tree reflected in waterThe August 2020 edition of “Workplace Wellness E-Digest” recommends strategies to build resilience during the stress of coping with the pandemic.

Newsletter offers coping strategies for pandemic fatigue

The end of summer is now in sight, but the end of the pandemic is not.

The August 2020 edition of Workplace Wellness E-Digest, published by the Department of Human Resources’ Office of Employee Engagement and Development, notes that months of coping with the stressors of quarantines, social distancing, shutdowns, losses, grief, uncertainty, and anxiety are taking a toll on emotional health.

It offers suggestions to reduce the impact on health and wellbeing:

  • Stick to behaviours like wearing a mask, washing hands, and social distancing, to make you feel more empowered and also keep you and your community safer.
  • Instead of turning to food or substances to manage difficult feelings, identify and name them so you develop a tolerance and are less inclined to escape them.
  • Speak to friends and loves ones who might be struggling with similar negative feelings to get validation and support and to share coping strategies.
  • Rediscover an activity you used to enjoy, but have not engaged in recently, to feel a sense of normalcy and reconnect to your sense-of-self.
  • Let the people around you know you’ve been feeling irritable and impatient. Protecting your relationships will nourish you emotionally in challenging circumstances.

The newsletter also lists signs to recognize you are experiencing pandemic fatigue, introduces the basics of mindfulness, and offers an audio lesson in guided mindful breathing.

Read the Workplace Wellness E-Digest.