Dear valued member of our community,
I too am feeling a sense of anxiety, stress and emotional turmoil with the events of COVID-19 around us. We have not witnessed anything of this magnitude. Our work in this noble field of medicine often also creates a heightened sense of anxiety and fear, which is a common human response.
I want to reassure you that we are in this together. We will rally as a community around our commonUnity to ensure efficient clinical care, society responsibility, and education. We are all committed to these missions. In addition, we will also care for our colleagues and ourselves. Sometimes stress and anxiety can creep up on us. It can be hard to recognize that we’re stressed and anxious, and soon we start to feel overwhelmed.
If you or someone you know experiences a change in sleep patterns, moments of helplessness or fear, feelings of frustration, anger, crying, withdrawing or hopelessness, remember you are not alone.
Please remember to be kind to yourself. Here are some thoughts:
We each should take all the precautionary measures ourselves.
Inform yourself: the www.cdc.gov website is easy to follow.
Establish and remain in connection by means of virtual community with your friends and family.
Focus on the things in your control.
Be intentional to practice self-compassion.
Make time for yourself. You know what relaxes you. Give yourself permission to do those things, even if it’s only for 60 seconds.
Prioritize your wellness and speak to someone when feelings of overwhelm persist.
Reflect and journal, reflecting with kindness. Imagine that you are responding kindly to a friend with your reflections.
Reframe your self-talk, appreciate the small things and offer gratitude, think positive and happy thoughts, and yet remember it is okay to be sad, angry, frustrated, for that it is what makes us human.
Above all, keep faith and trust!!
We may be distanced socially but we are still humanly connected.
With love and deep gratitude,
Mukta Panda
P.S. Sharing a prayer I read at our chapel:
Gracious one,
Gracious one whom we call by many names.
Grant that we may accept ourselves as whole and human and accept others as well.
We pray for healing and ask for acceptance for how that healing may manifest.
We asked for courage to face the hardship that illness brings, and we pray that we may have a sense of humor too.
May we not be a burden to our friends and family, but when we are may we celebrate the joy that comes when we allow others to care for us.
And may we in the midst of suffering remember that we are stronger than we realize.
Amen.
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”
—Helen Keller