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Life After COVID: From Grief to Growth
Different ways to embrace the new ordinary
Unsurprisingly, COVID challenged relationships, both well-established and new. The virus created a perfect storm of stressors significant enough to keep just about anyone from cultivating their best relationship. However, as painful and confusing as liminal spaces are to navigate, they do provide us with perspective and unique opportunities for renewal.
Acknowledge Your Shared Grief
Maybe you and your partner were cooped up together in a tiny apartment for months. Or maybe circumstances forced you into separation for long periods. Maybe one of you was a frontline worker facing punishing hours and constant exposure to trauma. No matter what your situation was during the pandemic, it wasn’t a life that either of you would have chosen. What’s more, you endured it for over a year! It is normal for you both to feel grief about this “lost time.” After all, time is your most precious commodity.
I believe there are big griefs and little griefs — Big G’s and Little G’s — and whether COVID made you feel a big loss or a little loss, you can help each other move forward with renewed purpose. Was this experience horrific and isolating? Yes. But grief can be our greatest teacher and illuminate us.
