Young people are struggling with many things during the pandemic process. Stress, fear, anxiety brought about by uncertainty, the perception of threat brought by the rate of transmission of the virus, changes in daily routines, changing social relations, changes in job and income level, loss and mourning, which means not only death but also loss of income, loss of social relations and job loss. , the increase in the need for parental support and the disruption of sleep patterns due to distance education and less movement… these are the most obvious factors that make the process difficult. Maintaining routines is an important detail to protect mental health in times when we experience negative events throughout our life.
What can we do?
There will be situations that we can and cannot control throughout our lives. The pandemic process is not something we can control. However, as long as the individual can recognize himself correctly, he will acquire the right coping mechanisms. In this way, individuals will be able to support themselves first and then those around them as an example. Here, it would be a more realistic suggestion to advise individuals to get to know themselves correctly rather than providing information. Young people sometimes just want to hear what they have been through. Making young people feel valued, rather than just trying to be listened to and understood, rather than producing solutions.
On the one hand, pushing the boundaries of the youth period means a process of discovery and nourishment from various experiences. During the pandemic process, the situation of young people to go out of the house and gain new experiences has been limited. The perception of threat they constantly felt caused them not to benefit from this experience process. This was a situation contrary to the normal development process.
Peer relations have a very important place in the development and identity development process for young people, and spending time with their peers is an element that will enable them to develop identity and discover themselves. However, the pandemic process limits these aspects, which is contrary to the messages sent by the brain's reward mechanism. young people themselves they care about these details that make them feel that they have grown up and in such cases they may feel a sense of loss.
All these situations also reduced the support systems of the youth and even made some support processes passive. Teachers, rather than parents, were also an important channel of support for young people in normal times. However, all support elements were interrupted during the pandemic process. Therefore, the responsibility of parents in active listening and communication skills has increased in this process.
It is expected that young people will adapt faster than adults when the pandemic process ends. However, one of the important issues that we need to focus on here is what young people are exposed to during the pandemic process. In fact, not only young people but each of us has been exposed to the fact that we need each other and are meaningful when we are together. has a very meaningful determination; ' Each generation is shaped by what it is exposed to during adolescence and youth and determines the rest of its life. We know from various studies that this proposition is true. Therefore, adolescent-young individuals during the pandemic period were exposed to the understanding that they need each other and developed healthy belongings for the process of becoming adults. This issue is of great importance for the individual's identity to be shaped in a healthy way.
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