Having just lived through one of the most stressful years in history, people are ready to leave the pandemic behind and looking forward to a brighter future. 

Researchers are just beginning to look at the long-term psychological effects of the pandemic, but many people are likely to carry emotional scars from losing loved ones and a year of isolation.

One result is trouble coping with the stressful situations large and small that life inevitably brings. Trapped Emotions, unresolved emotions from difficult or traumatic experiences, may trigger feelings of being stressed out and overwhelmed. This is a potentially damaging pattern that may affect our emotional and physical health. 

When you suffer something traumatic, it can be extremely difficult to confront the resulting feelings. You may feel like doing so would force you to relive what you’ve already endured. 

Loneliness, isolation, and despair are costing lives; stay connected with others and release emotional baggage to guard against them

Feelings of loneliness can be very hard to deal with. Modern society has had a tendency to isolate us from one another even before the COVID-19 pandemic, but since its arrival feelings of isolation and loneliness have gone off the scale.

Hundreds of millions of people have lost their livelihood due to the shutdowns. The divorce rate has gone up, as has the suicide rate. While we know COVID-19 has caused 2.8 million deaths worldwide, including almost 550,000 in the US, researchers are just beginning to look at the cost of increased loneliness as a result of government lockdowns. These costs are particularly high among the elderly and those who live alone.

“For more than a million residents of nursing homes, the lockdowns themselves have been devastating,” the New York Times reported. “Cut off from family and largely confined to their rooms, many residents lost weight and saw ailments worsen. Some grew increasingly confused. Others sank into depression and despair.”

For more than a year, health officials have told the public to wear masks and stay at least six feet apart to slow the spread of the virus. But wearing masks and being unable to share simple touch also comes with a cost.

6 Ways to Heal Emotionally During Lockdown

The past year has been full of hardship for Americans as the pandemic caused widespread illness, deaths, business closings and job losses. Even those who have not experienced illness and economic hardship have had to deal with an increased sense of isolation and loneliness.

The emotional toll has been particularly hard on young people who have lost the chance to learn and socialize in school, healthcare workers facing trauma and burnout, nursing home residents and those who live alone. But no one has been untouched.

It’s hard to gauge at this point just what the overall, long-term impact will be, but many people will face long-term emotional scars from the loss, trauma, and struggles they have endured.

When we have an intensely difficult experience, the emotions we feel should fade with time. But sometimes they’re just too much for us to handle. In these cases, our bodies may hold onto those negative energies in the form of what many call “emotional baggage.”

We call these emotional energies Trapped Emotions, unresolved feelings from difficult and traumatic life experiences. These lingering emotional energies can damage our mental and physical health, relationships, and overall sense of well-being. Their harmful effects can be exacerbated during difficult times like those we have faced since the pandemic begin.

Embrace the journey of small steps, while celebrating your wins By Dr. Bradley Nelson

Now that 2020 is in the record books, we may be eyeing our New Year’s Resolutions from a widely different perspective. As we venture into the first few months of 2021, we could ditch the typical resolutions in favor of even more life-enhancing ideas.

Year after year, studies show, we gravitate toward the same resolutions — weight loss, eating better, and general self-improvement goals. There’s nothing wrong with that, but by mid-February, about 80% of us have dropped our New Year’s Resolutions by the wayside.

That doesn’t have to be the case. We have an opportunity to make and keep meaningful resolutions that are in harmony with what we really want to create in our lives. Here are five ways to win at whatever resolutions you choose:

Caring for yourself and practicing gratitude are among ways you can beat sadness, loneliness, and stress despite restrictions

Across America, people are wondering what the holidays will be like as pandemic-related restrictions on traveling and gathering drag on. Mental health experts worry about how adults and children will cope when normal ways of celebrating are curtailed.

About two-thirds of American parents are worried about the pandemic impacting the mental health of their children, according to a recent survey from Nationwide Children’s Hospital. 

The holidays are already a time when many people struggle to feel happy and joyful amid the festivities going on around them. This year many families and individuals are coping with feelings of grief after losing a loved one to the pandemic or other causes.

It’s always hard to face the first holiday without a beloved family member or friend. It will be even more challenging this year as many people choose to stay home and gather only with those in their households, especially for those who live alone.

Even during the best of times, the holidays can be stressful and disruptive to your body, your emotions, and your routines. So how can we manage feelings of stress, isolation, and loneliness this year during holidays marred by a global crisis?

This year, it’s more important than ever to take steps to guard your emotional, mental, and physical health. Here are a few ideas to help make your holidays joyful in spite of the pandemic:

5 Ways to Turn Seasonal Sad Into Seasonal Glad

With daylight hours growing shorter, and daylight savings time ending for most of us Nov. 1, many people have difficulty adjusting to the colder, darker months. An estimated 10 million Americans struggle with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), and women are more than four times as likely as men to have it.

As a mental health issue, SAD is more than just being down about the cold and gloom of the winter months — it actually tends to keep you down and affects you day after day. If you suspect you might have this disorder, you should talk to your doctor about it.

If you’re wondering how to beat those common winter blues, or looking for a way to improve your outlook (whether you have SAD or not), here are some things you can try:

In a Time of Social Distancing and Social Media, Trust Remains Key

The pandemic has created new rules for dating, with more people relying on technology to start relationships. When it comes to finding love and maintaining strong bonds, however, one thing has not changed: the need to establish trust.

