Embracing Our New Normal | Hope and Resilience versus Safetyism

Hope and Resilience versus Safetyism

Recently, I was introduced to a new concept that caught my attention as I’ve been watching society around me react to the “new normal.” The construct is called “safetyism.” Much like many ‘isms’, it embodies a frame of thought that fuels anxiety and fear. Safety is generally thought to bring goodness and health, but in an extreme form, safety becomes safetyism. The concept was initially defined by Lukianoff and Haidt in 2018 in their book entitled The Coddling of the American Mind. They define safetyism as a culture or belief system in which safety has become a sacred value, which means that people become unwilling to make trade-offs demanded by other practical and moral concerns. “Safety” trumps everything else, no matter how unlikely or trivial the potential danger. Safetyism is therefore the antithesis of health — it causes fear, and worse, defeat.

Those exhibiting this belief feel the world is so unsafe that the only recourse is to take extreme measures, such as closing themselves off from the world. Other examples include minimizing or foregoing activities they used to participate in prior to COVID-19 out of fear of contracting the virus. People need self-defining activities for self-esteem and value, such as attending social functions, exercise, gardening, going to parks, having lunch with a friend, or shopping at the mall.

As a behavioral health clinician and a public health professional, my first goal is to help people become more resilient in whatever crisis or unexpected life event they may be facing. In this vein, it’s paramount to help people identify what previous resiliency factors have helped them build self-efficacy and a belief in their own ability to accomplish the specific tasks needed to reach previous goals. Everyone has met a goal or overcome a challenge that he thought unconquerable. Unfortunately, people sometimes forget how truly resilient they have been. A significant role of behavioral health professionals is to remind a person how much of an overcomer he truly is by using his own lived history as examples.

So, one may ask, what does resiliency look like in the face of this new stressor, COVID-19? First, it’s essential to use good critical thinking skills. Critical thinking is the analysis of an issue or situation and the facts, data, or evidence related to it. Ideally, critical thinking is to be done objectively — without influence from personal feelings, opinions, or biases — and it focuses solely on factual information.

Secondly, be cautious of the information you choose to subject yourself to. We live in a day of information from many sources. Many of them may be sharing only a partial explanation of what’s occurring in the world. Consequently, pieces of information from multiple sources without clarity may cause anxiety, since it may feel as though you are caught in a maze of events that are difficult to fit together. As Dr. Lee Ann Hoff has suggested when studying people in a crisis, “when people feel anguish over events, the resulting confusion can alter a person’s ability to make decisions and solve problems, the very skill needed during acute anxiety states.” In other words, rely upon sources that are considered experts versus sources that, in an effort to offer safety, may in reality be encouraging safetyism. Reliable sources would be considered the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC.gov), the World Health Organization (WHO.int), and more locally, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC.gov). These sources offer reliable data and steps to support a healthy lifestyle.

Thirdly, don’t avoid the stressor (COVID-19), or worse, isolate yourself. Being resilient means dealing with a crisis or stressor in an emotionally and physically healthy way; it’s manifesting an effective coping style. Follow the federal, state, and local guidance suggested to protect yourself, but also choose to live your life to the fullest extent possible. In contrast, it’s unfortunate that there are those who choose to isolate themselves from friends, family, and society in hopes that tomorrow will be better. Why not start living for tomorrow TODAY and doing the social activities that are important to you? Follow the local protocols recommended by the experts, but also pursue what the American Psychological Association (APA) describes as resilience: adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress, such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems, or workplace and financial stressors.

Fourth, live in the moment. Choose to live in today and focus your energy on what you can accomplish with any new limitations you might be experiencing. One easy, but not simple, way of living in the moment is to develop the discipline of mindfulness. The APA defines mindfulness as “… a moment-to-moment awareness of one’s experience without judgment. In this sense, mindfulness is a state and not a trait.”

It’s true that our new reality caused by COVID-19 may have limitations. In fact, nearly every part of our existence has been impacted by the pandemic. Denying that we have been significantly impacted would not be healthy. Being resilient, though, means facing head-on whatever life may throw at you, and using critical thinking, relying on the wisdom of information from the experts, staying socially active, and living in the moment. You have the ability to choose wellness and life — choose resilience, not safetyism.

