Is the pandemic eroding my identity?
This blog is a collection of thoughts, musing and questions. It is not meant to provide an opinion on identity but is meant to be a place where we can start to consider and explore what the current situation means for us and our children and think about how we tackle the issues it raises.
Is the pandemic eroding my identity?
It started with the cancellation of a couple of foreign holidays ‘no big deal there is always next year I thought it’s not like I’m never going to go away again’ it was a sacrifice I was willing to make; but as the sunshine wore off in June so did the novelty; weddings, funerals, births, deaths, relationship breakdowns all became even more difficult to navigate under this new sky.
We kept our spirits up by clapping for the NHS and feeling good that we had not overwhelmed our health care system, helping people less fortunate or more vulnerable than ourselves provided a distraction; at least we were doing something. There was a temporary return to a national identity that we could all relate to if not remember the ‘war time spirit’
As we move into a prolonged period of greater lack of choice and increased loss of freedom what does this mean for our individual identities?
If we are defined by what we do and what we choose to do and if these choices and freedoms are restricted to a few narrow options what does that mean for us? Add this to the possibility of losing your job and your home we begin to get a sense of the scale of the question
I don’t have the freedom to visit my mother, kiss my sister or hug my friends or look for the physical social support that is typically
available to me in times of need. What impact does this have on people over time? One of my friends describes feeling detached and separated from herself as well as others; she believes that something is wrong with her, which there is not but when the everyday choices and freedoms that make us who we are, are gone, who are we? It’s an uncomfortable thought. Imagine if most of your
relationships were based in a power dynamic that were biased against you. Imagine you are a child in all of this. It gets more uncomfortable by the minute.
It could be argued that adults are experiencing some of what it feels like to be a child. A lack of choice and freedom without the power to act. In the end some children do act regardless of the boundaries and become labelled as troublesome or disruptive; we see similar behaviours in some adults during the current pandemic which maybe another way of trying to regain some power
Anecdotal evidence suggests that primary aged children are fairing better than we might expect, mostly they have not yet reached the developmental milestone of power and identity and so they do not miss what they have not had. However older children and teenagers especially could be experiencing more difficulty as they reach the age where power and identity is being established and explored. Friendships and social alliances are fundamental to this period of a young person’s development and the current restrictions will certainly have more of an impact on them.
Perhaps who we are and what we do has had to change more quickly than our long-held perceptions of ourselves which may cause a certain amount of internalised stress. Having to adjust or start again or find new aspects to our lives.
#playidentiy #playtheory #pandemic #playmatters #letthemplay
Tracey Jobber
Senior Play Development Officer - SMBC Go Play Sandwell
