Are we stress swapping?
Are we Stress Swapping?
Stress Swapping is how we describe the phenomenon of the past several months.
Stress Swapping is when you take one daily high stress activity and replace it with another.
Prior to mid-March 2020—when we were mandated to quarantine in our homes and hole up for 14 straight days, minimally—I went about my life as I pleased with no censure of any sort then along came this suspicious coronavirus.
Under what I initially thought would be a short-lived quarantine, I was thrilled to stay home for days on end, enjoying relief from my daily routines. Soon thereafter, things changed. I began suffering from Zoom fatigue and my eyes grew heavy from staring at the computer screen all day.
As we all learned more about this international health pandemic, and as countries closed their borders, the stress of our pace of life didn't go away; instead, it was swapped out. From moving in-person meetings to working online or wearing protective gear and increasing protocols for sanitation, we have adapted well. Restaurants that were able to do so developed takeout menus and dentist offices reopened safely by taking far fewer patients each day. However, for working parents, the relief that would have come from no longer fighting commuter traffic and possibly working a lighter schedule has been replaced with managing the daily activity of their second grader, hour-by-hour; with trying to keep their middle schooler occupied while managing a full time workload and lengthy video calls from home.
Some of us have gone from riding crowded public transportation to covering our faces as we sit on nearly empty trains and buses to get to work on a much-reduced schedule: two to three times per week. For others, the stress of trying to find work has now become the burden of knowing that there are no jobs as we once knew them. The “gig economy” has picked up providing essential services like cannabis deliveries; Range Rover sightings making drop-offs as they navigate through gentrified neighborhoods, alternating between Postmates and DoorDash porch drop offs.
Through all of this, BlackFemaleProject continues to create a safe landing place—now virtually—for Black women throughout the year. When the ‘shelter in place’ order was given in the midst of our popular workshop series, we transformed the final two gatherings into a virtual experience.
We have learned that, over the course of this pandemic, many everyday stressors for the women we serve have been swapped out from one thing to another, rather than resolved. We remain hopeful although the stress we will face on the other side of this global health emergency is yet to be determined.
Precious J. Stroud
Principal, PJS Consultants
Producer, BlackFemaleProject
BlackFemaleProject
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