{"id":75194,"date":"2021-04-01T09:08:31","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T13:08:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=75194"},"modified":"2025-08-19T09:37:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T13:37:15","slug":"pandemic-fatigue-imagining-metaphors","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/pandemic-fatigue-imagining-metaphors\/","title":{"rendered":"How to cope with pandemic fatigue by imagining metaphors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n How to cope with pandemic fatigue by imagining metaphors\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have dramatic impacts on mobility, work routines, social interactions and psychological distress. Although no longer novel, the pandemic is still causing an overall disruption of normality and challenging our ability to make sense of the world around us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The World Health Organization<\/a> has been drawing attention to pandemic fatigue<\/a>, a natural response to a prolonged public health crisis. Pandemic fatigue involves decreasing motivation to follow health-related directives, including engaging in pandemic protective actions like eating well, exercising and decreasing tobacco or alcohol consumption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All levels of public health are attempting to explain<\/a>, prevent<\/a> and cope with<\/a> this phenomenon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making sense<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In our research<\/a> on how people make sense of their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, we came to appreciate the power of metaphors as a coping tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A metaphor is a figure of speech in which one kind of object or idea is used to understand or explain another by implying likeness or analogy. By combining and reorganizing abstract and concrete features, metaphors influence thought processes, attitudes, beliefs and actions. They help us make sense of situations and stimulate new actions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, by referring to the current growth of COVID-19 cases as the \u201cthird wave of the pandemic,\u201d we call upon understandings of \u201cwaves\u201d to facilitate understanding of the abstract and complex situation of the spread of the virus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Metaphors make our experiences and desire tangible and allow us to see assumptions, behaviours and resources that are likely to support our goals and desires. As an intervention strategy, metaphors can help us gain insights into our situations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Metaphors are commonly used in research<\/a>, coaching<\/a> and therapeutic practice<\/a> to help individuals make sense of situations and find new ways of dealing with problems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coaching helps people achieve specific personal or professional goals under the guidance of a trained professional. We drew on coaching principles used in Clean Language<\/a> and Integral Coaching<\/a> to help international students and immigrants to cope with challenges in their lives during the first wave of the pandemic. We found that imaginative metaphors helped them find tangible ways to identify and achieve their goals and they felt more empowered through the process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We propose that with a bit of imagination, anyone can use metaphors to cope with pandemic fatigue and find better ways to deal with these challenging times by following four simple steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a>
\n It\u2019s been over a year since the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic, and we\u2019re still unclear on when it will be over and we can resume our everyday lives. (Shutterstock)<\/span><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Imagining metaphors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Step 1: Identify a goal or desire under your control.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal should describe what you want in positive terms. Ask yourself: What would I like to have happen? It should be something that has not yet happened, contains a desire or need and does not include any reference to the problem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s take the example of Tim, one of the participants in our research, who was struggling to feel connected<\/a> with his loved ones due to travel and social distance restrictions. Tim found virtual connections unsatisfactory and felt lonely. As he reflected on what was causing him pain, he identified the goal \u201cto be better able to find satisfaction in virtual connections.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 2: Imagine a metaphor that depicts how you can achieve that goal.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ask yourself: And that is like what? Imagine a metaphor that represents the goal when achieved. It helps to think of a noun and then elaborate on the characteristics of that noun through adjectives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim imagined a far-reaching satellite as a way to articulate a connection that is strong and reliable and happens at a long distance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 3: Fully develop the metaphor by focusing on details to gain a feel for the metaphor.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ask yourself, \u201cIs there anything else about this metaphor that I\u2019m using<\/strong>?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim continued to imagine his satellite and answering the question: \u201cAnd is there anything else about this far-reaching satellite?\u201d multiple times. Through this process, he explored how the satellite worked to have far-reaching connections. Through exploration, elaboration and articulation, Tim realized that what was important to him was to read the connection signals. He needed to be better at noticing when a connection was happening or when others were trying to connect with him from a distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 4: Identify what needs to happen for the metaphor to become your new reality.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Successful goals<\/a> need to be broken down into small achievable steps to visualize and articulate an action or outcome to be fulfilled. Ask yourself: What needs to happen? And can that happen? Repeat those questions until what needs to happen is clear and achievable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim decided to make a few phone calls to people he missed and made a plan to check in with his girlfriend every morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a>
\n Four steps to using metaphors to help relieve pandemic fatigue. (Luciara Nardon)<\/span> (Author provided)<\/span><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This four-step process can be repeated for various goals and is a useful practice to maintain during the pandemic and the long process of recovery ahead. Imaginative metaphors are a powerful tool to keep in the mix of self-care \u2014 they help create a renewed sense of empowerment and a change in mindset to deal with pandemic fatigue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Carleton University is a member of this unique digital journalism platform that launched in June 2017 to boost visibility of Canada\u2019s academic faculty and researchers. Interested in writing a piece? Please contact Steven Reid<\/a> or sign up to become an author<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All photos provided by The Conversation from various sources.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

—
\nCarleton Newsroom<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have dramatic impacts on mobility, work routines, social interactions and psychological distress. Although no longer novel, the pandemic is still causing an overall disruption of normality and challenging our ability to make sense of the world around us. The World Health Organization has been drawing attention to pandemic fatigue, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":75196,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[1623],"cu_story_tag":[],"class_list":["post-75194","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-expert-perspectives"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/75194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/75194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75198,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/75194\/revisions\/75198"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=75194"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=75194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}