[LifeStyle] Why making plans helps manage pandemic stress

[_Klay_]

Last week, two close friends officially postponed weddings planned for later in the year. “I know this is overdue,” wrote one in a text to me and the other bridesmaids, “but it’s given me a pit in my stomach every time I go to hit send.” Then she sent a digital version of her “Change the Date”, a replacement for the Save the Date notecard stuck to my refrigerator. For the first half of the year, the uncertainty of the pandemic’s spread has made it nearly impossible to predict whether anything will happen as we imagined it would. “I think we’re all being made keenly aware that the control we thought we had is maybe more fragile than we believed,” says Shevaun Neupert, a professor of psychology at North Carolina State University. But putting the future into a perpetual holding pattern is tough on mental health. Studies have shown strong ties between an unclear future and anxiety, and intolerance of uncertainty has been shown to correlate strongly with depression.We’re the only species that spends this much brain power planning ahead – Shevaun NeupertThat’s why, according to a recent study Neupert co-authored, it’s important to keep making plans – even if they turn out to be futile. Doing so can help you stay in a positive mindset and keep you from being overwhelmed by stress. After all, planning’s in our nature. “As humans, we’re uniquely capable of thinking about the future,” explains Neupert. “We’re the only species that spends this much brain power planning ahead.” Planning as a coping mechanism Scheduling things can help thwart stress before it happens through a cognitive process called ‘proactive coping’. “It has behavioural components and thinking components,” says Neupert. “A behavioural example is like starting an emergency fund. The thinking component is making plans.” In her study, Neupert tracked more than 200 participants over nine days, monitoring the way they navigated daily stress. Those who engaged in proactive coping – meaning their thinking was future oriented, and they anticipated and made plans for how to handle potential hardships – were less reactive to stress. The study only lasted a little more than a week, but Neupert says the principles of her findings can apply to much lengthier periods of stress. “Planning can be a powerful form of proactive coping,” she explains. Scheduling future events is an acknowledgement that there will be a future and that when it arrives, you’ll be able to do the things you want to do. Neupert suggests choosing things “that feel like a return to yourself”. That might mean scheduling a haircut or manicure, for example, for a random day a month or two out, even if you’re not sure you’ll be able to keep the appointment. “These can be very personalised planning experiences,” she says. “Going to the salon, or even just planning to go to the salon, is very much self-care.”

Edited July 22, 2020 by -LosT
[LifeStyle]