as i mentioned in my post of march 13, 2020 below, i have noticed myself evolving over the course of the pandemic. then recently i noticed that others were too and that different people are on different stages. what is unique to this situation is that basically everyone in the whole world is going through some one of these stages of grief simultaneously. i was going to make up some new clever stages that we go through but then it really seemed like the kubler-ross stages of grief https://grief.com/the-five-stages-of-grief/
directly apply. i’m going to walk through them over the course of the next 5 days. they are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. today is denial.
o stage 1: denial of the pandemic & the public health directives. i hung out in this one longer than most but not as long as some. i am still in and out of it. as an addict in recovery, denial is my sweet spot so i’m happy to return to it. denial is basically “this isn’t happening. this can’t be happening.” it is a natural response to cataclysmic events. this can show up as:
o going about my business exactly as if this is not happening.
o not reading or listening to news so i can claim that i don’t know what is going on
o selectively searching for news that supports my idea that this is all made up and everyone is over-reacting
o somehow otherwise effectively sticking my fingers in my ears and saying “lmnop” over and over again so that i don’t have to hear it.
