It is 2021, and we are still reeling from the effects of 2020. COVID-19 and its variants are still the cause of so much anxiety, fear, isolation, paralysis… I could go on. It also has been a time of reflection. I could talk about 1000 different topics: Black Lives, the financial and emotional effects on mental health, how children and neighborhoods have been touch, the blur of work-life boundaries, and where we see ourselves geographically…
The word I heard most last year was “productive”. “I thought I’d be more productive” or “I wish I had been more productive” or “I have not felt very productive”.
What is our obsession with productivity??? It relieves our shame and anxiety. But that is not what gives us peace or joy in our lives. I have heard so many beautiful things about these last 2 years, and I’ve heard stories of loss and tragedy.
What I ask, is that you let go of your worry about that abstract idea of ‘productivity’. How does your body feel when I ask you that? What is the thought that comes to you when you hear that you’ve been asked to let go of that idea? THAT is worth processing. Those physical cues; the questions that come up; the sense of confusion, perhaps. Bring those to session.
Your entirety is being challenged by this illness. In the words of Don Miguel Ruiz with Janet Mills’ the Four Agreements: “Always do your best”. Even if your best is simply survival.
See you soon. Caitlin
Caitlin Saunders, LICSW 