A loaf of bread and a gallon of milk, a dozen eggs and onto the checkout line. “Paper or plastic?” or fill your own bag, then out the door. It used to be so simple, the quick run to the supermarket. Now, in this age of coronavirus, even everyday tasks such as grocery shopping have changed, with new rules replacing the routine.

For people already grappling with anxiety, the shopping experience can awaken a fresh set of worries. Anxiety swirls around this virus, touching family, health, finances and livelihood, and finding its way into everyday life. Your pre-coronavirus supermarket trip already demanded multiple decisions, with some routine, of where to park, large cart or basket, frozen or fresh, sale or favourite item, debit or cash.

A Cornell University study cited in a Washington Post story about shopping noted that we make more than 200 food decisions a day. On top of that now, you’re trying to figure out where to stand in line and why the plastic bags seem so sealed and how you need to stand farther away from the shoppers who just licked their fingers to try to pry them open. Add to that learning curbside retail.

The association’s national poll found nearly six in 10 Americans felt coronavirus seriously disrupted their daily lives; 48% were anxious about contracting coronavirus; while 36% – more than one in every three Americans – said the virus was having a serious effect on their mental health. “There’s no one I’ve seen who is not impacted by Covid,” La Tanya Takla, an educational psychologist,said Wednesday. “The fear of getting it, the inundation of it in the news, is debilitating for some people. Germs have always lived with us. What makes this different is how many people are getting sick from it.”

Takla, Yellowlees and Adriana Joyner, a licensed Sacramento-area psychotherapist, are unanimous in how to tackle the supermarket and combat anxiety: Have a plan to get through it. “One of the main ways that you can manage heightened anxiety around shopping trips,is to have a plan in place that helps you feel comfortable, secure and as safe as possible.” Be prepared with masks, gloves and hand sanitiser. Have an easy-to-reach payment option to avoid fumbling through a wallet or purse after handling store items. Bring a shopping list to help shorten your trip through the store. Shop during low-traffic times and, if, possible, find a store that fits your comfort level.

Understanding the underlying trigger for the anxiety, will help to pinpoint those fears, directly address them and reestablish control. Forget the reusable plastic bags, rendered suddenly obsolete by the public health crisis. Keep them in the trunk. Be sure to toss your used wipes, gloves and trash in the proper waste bin. Six feet of social distancing, please. Make room and wear your mask.

Meantime, a clerk outside the store’s entrance sprayed down several rows of shopping carts with a foamy green sanitising solution to ready them for the next wave of customers. And as department stores and shopping malls prepare to reopen and re-join the economy, they, too, are offering reassurances of their own.

Source : Gulf Times

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