There is a book called ‘For People Under Pressure’ currently sitting on my boyfriend’s bedside table. It’s the 1963 edition, but the book was published in 1957. We found it in a tiny second-hand bookstore and bought it because it was amusing. Their 1950s problems were exactly the same as our 2020 problems. They wanted to love and be loved. They wanted success. They wanted better sleep. They wanted to become “independent, self-reliant and capable of living under the sharp prods of today’s mounting pressure and rapid change.” We bought it for eighteen dollars at this second-hand bookstore in a small town, three hours out of the city, because we were also seeking relief from today’s mounting pressure. However, I returned home a few days later, still tired and unable to understand why. Until I read an article from science journalist Tara Haelle this week.
The article, titled ‘Your ‘Surge Capacity’ is Depleted - It’s Why You Feel Awful’, was written in August but I only stumbled upon it a few days ago. Haelle explains the term ‘surge capacity’ which is defined as “a collection of adaptive systems — mental and physical — that humans draw on for short-term survival in acutely stressful situations, such as natural disasters.” While people are capable of using their surge capacity for acute periods, it maxes out at around six months. Psychologist and professor of child development at the University of Minnesota, Ann Masten, told Haelle, “The pandemic has demonstrated both what we can do with surge capacity and the limits of surge capacity.” In March, I spent lockdown in a state of hyper-productivity. In October, I feel like I’m dragging myself around. Depleted surge capacity feels like a third cup of coffee; the caffeine never seems to work.
If you’re still in lockdown, I salute you. If you’re out of lockdown, it may feel stupid to discuss anything other than the joy of being able to see your friends and go to the beach. Yet if you are still feeling a sense of unease, or fatigue, the cause is probably ‘ambiguous loss’. This is defined as a loss that lacks resolution, and surge capacity helped us cope. Stay-at-home order or not, every single one of us is still grappling with losing a particular way of life. Whether that be working with a sense of safety or dancing at a wedding or travelling across a border or having a job. I guess the universal loss is certainty. We have been told to embrace the new normal, but as Haelle wrote, “How do you adjust to an ever-changing situation where the ‘new normal’ is indefinite uncertainty?” Surge capacity worked until it didn’t, and now we are left to find a new way of coping.
While a handful of experts gave Haelle their best advice, the most useful came from Michael Maddaus, a professor of thoracic surgery at the University of Minnesota. He said we must first accept that the bad days in this period will remain tough. Once we accept this, we see the bad days for what they are and stop spending our energy trying to deny them. Then, we can use our energy for more constructive tasks. “There are two ways the brain deals with the world: the future and things we need to go after, and the here and now, seeing things and touching things,” Maddaus said, explaining that activities like cooking and gardening bring us back to the present while also providing a dopamine hit. It’s why every second person started baking sourdough in March. “Rather than being at the mercy of what’s going on, we can use the elements of our natural reward system and construct things to do that are good no matter what,” Maddaus said. While we cannot control a global pandemic, we do have some control of our daily lives. Our new way of coping lies with the small activities within them.
Last night, my boyfriend read me a passage from ‘For People Under Pressure’ and it appears that 1950s solutions aren’t so different to ours either. Author David Harold Fink wrote, “It pays to learn to live in the present because that’s where you’ll find the enchantment of happy living. Don’t look for it elsewhere; it isn’t there. It’s only in the here and now.” I was read this passage because I have been in a tumultuous relationship with realestate.com.au when I don’t actually need to move. I thought it delivered escapism, but what it really delivers is a false sense of control over my future in a time of indefinite uncertainty. When the answer isn’t looking forward. As psychologist, author, and spiritual teacher, Ram Dass, once said, “What are you doing? Planning for the future? Well, it’s all happening right now. But later... forget it baby. That’s later. Now is now. Are you going to be here or not?”
Some related (and unrelated) recommendations:
Obviously, this Medium article from Tara Haelle. There is a bunch of great expert advice.
The Molecule of More which is the book on dopamine that Michael Maddaus references when explaining how our brain deals with the world.
The latest documentary from David Attenborough, called 'A Life On Our Planet'. It is Attenborough's 'witness statement' and reveals the solutions to help save our planet. On Netflix.
'Just Mercy', which is also now on Netflix.
Some decent 2020 budget analysis from the brilliant Annabel Crabb.
Deepak Chopra's advice on how to have an argument like an adult, in The New York Times.
This article on branding, or should I say, blanding.
realestate.com.au. Just kidding. Don't do it!
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