With 87 percent of America on lockdown, most of us are feeling stressed. Parents work from makeshift home offices while homeschooling their kids and prepping meals. Others, less fortunate, have been furloughed or laid off and struggle to make ends meet. Stuck in the house, each member of the family is under stress, yet each handles it differently.
Consider this scenario, for instance. Katie, the mom, tries to keep a happy face, but instead of sleeping at night, grocery lists and visions of empty shelves whirl through her mind. Naturally thin and wiry, she can’t focus on her work deadlines and is so nervous about keeping her family safe that she finds it hard to eat properly and is losing weight. No matter how hard Katie tries to relax, she can’t stop the worry.
Let’s call the husband Charlie. A man of medium build and thinning blond hair, he’s a competitive sales person. He feels increasingly agitated when his company’s website crashes and the kids, with their impeccable timing, crowd into the closet that is now his home office. He blames his boss for not organizing online systems better before this crisis and finds his normal desire to help his co-workers and family fading as his patience runs thin and he falls behind. READ MORE…