Waiting stress

Ukraine has been living in war for a very long time; people, in addition to suffering and pain from events and constant fear, also have a very debilitating psychological factor, such as: stress from the constant expectation of change. And the fear that they can happen just when we stop waiting for them.

Tiredness and exhaustion from waiting for news for loved ones, waiting for news about our hometown, under rocket attacks, waiting for news about a change in the situation, waiting for an air raid alarm or its all-clear near a bank or store or in a school vault, waiting for the end of the war – this is very difficult for us. mental health.

After all, waiting is an incomplete process, it keeps our attention, and this is definitely a loss of energy, as a result, wild, impossible fatigue even when in reality there are no tragic events.

But we are unique: creating a world and events inside our imagination, modeling horrors many times in our heads, the brain is already processing the consequences of these virtual psychotraumas of our imagination. And it’s hard!

So, how to save when we can’t change anything:

1. The first and very important rule is to live real events around you. If they are not there, you need to invent them, filling your life with real facts and impressions that can defeat the imaginary. That is why working with colors is so important now, because they quite actively influence the central nervous system and excite, but do not form traumatic imaginary pictures in us. We draw abstract color images on large canvases, this distracts the brain.

2. The next problem is the inability to foresee the course of events, so our thinking is constantly loaded with jigsaw puzzles from known information in search of the best options for reality. This is extremely debilitating, especially when there are many real dangers. And in our case, art therapy also has a way out – creating collages or harmonic images from parts, such as fabrics or colored paper. So we perform the function of forming integrity and relieve the tension of uncertainty.

3. The constant fear of unpredictable events is concentrated in the body and is reflected in pain and spasms, the feeling that even when everything seems to be fine, we are in anticipation of trouble. This is quite dangerous, because the body may not be able to withstand such a load, and indeed there can be tragic symptoms from such uncontrolled stress. Therefore, I remind you of plastic materials: clay, a wax tablet, or at least plasticine – organize active bodily activity. This, of course, relieves the burden on the body and is an excellent method of preventing psychosomatic illness from the stress of war.

So, we have excellent creative methods of self-help, so it is almost a sin not to use them when you need to endure with minimal losses. I recommend not to forget that not only a personal victory over an anxious stressful state, but a victory in general depends on how balanced and stable we are inside. Therefore, everyone needs to be careful in order to save energy and be useful for joint work on the liberation of Ukraine.

©️Victoria Nazarevich 2022