Michigan has done well in flattening the curve. While that’s great, we see all around us that people have become complacent. It’s almost as if they don’t realize that the curve has flattened because we’ve been under stay-at-home and mask-use orders. Even in our vigilant family, I find us forgetting to carry masks and sanitizer lately. What is most important to keep in the fronts of our minds about this virus, so we don’t fall back into easy routines?
Alison Bernstein, Ph.D.:
This is hard balance between maintaining vigilance but also not allowing anxiety and fear to overtake your life. Checking the COVID modeling websites regularly should be enough to trigger fear and anxiety but this is not healthy. So the question becomes, how do we maintain vigilance but also take care of our mental health?
My opinion based on my personal experience and many years of therapy are that we make consistent changes by developing habits and making it easy to keep them. Put your masks in the same place every night, keep one in your purse or work bag, and in your car. Keep hand sanitizer in all those places. This makes it easier to remember and lowers the amount of effort required to maintain these habits.
Chris Kemp, M.S.:
It will be back.