THURSDAY, MAY 27, 2021 • THE BULLETIN
Continued from previous page
duration of the pandemic, and the divi-
sions among Americans that it highlighted,
heaped stress upon stress, Schwartz said.
Frightening headlines, the changing levels of
COVID-19 risk and a lack of clear messag-
ing from political leaders left some people
feeling out of control, which can increase
anger and irritability.
KEEP THE GOOD
Don’t throw out everything you learned, or
every change you made, during the pandemic.
“There’s been changes that people (have
made) in this really challenging transitional
time,” she said.
Some of them may have been on the hori-
zon anyway. “I think that most of the things
were present, and they just became more
obvious (due to the pandemic),” she said.
“There might have been things that didn’t
exist before, it just happened to have been
COVID, but I think a lot of them just got re-
vealed and clarified, if you will.”
That was true for herself and some of the
changes made in her own life during the
pandemic.
“I kind of had the sense that changes
were needed, but I didn’t quite know how
to get there, and this showed me a way to
get there,” she said. “Most of the things were
present, and just became obvious.”
GO! MAGAZINE • PAGE 11
GO AT YOUR OWN PACE,
TRUST YOURSELF
“We don’t have to all
of a sudden go from
nothing to every-
thing,” Schwartz said,
acknowledging that
could be challenging
for those called back
to work full time after a
year working from home.
“The question with that
is, what do we have to learn
from this? How do we want to come
back?” she said. “What is the culture we
want to come back with?”
It would be helpful to consider, person-
ally and professionally, what you’ve missed,
and what you haven’t, over the past year,
Schwartz said. “As you think about going
back out there, what do you want to bring
with you, and what do you want to leave?”
And if you still want to wear a mask de-
spite being vaccinated, or you’re having
trouble letting go of social distancing, do
what’s right for you, Schwartz said.
“You don’t have to do it overnight. Let it
be a process going back.”
BE EASY ON YOURSELF
“Give yourself a break. We’re all going
“Just cut ourselves some slack. Be easy on ourselves,
have compassion. I don’t think people are really
acknowledging the toll that it’s taken. It’s normal
if you are in any way apprehensive or feeling
uncomfortable with doing again the things that you
haven’t done for a while.”
Lara Schwartz, Bend psychotherapist
through the same thing, and a lot
of us are feeling uncertain,” she said.
It’s very American to want to get back to
“normal,” after the difficulties of the pan-
demic, but, Schwartz said, “I don’t think
people have really honestly registered all
that we’ve been through. We don’t ever slow
down to be like, ‘What’s the hurry?’ so that
it gives our bodies and minds and emotions
a chance to integrate or regulate what hap-
pened.”
“Just cut ourselves some slack. Be easy on
ourselves, have compassion,” Schwartz said.
“I don’t think people are really acknowl-
edging the toll that it’s taken. It’s normal if
you are in any way apprehensive or feeling
uncomfortable with doing again the things
that you haven’t done for a while.”
After staying home for much of the past
year, the old normal can feel abnormal.
“I wasn’t even aware myself of going back
out in the world, and how what I’ve been
wearing every day is not fit for public con-
sumption,” she said. “I went, ‘What do I
wear?’ I feel like I forgot certain things. And
then I went out today and did a bunch of
things, but I was only out for three hours,
and I feel like I need a long nap.”
HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR
“I know COVID is deadly, but I think we
need to have some levity and a sense of hu-
mor with ourselves and others as we find
our way,” she said.
One way to do that is to try to look at the
bigger picture and notice the good things in
life, “instead of just only the dire pieces of
COVID,” Schwartz said. “A wider perspec-
tive helps with that.”
David Jasper: 541-383-0349, djasper@bendbulletin.com
national bestsellers
Here are the bestsellers for the week that ended
Saturday, May 15, compiled from data from
independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers
and independent distributors nationwide.
HARDCOVER FICTION
1. Sooley. John Grisham. Doubleday
2. While Justice Sleeps. Stacey Abrams. Doubleday
3. 21st Birthday. Patterson/Paetro. Little, Brown
4. Project Hail Mary. Andy Weir. Ballantine
5. That Summer. Jennifer Weiner. Atria
6. The Midnight Library. Matt Haig. Viking
7. A Gambling Man. David Baldacci. Grand Central
8. The Four Winds. Kristin Hannah. St. Martin’s
9. The Last Thing He Told Me. Laura Dave. Simon &
Schuster
10. Finding Ashley. Danielle Steel. Delacorte
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
1. Killing the Mob. O’Reilly/Dugard. St. Martin’s
2. Yearbook. Seth Rogen. Crown
3. Billie Eilish. Billie Eilish. Grand Central
4. What Happened to You? Perry/Winfrey. Flatiron/
Oprah
5. The Hill We Climb. Amanda Gorman. Viking
6. Brat. Andrew McCarthy. Grand Central
7. The Women of the Bible Speak. Shannon Bream.
Broadside
8. The Premonition. Michael Lewis. Norton
9. Greenlights. Matthew McConaughey. Crown
10. The Bomber Mafia. Malcolm Gladwell. Little, Brown
MASS MARKET
1. Texas Dare. Diana Palmer. Harlequin
2. The Sentinel. Child/Child. Dell
3. A Walk Along the Beach. Debbie Macomber.
Ballantine
4. Country Proud. Linda Lael Miller. HQN
5. The Midwife Murders. James Patterson. Grand
Central
6. Outlaw Country. William W. Johnstone. Pinnacle
7. Seaside Springtime. Debbie Macomber. Mira
8. Lone Wolf. Palmer/Pearce/Zanetti. Zebra
9. Gold Mine Massacre. William W. Johnstone.
Pinnacle
10. Meant to Be Immortal. Lynsay Sands. Avon
TRADE PAPERBACK
1. Where the Crawdads Sing. Delia Owens.
Putnam
2. People We Meet on Vacation. Emily Henry.
Berkley
3. The Silent Patient. Alex Michaelides. Celadon
4. The Woman with the Blue Star. Pam Jenoff.
Park Row
5. The Giver of Stars. Jojo Moyes. Penguin Books
6. DBT for Dummies. Galen/Aguirre. For Dummies
7. The Law of Innocence. Michael Connelly. Grand
Central
8. Hideaway. Nora Roberts. Griffin
9. Lost. Patterson/Born. Grand Central
10. Later. Stephen King. Hard Case Crime
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