This is Why You Deserve a Good Holiday This Summer!
You need the rest
Okay, we are sorry to start with the grim side of things, but we cannot deny the fact that the coronavirus is here for a long-haul. It is becoming very clear that before vaccinations are in place, the situation won’t get much better – and right now most experts agree that this won’t be until the late 2021. Until then coronavirus will travel around the world and epidemics will pop up in different parts of the world in waves. This forces us into a play of hide-and-seek with the virus. So, if you are right now in a part of the world where the situation is under control, sit back and relax, gather some strength. You will most likely need it the coming year.
Control over our own life defines how long we need to recover
There are many kinds of stress. Some of them can be beneficial, some can do more harm. The stress caused by Covid-19 falls into the harmful category. Why? For most of us the situation has created a feeling of not being able to control what is happening in our lives . At the same time, for many of us, demands of everyday life have doubled, as we have taken an active role as teachers of our own children. Now, we need some time to rebound. German sociologist Sabine Sonntag has argued that the more our family, work and household commitments are beyond our control, the longer it takes for us to recover.
Information overload
We may have spent lots of time in quarantine this spring, but at the same time our brains have been flooded with new kind of input. We are raising a generation of children, who are washing hands like never before, and quite literally, we adults have learned to do the hand-washing as our lives would depend on it. In a few weeks we took a digital leap worth of a few years. Most of us have become familiar with terms we have never even used before, such as viruses R-rate, and we know a whole lot more about virus transmission via aerosols than we ever believed was necessary. This spring we and our children have actually learned a whole lot, and our brains need a little time to put it all in context.
New normal might mean new values
Talking about context, the new normal we have entered means not only new practicalities in dealing with our daily life, but also new values. We have very much used to leading a life, where we can trust health practitioners to be able to ward off our diseases. Now this security is gone, and it does change us. We have become aware of the fragility of life and especially the fragility of our lifestyles. More and more people are demanding that we should not even attempt to return to a way of life we led before the corona-crisis, since it was unsustainable in many fronts. All this requires some quiet time to speculate, so our lives will be better than ever before.
Redefining screen-time
Until corona entered, many used screens for just entertainment and fun. That has definitely changed by now. We actively use screens for work, studies, social life and hobbies. Defining screen-time has become impossible, since our whole life is now tangled with screens. The great side of this is that we are learning to use screens intelligently and benefit from all the solutions available online. At the same time, holiday is a perfect time to remind ourselves about the life outside of screens, too. We should attend to life without the compulsive need to check our mobile phones and install that healthy approach to our children, too. So, use some time to mull over about our new relationship with screens, and set some goals and limits before schools and work start again.
Happy summer holidays from the EHF Team!
