As I have often said in recent months, we must be careful when asking ourselves the question: " Is this normal…? " We are currently in an extraordinary situation, a situation that also provokes emotional reactions out of the ordinary.

Is it normal to feel a little depressed about returning to a situation where many of our pleasures have vanished (arts, culture, sports, gastronomy, parties with friends, etc.)? Absolutely!

Is it normal to feel irritated by strangers who do not respect the measures prescribed by the government? Absolutely!

Is it normal to be angry about a situation that stretches beyond our expectations (our patience?) and that has an impact on several facets of our life? Absolutely!

An abnormal situation causes abnormal emotions. Let's keep that in mind.

Now, beyond this observation, what can I do to take care of myself?

Two things. First, by remaining very sensitive to two attitudes that can have a significant impact on our mood: apathy and anhedonia . Apathy is the difficulty in mobilizing oneself to do daily tasks (spending the day doing nothing, for example). Anhedonia is the gradual loss of my ability to properly evaluate the pleasure felt (finding that everything is boring).

How can I stay on top of these two manifestations? When I feel like I don't want to do something that is already planned, I no longer rely on my emotion and force myself to perform the behavior. So, if I feel like I don't want to go for a run one morning and I feel physically fit, I force the outing by going anyway. Then, when I get back, I ask myself about the pleasure felt, on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being total ecstasy and 1 being a visit to the dentist. How much do I rate the pleasure felt before the activity and how much do I rate the pleasure actually felt after the activity? If I rate my run at 3/10 and when I get back I see that it was more like a 7/10, that's a great victory that will have a positive impact on the rest of my day!

One strategy that works is to develop a list of activities that you enjoy and sprinkle them throughout your weeks . No matter the activity, when pleasure and motivation dip, it becomes very important to stimulate the production of positive emotions. To do this, having a list of about twenty suggestions on hand (watch an episode of an old comedy series, play a video game, go pick vegetables, do DIY, etc.) can be very useful.

The next few weeks will be objectively difficult and we are all still a little affected by the trying spring we have experienced. In such a context, we might as well be proactive and prepare to take care of our morale before it deteriorates too much...