When Too Much Togetherness Is A Bad Thing
Now, if we all had a castle, we would have enough space to spread out…..
9-27-2019 Castle of the Courts, Ghent, Belgium
Hello All. The vaccine is here. It has started to get rolled out. It is slow going however, and will still be a little while before we all start to feel really safe, I think. We are fast approaching the one year mark for an awful lot of togetherness for people who live in the same house. Couple that with lack of contact with people outside of the same house, and you have a nice recipe for sniping at each other sometimes. We generally live with people we love, or at least like. This does not mean we see eye to eye with them all the time, or have the same hobbies, interests, and habits, or love to hear them chew their food all the time. There are limits! This year has stretched our patience with the people we live with and as there continues to be a need to stay at least somewhat isolated, I thought maybe we should talk about how to get through it with your relationships with those in your house still intact and not in tatters. The first thing to realize is that it is ok that you are tired of the same people all the time. We are facing an extreme kind of cabin fever. We all want to get out and go do activities that we love OUTSIDE of our houses, but many of those are still unavailable and we have to be careful. So, cabin fever. For 11 months. Once you accept that you don’t have to feel bad that you would rather hide than come face to face with the people in your house today, it is time to employ some coping to manage those feelings.
Keep up your own separate interests. Engage in activities that you enjoy that don’t involve everyone in the house. This engages your mind and lets you think about things other than the folks in your house.
Make contact with the outside world. It has been awhile since I mentioned this. It is still super important. Connect. It seems like this is something that has easily fallen by the wayside. Primarily, I think, because if we aren’t going out and aren’t doing things, we feel like we have little to talk about. That actually makes conversations with others a little painful. Get past it. Talk about “the times before” or what you are planning for after. Just talk to people you enjoy who are not in the same walls as you. It’s a step to feeling connected and like you have a taste of the outside world.
Tune in next time and we will continue this discussion.
If you need to talk about the unbelievable things your people are doing and why you can’t take it anymore, look around my website. Click on the “Book an Appointment” button. I am available to listen and work through it with you.
Thank you for reading & take care,
AmyZ
