Architectural professionals share the emotional impacts of COVID-19

There's no hiding the emotional toll this unprecedented pandemic has had on the entire globe. As a part of our efforts to learn about the impacts of this situation, Archinect reached out to its international community to get a sense of how things have been going. We wanted to hear how our colleagues have been holding up, discovering along the way that many of us share the same challenges, concerns, and uncertainties. As a part of our outreach, we asked how professionals were doing emotionally. Through that inquiry, we found 4 main areas of emotional impact:

• Feeling distracted, drained, and anxious from news and updates
• Worried about the economic implications of the pandemic
• Hit to productivity and focus due to stress and anxiety
• Familial concerns and impacts

We'll look at each one more in-depth and share some personal remarks from our colleagues across the industry.

Feeling distracted, drained, and anxious from news

As we learn about this novel situation together, our tendency to check the news and social media for updates seems unavoidable. With the intention of informing ourselves, we instead end up overwhelming ourselves. After a while, the information overload builds up to where we mentally (and even physically) can't take it anymore. Our best bet is to find a healthy balance that allows us to stay up to date and mentally well. Here are what some of our fellow professionals had to say on this issue:

"I'm more stressed than usual, distracted by news and local alerts.... i have a two year old and parents over 70, so concerned about everyone but me. but getting things Done at work, perhaps a little slower than usual, but i think everyone is “slower than usual” this week."

"I'm feeling burnt out on news, also 35 weeks pregnant and concerned about the future of labor and delivery, my job, the economy, etc. But trying to stay focused and busy at work."

"The media is overkill, for good reason I presume to stop the morons from making things worse, but again at some point reality has to settle in and what will be will be."

"Extremely anxious for the shoe to drop. Waiting for an understanding of what to expect. The anxiety has me constantly checking the news."

"It is draining, hearing the updates about all of the newest closures and wondering what is going to happen."

More here

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Archinect