For Sarah Ahlert (name changed), short-time work was exactly what she needed. Like millions of other people in Germany, the art scholar was put on a forced break in March. From then on, she worked 50 percent less for an auction house – and suddenly noticed in the free time that she had suffered from her work. “When the first time the conversation was held about how long we would be on short-time work, I really shivered when they were told that you could come back from Monday,” Ahlert told DW.
She spent two months on short-time work, then she quit. After a short time she found a new job. If her old job was about the commercial side of art, she can now deal with art again, says Ahlert. “There was a key moment for me: The day after my resignation I was in a good mood. And a friend said to me: ‘Ah, you’re back. You were like gone last year.’ I knew then that I had made the right decision. ” Without the compulsory break due to Corona, says Ahlert, she might not have noticed how trapped she was in the hamster wheel, and she would probably not have given notice until much later.
Many people get through the crisis well
In view of the horror reports that accompany the Corona crisis, of overcrowded intensive care units and people who cannot say goodbye to dying relatives, it may seem almost cynical that people are also getting positive out of the crisis. But one has to distinguish between two groups, says neuroscientist Raffael Kalisch from DW’s Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research. “On the one hand, there is a smaller group who had to suffer a very serious change in their lives as a result of Corona, or there are people who belong to risk groups. And then there is the general public who suffers from the contact restrictions and restrictions.”
If you look at this larger, second group, initial studies that have been carried out since the outbreak of the Corona crisis suggest that many people in Germany get through the crisis well. One of the most extensive studies on this is the Cosmo survey, a joint project between the University of Erfurt and the Robert Koch Institute, among others, in which people are asked at regular intervals about their concerns and sensitivities in connection with the Corona period. Accordingly, life satisfaction has been stable at a relatively high level since March. It is not yet foreseeable how the new strict contact restrictions will have an impact since mid-December.
Social support is crucial
Whether a person gets through a crisis well also depends on so-called resilience factors. Resilience refers to the psychological resistance, the ability to survive difficult life situations without lasting impairment. Research has been going on for years. According to initial findings, the mechanisms by which people master the corona crisis do not differ from those that resilience researchers also observe in other crises.
This includes the so-called perceived social support. “If I feel socially supported, if I have the impression that I have a network, maybe family, friends, colleagues who could help me in an emergency, then it actually seems to have a strong calming influence,” says Kalisch. But during the lockdown in spring it was precisely the social contacts that became more difficult. “But those who feel socially supported despite these social obstacles seem to get through the crisis a little better,” says Kalisch.
Friendships grow deeper
That is an experience that Karin Krubeck from Bonn also made. The 51-year-old says of herself that she likes to spend time alone. But when the lockdown loomed in the spring, she worried that she would isolate herself too much, living alone and without a partnership. She spoke about this concern with her four closest friends – with success, the friendships became even more intimate than before. Krubeck even went so far as to tell her closest friends what is usually reserved for the partner: “I love you”. That was very emotional: “The friendships have become much more explicit as a result. I always think when you say to a person, I love you, then everything is actually said, and that’s almost a small liberation. We all know how we stand to one another, and as a result, we were able to deal with one another much more easily. “
A stable social network is important in times of crisis and strengthens people
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As a result, in the frequent phone calls and video calls since the outbreak of the Corona crisis, friends have been telling each other much more honestly how they are really doing. Sometimes they just call each other briefly in the morning to say good morning and give each other a good start to the day. Although Krubeck, who advises restaurants on their online marketing, is suffering financially from the Corona crisis, she takes something positive with her from the Corona era: “I noticed that I have a stable social network – something that I do may not have been so aware of it before and what I now rely on more. “
See opportunities in crises
Resilience research calls the ability to see an opportunity in crises “positive appraisal”, i.e. the positive assessment of a situation. “This does not mean to be naive and to fall into every trap that kills you,” says Kalisch from the Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research. “It’s about being able to see problems and risks that exist and react appropriately to them and not become helpless.”
The feeling of not being unable to act is important for coping well with a crisis. The Cosmo survey shows that many people also succeed in this in times of crisis. Accordingly, the statement that you cannot do anything yourself to have a positive influence on the situation tends to be negated in all surveys.
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Dare to step into self-employment
When the master carpenter Juri Metzmacher decided to start a company in the middle of the Corona crisis, he decided exactly: to remain capable of acting instead of becoming helpless. At the end of March, the 31-year-old was about to complete his master craftsman examination. But the date fell in the first lockdown – and was postponed by three months. Because Metzmacher also found that carpenters were stopping due to concerns about Corona, he decided to do what he actually planned to do a few years later: to set up his own business.
After a number of detours he found financing and, after being unemployed in the meantime, has had his own carpentry shop for a few weeks. “It was just the necessary consequence,” Metzmacher told DW. “I’m glad I did it the way I did, and I’m actually very happy that I can now be my own boss.” In any case, his order books are full. Many now looked more often at the living room cabinet in the home office and realized that it could use a good carpenter. At the end of next year, Metzmacher wants to train carpenters himself.
Reasons for gratitude
It is not yet foreseeable how the further course of the corona crisis will affect the mood of the people in the country. The fact is, however, that never before since the end of World War II had so many people go through a crisis at the same time.
The art historian Sarah Ahlert at least observes that many people around her reflect on how well they are doing. That, too, is a way of overcoming a crisis, says Kalisch: the ability to change perspectives and ask yourself whether there might be a reason to be grateful.
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