At the beginning of March, many of us had vacations, weddings, family visits, concerts, sporting events, graduations, birthday parties, baby showers and other celebrations glimmering on the horizon. Just a couple of weeks later, all of those big plans — and even the smaller ones dotting our calendars, like dinners with friends, workout classes or haircuts — were shelved indefinitely.
If you’ve been experiencing disappointment or a sense of grief around the loss of future plans, know that it’s a totally normal reaction to the present circumstances. You may feel silly being sad about your graduation ceremony getting canceled or your wedding being postponed when others are dealing with unemployment, severe health issues or the death of a loved one — but you shouldn’t.
“Given the truly devastating situations so many people are finding themselves in, we can feel guilty for mourning these smaller losses, which just piles on even more negative feelings,”Jaime Kurtz — associate professor of psychology at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia — told HuffPost:
- It makes you feel optimistic about the future
- It’s a pleasant distraction
- It motivates you to keep going when you want to give up
read more
