As my phone chimed this morning with an email received, I noticed my reaction. Since the pandemic, I have noticed that there are many times when I hear the chime of an email, I jump and I feel a quickening of my heart, thinking the email is something bad. Of course, it was just a regular email exchange. Yet, I find myself often reacting like this since the daily bombardment of illness and death emails I was receiving during the earlier days of the COVID – 19 pandemic.
As we continue to either slowly emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine or find ourselves in the midst of it, it is important to focus on how we react to things that are “normal.” By knowing what is now triggering negative reactions, such as how my email chime raises my anxiety slightly, and knowing why, we might be able to over time learn to recognize that the fears are of the past and not of the present. We know these reactions are not easy to overcome, yet we can at least be more mindful and conscious of them.
The World of Pastoral and Spiritual Care 