was it like to have to stay at home?
How do you cope in stressful environments?
Do you turn to food for comfort, or perhaps criticise everything you do and end up feeling like the worst mother in the world?
Do you slip back into patterns of behaviour that although familiar and comfortable you know do not serve you?
How would it feel to be resilient in these changing times and be able to choose healthy coping mechanisms?
A disease like COVID-19 brings ‘dis-ease’. Can we challenge ourselves to seek consciously the lessons this has brought to us? Psychosynthesis therapy brings the opportunity to explore our own awareness at times of change.
Written for Darling Magazine Wimbledon, summer 2020 edition
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