Elisa Peimer: Are You Resilient?

This week, the Surgeon General outlined steps to counter the “epidemic of loneliness and isolation has fueled other problems that are killing us and threaten to rip our country apart.” This follows last fall’s urgent message re: wellness in the workplace, and last spring’s urgent message re: mental health in adolescents.

It isn’t hyperbole to suggest that perhaps the deepest, simplest, and most critical solution is friends and neighbors; when we talk about difficult things with people we trust, we know we’re not alone.

Someone who knows the toll of isolation is Resilience Lab Psychotherapist Elisa Peimer.

“COVID was difficult,” she told me, “but coming out is also difficult; people aren’t sure what to do, how to be, how they’ve changed, how the world has changed. And people wanna be better at living their lives. And we’re not really taught how to be good at that.”

How does she advise we approach the moment?

“Do what feels right,” she says. “Do what doesn’t make you feel upset, what doesn’t make you feel anxious? Cuz a lot of times we make decisions based on what we think we’re supposed to do.”

“The other thing,” she says, “is don’t rush it. You know, you’re under no obligation to know right now.”

Listen to Elisa’s entire Friends & Neighbors Podcast episode on Apple (apple.co/3LNpe0C), Spotify (bit.ly/410tsZh), or wherever you find podcasts.