Whether it’s romantic, friendly, professional, or familial, trust is essential in any relationship. Yet it can be difficult to establish and maintain trust. Many people carry emotional baggage from painful experiences in the past that prevent them from trusting others. Signs of lack of trust may include:

• You aren’t sure you matter to the other person.

• You have nagging doubts that your spouse or partner really loves you.

• When they seem distant, you imagine it must be because of you (even though it may have nothing to do with you).

• You fear you’ll be dumped at any time.

• You find yourself fixating on these feelings.

If you have a persistent fear of being left or dumped, this may undermine the foundations of any type of relationship. If you feel lack of trust is a big problem for you that requires counseling, please seek it out. But if you’re simply looking to strengthen a relationship and increase your ability to love and trust, here are some things you can try:

Coping with Emotions from Pandemic and the Past

Identify and let go of emotional baggage from difficult times

Life is full of emotional ups and downs. Sometimes the hardships we experience can be so overwhelming that they leave us stuck with feelings that can hamper our happiness or even harm our health and well-being.

The impact of negative emotions from traumatic and difficult events is a growing concern during the challenging times we now face. One new study, for instance, finds the emotional well-being of most American adults has been “broadly and substantially affected by COVID-19 and the related changes in life and society.”

Emotional distress related to COVID-19 is associated with higher frequency of clinical levels of anxiety, depression, and general life stress, along with lower reported levels of overall happiness, according to the U.S. National Pandemic Emotional Impact Report from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Harvard Medical School.

Prolonged and/or intense negative feelings can have effects long after the events that precipitate them. They can take a toll on emotional, mental, and physical health and compel people to behave in ways that damage their relationships or impact their ability to have healthy, long-lasting bonds.

6 Holistic Practices to Help You Stay Well

During the pandemic, many people are taking extra care to stay well with measures such as wearing masks in public, maintaining physical distance, and washing their hands frequently. This is also a time when we should be thinking about ways to bolster our immune system to help us fight off not only COVID-19 but also all kinds of illness.

Your immune system protects your body from harmful substances, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, and toxins. It is made up of different organs, cells, and proteins that work together.

Without an immune system, you’d likely be sick all the time — if you lived very long!

The immune system consists of two parts: the innate immune system you are born with, and the adaptive immune system the body develops as it is exposed to microbes over time. These two systems are closely related and work together when a germ or other outside substance triggers an immune response.

Your immune system doesn’t protect you perfectly 100% of the time. Most people gets sick once in a while, even if it is just a common cold or stomach bug. But when you think of all the bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens you’re exposed to every day, it’s evident your immune system is working hard 24/7.

Why Emotional Healing Matters

Understanding emotions from a holistic perspective can help us better cope during difficult times

People are feeling fear and worry over the pandemic that has killed more than 100,000 Americans and left more than 40 million unemployed. Many of us are praying for peace as injustice persists and protests turn violent.

In times of turmoil like these, it is normal to feel anxious, as no one can say with any certainty what will come next. It’s natural to want to check the news or social media feeds to see what is going on. But this can become a problem when our bodies’ fight-or-flight impulse is triggered repeatedly.

According to ongoing research from LeanIn.Org and SurveyMonkey, women are facing a heavier workload and are feeling more anxious than men during the pandemic. The survey finds women are more than twice as likely as men to experience physical symptoms of severe anxiety, such as a racing heartbeat. More than half of women report sleep issues, compared to about a third of men.

We cannot control all the turmoil that is going on around us, but there are things we can do to protect our emotional health. This starts with understanding how our emotions — both the ones we are experiencing in the present moment and the ones that echo from the past — can affect our mental and physical health, and doing what we can to improve our emotional health.

Holistic Tips for Coping With a National Trauma

June is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Month, and this year many people are struggling with personal loss, fear, and uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic is a national trauma, but not everyone who suffers loss or extreme stress from it will develop PTSD, psychologist and marriage and family counselor Dr. Marie Hartwell-Walker writes in PsychCentral.com. She notes that an estimated 3.6% of U.S. adults had PTSD in the past year, yet an estimated 70% of U.S. adults have experienced a traumatic event at least once in their lives, according to data from a national survey.

PTSD is a mental health condition that's triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it, according to the Mayo Clinic. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares, and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event. If you suspect that you or someone you love is suffering from PTSD, you may need to seek help from a licensed mental health professional.

5 Ways to Tap the Power of Positivity

We are going through a very emotional time right now with all of the changes we are facing during the pandemic. Many people are feeling on edge — anxious that they might lose their jobs, worried over making ends meet, and scared about keeping themselves and their families safe.

People may also be feeling loneliness due to social isolation, disappointment over canceled plans, and an overwhelming sense of uncertainty about what the future holds.

We know that stress is harmful to our physical, mental, and emotional health and our relationships. Higher levels of stress have been proven to wreak havoc with the body's ability to regulate inflammation, potentially making us more susceptible to physical illness. 

Feelings of negativity, pessimism, worry, and despair may also corrode our sense of well-being and rob us of the joy and the hope we need to make it through difficult times.

Fortunately, there are things we can do to cultivate feelings of calm, hope, and positivity, even when we face a personal or collective crisis. Here are a few: