valeriechane are undergoing a seismic psychological shift from the sensory-rich normality of pre-COVID days. We’re a tactile society, but now hugs and handshakes are off-limits, and almost everything is virtual. Our senses are experiencing a form of starvation and the effects are knocking many of us off balance. Study after study reiterates the conclusions of one of the earliest investigations into sensory deprivation, conducted in the early 1950s at McGill University, which came to a dramatic early conclusion when subjects reported severely disrupted thought processes, uncontrolled visions and distressing hallucinations.
Because of Covid-19, many of us have also seen our cultural norms evaporate, leaving what appears to be a void in their place-a state of culture shock, which sparks a turbulent emotional cycle. We are all going through a version of this process now. The longer we resist the need to change, the harder becomes the journey to acceptance.
But there’s an upside. The way we manage these twin attacks of culture shock and sensory deprivation can also have a profound effect for the better on our personal and business lives.
In my own experience, as CEO of a growing virtual business and as a survivor of a traumatic injury, I have faced isolation and culture shock in many forms. When the only choices were ‘adapt or fail’, I set myself a goal of rebuilding and improving rather than letting events overwhelm me. The lessons I was forced to learn are a useful example as we attempt to pivot in our business and personal lives around the fallout from the pandemic.
Just a few years after I founded my virtual PR agency, I was badly injured in a car accident. For a period of about eight months, I was unable to talk properly or walk without support. Overnight, I had become isolated physically and mentally and shaken to the core by the sudden changes to my life and the impact to my business. To some extent, what I went through then mirrors the experiences we’re all going through today.
My first step towards recovery was to acknowledge that life had changed. That acceptance gave me permission to embrace the way I would need to adapt.
