Unlocking Emotional Lockdown – Impact Cares

“How do I cope with this change and manage my feelings?”

This is an all too common question the team and I are asked, especially over the last eight weeks.

So much so, that the Jackie and I started to list some of the more common and familiar symptoms and feelings expressed by our learners, friends and family, directly relating to the impact of Covid-19 and the emotions caused as a result of the UK’s lockdown.

Here’s what we did:

We asked 80 people, a mix of learners, friends and family, to list positive and negative emotions felt as a result of the pandemic and consequently the lockdown.

Of those 80 people, 64 replied with an age range of 22 to 76 and with a staggering 92% female response.

Here’s what we found:

The most common Negative emotion felt from our study was Anxiety.

People described their anxiety in similar ways; anxious about the future, about work or money and health for their family.

A close second felt by more than 50% was the emotion Fear, which we know can cause anxiety and other negative emotions and behaviours.

Other emotions listed in our study looked like this:

• Unease
• Helplessness
• Worry
• Lethargy
• Concern
• Nostalgic
• Bored
• Overwhelmed
• Emotional
• Claustrophobic
• Frustration
• Isolated

• Lonely
• Failure
• Nothing
• Uninspired
• Lazy
• Panic
• Numbness
• Insomnia
• Agoraphobic
• Challenging
• Sadness
• Nervous

• Gloomy
• Scared
• Disappointment
• Lost
• Grief
• Cheated
• Disturbed
• Troubled
• Exhaustion
• Caged
• Disbelief

The most common Positive emotion we came across was Peace and despite all of the negative emotions listed above, more than 90% of our research showed that people felt at peace or a sense of peace as a direct result of the lockdown.

The second positive emotion was Calm. People described the feelings of calm that came from a place of rest by being at home and with loved ones, or from having expectations lifted from them because of the lockdown.

Some of the other positive emotions we found:

• Relief
• Compassion
• Hope
• Understanding
• Focus

• Contentment
• Love
• Nurturing
• Zen

From a very brief and small piece of research, Impact have been able to report that whilst the more common and expected emotions of anxiety and fear are present and very real in our study, we did not anticipate the overwhelming positive emotional responses describing peace and calm born out of a global pandemic.

In no way does this short study reflect a larger picture of the nation. However, we are encouraged and happily surprised by the unexpected positive emotions many people are feeling.

Impact hope to widen this study as we slowly move out of lockdown and further investigate if ‘we’ can hold on to peace and calm now and in the future.

If you would like to anonymously take part in any further studies relating to Unlocking Emotional Lockdown, why not get in touch.