If we are to cope successfully with the COVID-19 pandemic, there are a number of healthy attitudes and skills that we must employ.
Here are three: Commitment. Control. Challenge.
These attitudes together are what authors Stein and Bartone identify as the building blocks – the mindset – of hardiness. Their book is “Hardiness: Making Stress Work for You to Achieve Your Life Goals.” Grab a copy. Not only is it a must-read. It’s a must-do. The quotes are from their book.
Commitment is the decision to “see life as overall meaningful and worthwhile, even though it sometimes brings pain and disappointment. [It] also includes a striving for personal competence” (p. 11).
Control is “… the belief that your own actions make a real difference in the results that follow, that what you do has effects on outcome” (p. 13)
Challenge is the belief that change is an opportunity to learn and grow; problems are part of life; something to be solved rather than avoided.
Commitment. Control. Challenge.
These can be an essential “antiviral” for the anxiety the world is experiencing at this time. These attitudes must be developed into skills. These skills must be practiced in our everyday lives; our decisions, our choice of words.
Think about it:
Commitment: Who are the people that matter most to you? What do you appreciate about them? Click here for a resource to help you think about it. What core beliefs, values, and ideals guide your life? Click here for a resource to help you think about it.
Control: “Focus your time and energy on things you can control or influence” (p. 198). And … learn to let go of the things you can’t control or influence. What are those things? The Serenity Prayer is a great reminder while we’re learning to know the difference.
Challenge: Especially during this time of uncertainty, identify the things that help you stay mentally and emotionally engaged with life. A recent blog from James Clear nudged me to embrace this time as a challenge to be met with vigor. “I don’t have to. I get to.”
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