Strategies for coping with COVID unemployment

It’s impossible to talk about the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on people in the United States without discussing unemployment. By the end of March, The New York Times reported an estimated unemployment rate of 13 percent. And although 4.8 million jobs were added by the end of June, the reported unemployment rate was still a staggering 11.1 percent. Americans are suffering, and as some states continue to maintain loose restrictions despite rising cases, it’s hard to know when the jobless rate will truly, and permanently, improve.

And people who’ve lost their jobs are not only coping with the mental and physical health effects of unemployment — results from a study in the American Journal of Public Health showed that “unemployment had an adverse impact on psychological function, with the unemployed becoming more anxious, depressed, and concerned with bodily symptoms than those who continued to work” — but also with the effects of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement. 

To put it simply: it’s a lot. And it isn’t going away… at least, not anytime soon.

COVID-19, along with both the trivial — e.g., my cat’s new habit of yelling for food between the hours of 2:00 and 6:00 pm – and the truly grave difficulties that come with it are part of our lives now. The feelings and experiences that affect us all are very real.

I’m lucky, I still have my job. But it’s still a lot to cope with. I was initially managing my mental health during quarantine by telling myself that this will all be over at some point, and we’ll be able to resume our lives in a “normal” world. The longer I pretend this [gestures to the world] is not normal, and the longer I bury my feelings, the longer my life is on hold.

Ashley Mead, a psychotherapist at MyTherapyNYC, the practice where I found my first therapist in New York, noted that since humans are creatures of habit, change can be difficult, and “when our routines get disrupted, our brains are forced to engage fully in order to ensure our needs continue to be met. This can cause stress to our systems as we are forced to find a new normal.” Mead recommends being as present as possible in the moment, asking for help from your loved ones, and being compassionate with yourself. 

How to cope with unemployment during a pandemic 

There is no one right way to cope with anything — including unemployment — during a pandemic. But choosing every day to do something for yourself (whatever that means for you)  is a good start, no matter the path you need to take. Finding work right away, whether it’s related to your career or not, might be your number one priority. 

You might need to take a breather and make your next move carefully and deliberately, without rushing into a job that might negatively affect your mental health. You might be able to pivot to another career, something that you’ve always dreamt about.

“Maybe it seems a little strange to some that I would pivot from a high-powered marketing job to one where I literally help people learn to slow down, take a breath, and just be in their body. But it made the most sense for me and for where I want my life to go next,” explained Sara Jones of Boston. “I’ll complete my training later this summer, and I cannot wait to figure out what’s next from there.”

But unemployment isn’t an opportunity to pivot for everyone. You may need a period of mourning as you transition. Not every day will be productive: “Sometimes I have sad days, and tough days, and days where I seem to need a lot of naps,” Sara says.

No matter the motivation, no matter the path you take, or naps you need during this time of great upheaval, the most important thing is to be gentle with yourself about what needs to get done and find ways to be fulfilled while you do it. Then, have honest conversations with your loved ones about how you need to be supported. 

“When our routines get disrupted, our brains are forced to engage fully in order to ensure our needs continue to be met. This can cause stress to our systems as we are forced to find a new normal.”

Here are some things to do that can help you take your next steps with confidence: 

• Allow yourself to grieve a job you loved and lost and mourn any carefully laid-out plans that have been so rudely blown to bits by COVID-19. 

• Feel your feelings fully and completely, knowing that nothing you are feeling is wrong or unusual. 

• Take some time (even a few moments) for some self care — whatever that means for you.

• Move forward knowing that your worth is not related to your career or state of employment and that you will find purpose and fulfillment outside your work in other areas of your life.

As you take the necessary steps to earn a living and provide for your family, take care of yourself, too. Though we don’t know the timeline, this period will end, and things will start to normalize again. 

In the meantime, keeping in touch with yourself might just make the next “new normal” a little easier to handle.