Post Pandemic Winter

By ALICE O’BRIEN Alice O’Brien Counselling, Newmarket

It’s the time of year again where the C-word is floating around. We do our best to avoid it, but it can be hard. I’m not talking about Christmas- although it is a C-word we would like to delay hearing. I’m talking about the other C-word-Covid. The HSE are reminding us to get our Covid vaccine top-up. Our doctor is telling us to take care of ourselves, pharmacies have covid test kits on the counter again. Winter is coming and with it comes the seasonal sicknesses, including covid.

We now live in a post-pandemic world, a phrase we had never heard five years ago. How has that effected our mental health? We’ve experienced a world changing event so our mind-sets have surely changed as a result.

The most obvious effect on mental health since covid times relates to social anxiety. During the months of covid, we isolated for our health, but that became a way of life and a way to keep ourselves healthy. With winter approaching, it is easy to fall back into that way of thinking- stay home to stay safe. But that can have a very negative effect on our mental health as we lose connections that are vital to our wellbeing. The stress and loneliness of isolation is far more harmful than the germs we might pick up by getting out.

The uncertainty during the pandemic hugely increased our fear and worry. It is natural that we may still fear getting sick over the winter months. But, advances in research has lessened the uncertainty, the availability of vaccines has also played a huge part in treating the illness. Worrying about getting sick will not prevent us from getting sick, but worrying about it will prevent us from enjoying the health we have now. So be present in today- let tomorrow look after itself.

As we face the winter, lets all look after our health. Take our vitamins, top up our vaccines, wash our hands. But most importantly, get out and live our lives - that has the best health benefit of all.