When they turn the gravity back on

Time slows down and everything moves silently when you’re about to crash.

Life in stasis

Life buzzed with 6am yoga classes, daily commutes, morning drive-through coffee, school and work, errands and after-school couriers — always a mad dash to arrive somewhere. Life was a jaw-grinding, never-ending panic attack.

The year the world stood still, the lives of many, suddenly halted, as if someone turned off the gravity. Lives at full speed, now in suspended animation, a stop-motion car crash. Without the constant buzz of life, when that is all stripped away, when nothing but ourselves remains, what happens?

For many, after a year, they languished — like a dimmer switch turn down to 25%, not completely depressed but far from thriving. It is not difficult to understand why: burnout, zoom fatigue, isolation, caregiving, virtual schooling, and loss. Some carried on, in a waking dream, like the world was as before. Still others are simply surviving in stasis, for life was already a car crash waiting to happen.

What happens when they turn the gravity back on? When they ask us to return to as before. What has stasis done to our mental, physical, and social health? Are we ready for re-entry, or will the forces of the world tear us apart? Is there anything we can do to prepare?

Collective trauma and social atrophy

When astronauts return from low-gravity environments, it is common for them to physically experience atrophy, or a general wasting away of body mass, often from disuse. Rehabilitation is often needed to regain full strength and health before living normal lives on earth.

Like a year long journey in space, our isolation has weakened our social muscles — we’ve undergone social atrophy. For many, re-engaging in social interactions, entering crowds, or a fully vaccinated person removing a mask can trigger anxiety and panic attacks as a result of our collective trauma.

For example, Louie from Chapel Hill recalls a recent experience attempting normal interactions:

I had two in-person meetings today (outside, all masks, all vaccinated) and it was hard. I had a slight panic attack when I got to the car. I think I have forgotten how much information I have to process in day to day irl interactions.

In the workplace this has manifested as rampant burnout and job seeking. For example, 40% percent of people surveyed have considered leaving their job. In education, college students are mentally exhausted and student engagement has dropped. For example, NC State University course survey response rates have dropped sharply from 45% in 2019 to 27% in 2021. One student writes,

I don’t get to see my family, I’m not even remotely close to as active as I was, I barely get sleep because of the stress and anxiety, I’m not eating as well as I normally would.

We cannot expect to simply function at 100% when life returns. Longer term, as we restart our economy, inflation will not just be in physical materials, like lumber, and chicken — the cognitive cost of everything will increase. Each email, meeting, or task will take longer and take more out of us. We have atrophied. Without rehabilitation, we will have a lower mental and cognitive capacity for work, leaving some to call for a “Summer Slowdown”.

Peer therapy and reaching out

For some, their time in stasis has been nothing short of restorative, removing people from toxic or unhealthy situations, or allowing opportunities for reflection and redirection. Regardless of how well we think we coped in stasis, we may unexpectedly be among the vulnerable, in need of care, time, and rehabilitation. Without collective access to professional therapy, we will not have enough care and support to go around. Simply relying on our existing friends and family, especially for some inner struggles, is also problematic.

It was in the far corners, where I found the most unlikely but most helpful connections and conversations. A long-lost friend from half a lifetime ago, a doctor from another corner of the Triangle, and a distant LinkedIn connection. We shared, commiserated, and openly discussed the broken glass and suspended shrapnel in our life: Trauma, Long COVID, chronic pain, mental health, anxiety, career dilemmas, divorce, parenting. And we tried to find new sources and inspiration for happiness, music, activities, and food. In short, reforging and rethinking the support and friendship in our lives.

Reaching out to someone in the farthest reaches of our networks, distant family, and to unmet neighbors — may save someone too weak or isolated to ask for help. We may be the best bet for each other in surviving what comes next.

Hand on the switch

Shrapnel and broken glass are suspended in the air. Someone’s finger rests on a dimmer switch. Thousands of times, my mind has raced through the unfolding possibilities. There is no Quicksilver to move all danger aside, in the few seconds left.

I feel a gentle tug on the belly.

The world slowly lurches forward.

Then a hand reaches out.