Right outside my door (or at least on my Twitter feed), the world looks like an action movie on fast forward. But within my little bubble, every day is the same. I’ve spent the last several months regularly paralyzed by abject fear, boredom, and then a strange combination of the two. Unsurprisingly, this Groundhog Day mentality has pretty much made me more unmotivated than I’ve ever been — and there’s a term for this: pandemic motivation paralysis.
As a journalist, I’ve faced more bouts of writer’s block during this time than I have in the last decade. I thankfully haven’t had to deal with any major Covid-19-related setbacks, but for some reason, the state of everything (waves hands around wildly) has led to a kind of motivation paralysis.
I’ve tried various, well-reputed tactics — like meditation and exercise — to break out of the cycle, but for the most part, I’ve found their usefulness short-lived. It’s been beyond frustrating to hit brief strides of “There it is!” only to be greeted the next moment with “Just kidding, everything is awful!” It’s like stifling a long-awaited sneeze, if the sneeze were my creativity.
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After countless days of staring blankly into the void of my computer screen, I started to understand something pivotal: I wouldn’t expect to run a marathon at peak speed on a sprained ankle, so I can’t expect my brain to bring its A-game when it’s been compromised by months of mental and emotional upheaval.
Experts agree motivation paralysis has become common during the pandemic, says Dr. Alison Haar, a psychologist at The Ross Center in New York City. One reason: Our world’s unusual circumstances have created a “suspended animation.”
“This sense of unreality, or reality-adjacent, does not foster a sense of groundedness or connectedness,” Haar says.“In fact, it is quite unmooring that we have lost many of the anchors that functioned as guideposts throughout our day.”
Going to work, socializing with friends, and doing other activities outside the home help us regulate our mental and physical energy as well as give us a sense of time. Now that we’re lacking those things, time has lost meaning, which can do a number on focus and productivity.
Many people have also lost some of their external motivators, like a job and income, and have had trouble getting either back, which, aside from knocking down self-worth, can erase the impulse to get things done. “There is very little externally that is motivating people to do well,” says Dr. Annie M. Varvaryan, a psychologist at Couch Conversations in Los Angeles.
Then there’s the constant fear of the virus, which is amplified each day by reading the news or simply stepping outside and going to the store. “When we’re caught up with fear or anxiety about what tomorrow will bring, motivation to do things that aren’t directly related to safety or security go out the window,” says Dr. Jisun Fisher, a psychologist in New Jersey.
We may know that grappling with fear on a regular basis can lead to chronic stress and anxiety, but it can also show up as a lack of motivation even in people who have previously not struggled with this. Haar even equated what we’re experiencing to the impact of trauma. Constantly being stressed out by fear takes a surprising amount of mental (and sometimes physical) energy, which is why you might also be feeling tired a lot. Your brain has just been processing more than it can handle 24/7.
But, as with most things, recognizing what’s really causing the problem is the first step to fixing it. Once you’ve identified that your motivation paralysis is due to your brain running on anxiety fumes, what can you do about it?
First things first: Give your brain a break. This may sound too easy, but don’t gloss over it. Often, my first instinct is to blame myself for not being able to do something, to get frustrated with myself, but that’s really just counterproductive and involves expelling even more emotional energy that I don’t have to spare.
Instead, try being nice to your brain. Do something you know it likes, like a fun word puzzle or reading a few chapters of that suspense thriller novel you got for Christmas. Aside from being a welcome distraction from the news or the mundanity of life right now, these or similar activities take just a little bit of effort and can leave you feeling accomplished and even joyful. That accomplished feeling is like a reset button for your brain and allows it to be more open to doing other things like applying for a job or finishing writing an article (wink wink).
Things like talk therapy, meditation, and exercise can also do that, but the “joy switch,” as I like to call it, seems to spark creativity for me in a more complete way than those more commonly known motivation cures do.
Anything that involves changing up behavior in order to reignite brain activity is what Haar calls “a mindset shift.” This can be something as simple as taking a shower or as complex as baking macarons — the point is that it gets your brain to focus on the here and now rather than intangible, often incomprehensible worries or other useless distractions.
You can take it a step further by practicing an open mindset, which just means being open to learning or taking in something new. “The easiest way to practice an open mindset is to practice curiosity and remove judgment,” says Fisher.Try taking a class in a subject that’s always interested you but that you’ve never explored.You’ll be surprised just how quickly it sparks your inspiration.
That inspiration may also trigger positive thinking, which can help you feel better all around. “Positive thinking encourages mindfulness, gratitude, self-compassion, and optimism,” says Haar. “This practice can be especially useful in the face of hopelessness, helplessness, and feeling out of control — all of which perfectly describe the experience of living through a global pandemic.”
I don’t want to oversell this — even when you’re trying all of the above, it can sometimes still be hard to see what’s working well when so much is working against you. Try taking just a few moments a day to really think about what makes you happy right now and write it down. That way, when your brain convinces you that everything sucks, you have written proof that that’s not true.
And no one’s expecting positive thinking to last forever. After all, you’re not Kimmy Schmidt. But the more you do it, the easier it will be to tap into. “Working toward it could make the experience of feeling joy longer and longer each time,” says Varvaryan.
Finally, you’ll get stuck again. Just remind yourself that that’s okay. A mindset shift isn’t about holding yourself to a harsh standard; it’s about giving yourself permission to set realistic goals and allowing those goals to move and flex as needed.Do something fun to escape from stress for a little bit.Your brain will thank you.
