As we enter a period of renewal and change, Your Clear Next Step is committed to helping our customers make their businesses and workdays even better. We will be here to walk beside you, to listen, to connect, and to aid in your search for clarity. In doing so, we are offering a free, daily Zoom call, called Daily Connections, at 1:15pm (CDT) every weekday from 3/19/2020-5/1/2020.
These calls are a chance for us to share tips and discussion about relevant topics (working remotely, maintaining consistency in uncertain times, building relationships across geography, staying motivated, staying connected, etc) and network with each other to provide help and support during this time of change.
Thank you to everyone who was able to join us today! The next call will be Tuesday, April 28th at 1:15pm (CDT). Click here to join.
On today's call...
Sinikka talked about cabin fever.
I’ve been hearing many descriptions of people talking about things like being “stir crazy” or having “cabin fever”. It turns out that it’s not a diagnosable disease, but it is definitely real, and a lot of folks are feeling it right now. The phrase “stir crazy” was first used in London in the early 1900s. It refers to the attitudes and behaviors that come from feeling trapped inside a given space for an extended period of time. Webster defines it as: “extreme irritability and restlessness from living in isolation or a confined indoor area for a prolonged time.”
- What does it look like?
- Could be listlessness, boredom, excessive fatigue
- Could become suspicion of others or fear of things outside the “cabin”
- Could become irritability to extreme frustration
- Could be inability to focus, inability to sit still (pacing, etc.)
- Why is it a problem?
- Generally involves impaired decision-making
- Exacerbated by following the exact same routine and being confined to the same space
- Can create damaged relationships or harm, especially when small groups of people are confined together
- What can you do about it?
- Change the scenery and the routine
- Get fresh air- one of the best things to do to help with cabin fever
- Try something new, different, novel- make sure it is safe
- Focus on something like learning something, growing a skill, improving in some way
- Eat a healthy diet and drink plenty of water
- How to help a friend, family member, or colleague
- Recognize the symptoms - talk to them about
- Offer the something new
- Help support them through decision making
- Practice compassion and grace with others and yourself
A few thoughts that were shared by the group:
- Be careful about what you read, make sure you are looking at credible sources and limit access to anything other than positive sources.
- One participant is usually a homebody but when she was told she had to stay home, she became restless. Going outside and getting fresh air has really helped her.
- One participant and his family have been experiencing a little bit of cabin fever, in order to help this, they are going to go to the Lake of the Ozarks and stay in a condo while still practicing social distancing and following the same routine as now.
- This talk has been very timely, one participant’s husband has been experiencing cabin fever
- Not being an outdoors person, one participant is going on drives to get out of the house rather than doing something outdoors.
- Zooming with family members has helped - one participant virtually experienced planting corn with her Dad over Zoom.
- One participant has been missing her church family but has been reaching out to elder church members and is surprised by how long the zoom calls end up being.
- In Iowa, churches may be reopening as of May 1st as long as they follow the social distancing guidelines, not opening in all counties.
- One participant has noticed stir craziness in teenagers because they don’t know how to handle this and they are not equipped to handle this
