We handle change by using our repositories of problem-solving and coping strategies. All of us have in reserve enormous potential for coping with different situations. When changes confront us, we can tap into those repositories and draw upon an array of trouble-shooting methods and coping strategies. But if we’re not exposed to change, those talents remain untapped.
Growing up conditions us to normal change. We see infants grow into adolescence, then into adulthood. We see the barren limbs of winter sprout spring leaves, then burst into blossoms that mature into summer fruit. We see the fall foliage grow dull and recede once more into the barrenness of winter. As the birthdays pile up, we encounter sickness and death among our loved ones and quietly accept the fact that one day they’ll claim us too. These changes are a part of our normal existence, and normal people learn to cope with them.
But when a disaster comes along, or economic depression, or crime and violence that touch close to home, we need to tap into our repositories of coping strategies.
Our neighbor Anna found a way of coping after cancer took her husband from her. She decided to visit sick people in the hospital twice a week as a way of giving back something to people who were sick and lonely. She regards these comforting visits to the sick as a gift to her husband.
The most positive approaches for getting through life-changing events are drawn from our repositories of problem-solving behavior and coping strategies.
We accumulate these mechanisms simply by living and coping. They are there to draw upon when change falls heavily on our lives.
Covid -19 has already begun to give us another dimension of coping strategies!