How do you maintain a safe distance, stay healthy at home and still keep a level head? Monalisa M. Tailor, M.D., offers a few suggestions

Story by: Lynne Choate on May 4, 2020

Social distancing fatigue, cabin fever or just simple frustration — call it what you will. Many of us have had enough. Everyone has been doing their part to help flatten the curve by staying healthy at home since mid-March. The novelty has worn off for many, and even introverts are starting to miss socialization!

Many patients have voiced struggles with a loss of control to Monalisa M. Tailor, M.D., internal medicine physician with Norton Community Medical Associates – Barret.

“They share feelings of helplessness not being able to do anything to invoke change, or they feel they are losing their sense of routine and control,” Dr. Tailor said. “And what I remind them all is you are making a difference; it will be OK, and we have to keep doing what you’re doing.”

Dr. Tailor reminds us all, even herself, that this is hard.

“We are making significant changes to our lives that are hard, and we need to give ourselves some grace and understanding during this time of change as we adjust to a new normal.”

How do you keep a safe distance, stay healthy at home and still keep a level head? Dr. Tailor offers a few suggestions:

• “Most important is to continue to have social interaction,” Dr. Tailor said. “Reach out to people, check on them — especially if you haven’t heard from them in a while. We all need one another during this time.”
• Maintain a routine in all aspects of life, including eating and sleeping.
• Set times for work, relaxation, school for the kids and exercise. Keep a structure and don’t have one overlap into another if possible.
• Take a break from the news and social media, and that’s OK to take that break.

Keep in mind, you are not in this alone.

“All around the world, we are all doing the same thing to help protect each other, and that’s a very unique and special moment in our lives,” Dr. Tailor said. “It helps to think about this in the sense that we are together … all of us.”