COVID-19 causing plenty of stress, ‘decision fatigue’
Even before the pandemic, making constant decisions daily could create stress.
COVID-19 has added weight to small and big decisions alike. Do I send my child to school? Do we allow a babysitter to come over? Should we attend a birthday party? Should I pick up takeout? Is one item from the grocery store worth the trip?
The concept of exhaustion and stress after making choices is known as “decision fatigue.” After months of assessing the risk and benefit of daily choices during the coronavirus crisis, people are tired. Especially as school begins, many families have been agonizing over whether to send their children to school or how to manage remote learning.
One-third of Americans experienced high levels of psychological distress during the COVID-19 outbreak, according to a Pew Research Center report.
The decision-making process regarding schooling in particular has been so stressful that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offered a decision-making tool for parents and guardians, suggesting factors to consider, from services a child may receive at school to the feasibility of remote learning.
Many schools and workplaces are changing how they operate throughout the next few months to respond to evolving understandings of the virus. So even as parents make a decision, they face the likelihood of revisiting the stress of figuring out the best option for their family, should schools and workplaces shift their plans.
“Decision fatigue has been absolutely amplified by COVID,” said Vaile Wright, senior director of health care innovation at the American Psychological
Association.
Many are deciding between two unpleasant alternatives. School is a good example, she said.
“There’s no clear answer there,” Wright said. “There are pros and cons to both, and neither of them are very good.”
And the level of uncertainty adds stress. We know more about the virus than we did five months ago, but still not enough to feel any choice is right.
“It’s this constant risk/benefit analysis that we’re doing in our heads. Is it
• The mother of three has struggled with postpartum depression
Sanders opens up about difficult times after the birth of her daughter and older son: “Women can be our own worst enemies,” she writes. “Being a new mom is tough, and spending your time nursing — isolated and lonely — looking at image after image of ‘perfect’ moms on social media can drive even the best mom crazy.”
• She can talk her way out of a speeding ticket
When her father, Mike Huckabee, was running for president in 2008, Sanders worked on his campaign. She writes, “In Houston during a rally, I drove to a famous pie shop and ordered 30 pies for our staff and volunteers. I picked up the pies but needed to quickly get back to the campaign bus, or I would miss my ride to the airport to fly out with my dad to the next rally. I was driving way too fast and got pulled over. The police officer approached the car, and I said, ‘Officer, please forgive me. This is a rental car. I have no driver’s license or insurance on me, but I do have thirty pies that I need to get to Governor Mike Huckabee and Chuck Norris right away.’ The story was so preposterous the officer let me go without a ticket and gave me an escort back to the rally site in exchange for a picture with my dad and Chuck.”
• She has some thoughts about media members
In her final months at the White House, Sanders stopped holding press briefings. She writes: “Many in the press didn’t like to admit it, but we were regularly accessible to take their questions during my time in the White House.” And: “There are hundreds of reporters around the world who had my direct cell or email or could simply knock on the door of my office in the West Wing, so the notion that we weren’t accessible to the press is absurd.”
Sanders pushes for a separation between news and opinion in her book: “You shouldn’t be able to tell what a reporter’s point of view is. Their reporting should give the facts, not their opinion, and let you decide.”
• She remains loyal to her old boss
Sanders acknowledges that the president “isn’t perfect” and “isn’t always easy,” but, she writes, “A second term for President Trump would be better for all Americans than the Democratic alternative.”
Trump called Sanders at night and on weekends, and he occasionally registered disapproval when she ended press briefings with “Thanks, guys.” (He said, “‘I don’t like the word ‘guys.’ It might even be offensive to some women.’”)
But the two are still friendly. At the end of “Speaking for Myself,” after hinting that she might like to be governor of Arkansas, Sanders recalls the president’s two separate promises to endorse her if she runs.