It’s another day in 2020. I’m actually not quite sure what day. I just realized I haven’t changed my calendar from the month of March. I do know that my heart yearns for some semblance of life before a global pandemic took hold of our country, while also hoping we can come out of this crisis with a real “rise from the ashes” hero’s journey ending where we learn from our mistakes and come out stronger than ever.
I’m not so naïve to see that hope slipping a bit, but the mixed feelings I’ve experienced are nothing new. When I was a senior in high school, I was both sad to know I wouldn’t see my friends every day and excited to start college and make new ones. When I was engaged, I was both stressed about planning a wedding and eager to start a new chapter of life with my husband.
And, as so many can probably relate to right now, I really want school to reopen so my son can play with his friends again, but I’m also concerned what impacts reopening schools might have on families and communities during an outbreak.
I’ve got a lot of mixed feelings.
As we are inundated with new information and guidance daily, we are left feeling more conflicted than ever. Early in the crisis, the public was told wearing masks wasn’t necessary. Now the attorney general recommends the use of masks in public. There’s been a barrage of inconsistent directives and now we’re sorting through the data like CIA operatives searching for answers, only to be left feeling angrier than we were to begin with.
The feeling is called Cognitive Dissonance.
According to Psychology Today, this is the definition of that term:
“The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people are averse to inconsistencies within their own minds.… When one learns new information that challenges a deeply held belief, for example, or acts in a way that seems to undercut a favorable self-image, that person may feel motivated to somehow resolve the negative feeling that results—to restore cognitive consonance.”
It’s important to recognize this behavioral state as we continually receive new and often conflicting information, especially from influential figures. When presented with information that makes us feel uncomfortable, angry, or upset, before denouncing its accuracy, look inward to determine if that feeling isn’t cognitive dissonance first and attempt to reconcile its validity from a place of objectivity.
It’s unlikely we can stay hidden in our homes forever in fear of the virus. It’s downright irresponsible to think everything should and can go back to the way it was as quickly as we’d like it to. We need to recognize it might be a little bit of both, evaluating our comfortability of risk as we go.
As the world starts to emerge from this crisis, it will be important to recognize the feelings of cognitive dissonance so that we might examine and learn from this great human experiment.
It’s the only way we will begin to rise from the ashes of this catastrophic wildfire and have the hero’s journey ending we all deserve.
