Maureen Gaffney: 'Our national psyche has been traumatised'
Maureen Gaffney: There are always private crises but Covid-19 was on a mass scale
On a recent rainy Monday morning, Maureen Gaffney is looking back at the intense Covid period, at the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, and thinking what an extraordinary curtailment of personal freedom we all endured.
“Whoever thought we’d wake up and have to wait to hear what the guidelines were around shopping, going outside the door, how far we could go, whether we could see our friends — how many, for how long and where? It was just the most extraordinary disruption,” says the leading psychologist and author.
And now we’re emerging — and have been for the last several months — from this time when our range of choices was so vastly cut down. And finding we have seemingly unlimited choices again: Around work (“will I stay/go/opt for hybrid working?”), life (“do I really want to spend the rest of my life with him?”), and the kids (“what activities will I sign her up for and how many?”).
This is good, but it’s stressful too, says Gaffney, speaking on foot of research commissioned by retail group Centra into the choices people in Ireland are making in this post-pandemic period of revaluation.
The study found one in two people feel their choices have the power to impact positively on society. And around the same number worried, after making a choice, whether it’s the right one.
“While we all value having choices, it is very stressful because we have to keep making decisions. And every time we make decisions we use up cognitive reserves,” says Gaffney.
“Lots of research shows that even when people are making choices they really want to make, and are looking forward to doing, they feel depleted afterwards. There’s good evidence to say that immediately after making a choice we find it harder to concentrate or do any sustained work.”
And post-choice-taking, people can be subject to mind-wandering, says Gaffney — asking themselves ‘was I right to make that choice?’
Women can be particularly prone to this, she says, because they have a lot on their minds anyway and a lot to ponder, being the bond-makers in families and most often the decision-takers in the running of households.
As we make our choices we can’t ignore another pandemic-effect, says Gaffney: The impact of having lived under a threat to our lives and to our health.
“We lived under the shadow of that threat of death. A lot of people died prematurely. People were very afraid of being infected. They worried about long Covid.
“There are always private crises but this was on a mass scale — our national psyche has been traumatised.”
And because Ireland handled the crisis very well comparatively, and also because we’re all so glad to return to life as normal, Gaffney suggests we may underestimate our need to heal from the last few years. “We don’t realise there’s a bit of repair work to do.”
She also sees signs that we may be instinctively feeling, and responding to, the need to reset ourselves before making important choices. “One of the first things people with any bit of disposable income did [after things opened up] was to organise a holiday. Irish people have always known that holidays are important for resetting, spending more relaxed time with partner, family, friends,” says Gaffney.
“It’s very revealing that airports were jammed with people wanting to get a chance to recover themselves, store up resources, rebuild their resilience — before making all the choices about work and so on.”
A recent survey by IrishJobs.ie found a substantial portion of the workforce is in a state of flux, with 52% of employees feeling unfulfilled in current jobs, and 72% dreaming of making a name for themselves in a new role.
The researchers looked at the leading barriers to change and found emotions are the most potent driver of the decision-making process. Relationships (40%), feelings of anxiety (36%), and a fear of failure (30%) are three of the largest factors holding workers back from realising their true potential.
Many employees are of course already choosing a new hybrid way of working. It sounds like the best of both worlds, but Microsoft’s latest Work Trend Index found almost a third of Irish hybrid workers are struggling to disconnect from work — and a quarter feel demotivated or uninspired.
Gaffney says it’s vital to properly organise the ‘working from home’ element of hybrid working — and this involves some decision-making around where your workspace is.
“Not everybody has a home office so you have to carve out mental space. Even if you have to put up an artificial barrier, do that — put a boundary marker, like a rug or chair. And when you go into that space, say ‘I am now at work’.”
This, she says, will help you not to get distracted, or be tempted by multi-tasking. “You’ll run yourself ragged otherwise because every time we cut into our concentration it takes a long time to get it back.”
Self-care must be a priority, says Gaffney. Women are better at it, she says, because they’re much more tuned into their feelings.
“They’re at least aware if they’re feeling stressed, even if they can’t do anything about it. Men often are unaware — very often their only symptom is irritability. Women are more likely to say ‘I’m anxious’ or ‘I’m lonely’.”
She says the first step in self-care is to check in with how you are. “Put regular reminders in your smartphone to check in throughout the day. Find somewhere private where you can close your eyes for two minutes.
"It's often only then — if you’re really stressed and busy — that you realise how tired you are. When you close your eyes, you realise you’re agitated — your body’s restless, your mind racing.”
One in two Irish people feel their daily choices have the power to impact positively on society and one in three feel that society is more positively shaped by government initiatives and policy changes. Older adults tend towards a view of government being more important, whereas younger adults emerge as more idealistic – believing in their personal influence.
People are making choices for sustainability, with 87% claiming to be much more mindful about what they buy, while 79% are committing to reducing food waste.
Some 66% of respondents said they are contributing positively to their community, with just 29% saying they’re contributing time to volunteer work. Giving time to volunteer or community work was strongly linked to the arrival of children.
Gaffney recommends connecting with nature as a great second step in self-care, pointing to “very good evidence” that this improves mood. A University of Exeter study found that office plants can boost staff wellbeing by up to 47%, creativity by 45%, and productivity by 38%.
Last month, national mental health charity Turn2Me spoke about the importance of being around nature and about the proven physical and mental health benefits of ‘forest bathing’ — being around trees.
The charity encouraged people to go for a walk in their nearest forest. A 2020 study of forest bathing found all participants who had anxiety experienced a drop in symptoms from pre-forest bathing to post-forest
bathing.
Gaffney also cites research where half of a group was given a houseplant to place where they could see it every morning. The other half were given a different gift of their choice.
“The mood, productivity, and quality of interactions were tracked in each group. The researchers found those given the plant had improved mood and relationships and they were more productive,” says Gaffney.
And for those making choices right now, Gaffney has this advice: “It’s always useful to write stuff down, to order your thoughts. Because thinking is chaotic — you go around in circles. Put down three pros, three cons.
“If you have a sense of emotional unease around your decision, talk to someone — partner, friend, counsellor. Sometimes unease is well-based — what are you not facing up to? Sometimes unease is just a need for reassurance — so you know ‘this is a good decision’.”
IrishJobs.ie has partnered with wellness experts Gerry and Miriam Hussey to launch #BrandofYou series, giving users free access to a specially curated five-week Soul Space Elevate programme. Topics include mental fitness, understanding stress and how to calm the mind, why sleep is so important to concentration, and how connecting with the right network and learning to unplug will inspire and motivate. See: exa.mn/Irishjobs-Mental-Fitness
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