Picture of Darrell Jones

Darrell Jones

Darrell Jones, LISW-CP, MPH, BCD is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Board Certified Diplomate in Clinical Social Work with 17+ years of clinical experience. Mr. Jones also has a Master’s Degree in Public Health. He’s served in multiple positions of responsibility within the Department of Defense in the US Army, initially as a Combat Medic and later a Behavioral Health officer with the US Public Health Service during his 24 years of active duty experience. He currently provides behavioral health therapy via Season 4 Change, LLC at Hope Community Counseling Center, a ministry of Midland Valley Community Church of the Nazarene in Graniteville, South Carolina.
Picture of Darrell Jones

Darrell Jones

Darrell Jones, LISW-CP, MPH, BCD is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Board Certified Diplomate in Clinical Social Work with 17+ years of clinical experience. Mr. Jones also has a Master’s Degree in Public Health. He’s served in multiple positions of responsibility within the Department of Defense in the US Army, initially as a Combat Medic and later a Behavioral Health officer with the US Public Health Service during his 24 years of active duty experience. He currently provides behavioral health therapy via Season 4 Change, LLC at Hope Community Counseling Center, a ministry of Midland Valley Community Church of the Nazarene in Graniteville, South Carolina.

In the know

Related Stories

Aiken’s Character Initiative Enthusiasm | Aiken Bella Magazine

Aiken’s Character Initiative Enthusiasm

The Aiken Characteristic of the month for March is Enthusiasm. Google defines enthusiasm as an intense and eager enjoyment, interest, or approval. It is a feeling of energetic interest in a particular subject or activity and a desire to be involved in it. It means having an active and motivated attitude instead of a passive one. Who chooses your attitude? Being enthusiastic is a choice, and your enthusiasm can motivate others to achieve their goals and objectives. I think enthusiasm is good for health and can add to the quality of life. Being enthusiastic about yourself, even about your negative experiences, obstacles, struggles, and encounters, can change the vibration and

Read More »
Bella Fella | Reboot: A Mike Thomas Story | Aiken Bella Magazine

Bella Fella | Reboot: A Mike Thomas Story

The man enters the theater. Alone. Just like always. Soles smack on the sticky floor. Heavy ghosts of buttered popcorn haunt the aisles. He sits in the back corner. Just like always. It takes a certain moxie to go the movies alone. And our guy is chock-full of it. The theater is his place to be alone. It is his sanctuary — his refuge. In the dark of the theater, he is anonymous. The lights dim, and the first preview begins. The first image we see is a young man in a suit and tie. He’s wearing a name tag for a company called Global Spectrum. He’s meeting with another

Read More »
Aiken’s Character Initiative | Tolerance | Aiken Bella Magazine

Aiken’s Character Initiative | Tolerance

The Aiken Characteristic of the Month for February is tolerance. What is tolerance? Why is important? Why would a person want to exhibit tolerance in his or her actions? Tolerance is the ability or willingness to accept opinions or behaviors that are different from your own and that you may not necessarily like or agree. Why is it important? There is no one person who is 100% exactly like anyone else. We all live our lives through our own eyes, and no one else has witnessed life through our eyes. We all have different perceptions, thoughts, beliefs, habits, and experiences. We are all connected, and we can relate and share

Read More »
Celebrate Love | The History and Traditions of Valentine’s Day | Aiken Bella Magazine

Celebrate Love | The History and Traditions of Valentine’s Day

Allow me to be among the many (hopefully for you it’s many) to wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day. For those of you who have great Valentine traditions in place, and look forward positively to celebrating the day with that special someone — CONGRATULATIONS! Given the popularity of the day, you are in the vast majority. For those that haven’t enjoyed the same level of long-term celebration on that day, allow me to shed some light on the challenges we face and the history of how those challenges have evolved. (Note, facts of history are always open to subjective interpretation. Some of those liberties have been exercised by the author.)

Read More »