Instead of emerging from the coronavirus pandemic resilient to crisis and catastrophe, Stanford psychologist Jamil Zaki asks what if we grew stronger because of it?
BY MELISSA DE WITTE
With the end of the pandemic in sight and a longing to return to some resemblance of normalcy, Stanford psychologist Jamil Zakithinks the harrowing experience of the past year is a unique opportunity to reset people’s expectations about many aspects of society. Instead of simply returning to life before the pandemic, what if we could institute new personal and social norms that are more balanced, just and equitable?
Instead of emerging from the coronavirus pandemic merely resilient to crisis and catastrophe, Stanford psychologist Jamil Zaki asks what if we grew stronger because of it?
Zaki believes a concept psychologists call “growth through adversity” may be key to defining what this “new normal” could look like. Instead of resilience – which is about bouncing back from disaster, unchanged – growth through adversity is about finding ways to learn from those hardships and focus on what matters.
“Resilience is staying the course through a storm. Growth is charting a new course,” Zaki said.
He points out that even before the pandemic upended our lives, much of what was considered normal in society was deeply problematic: People had been reporting feeling lonelier and more isolated than ever before. Economic inequality between the rich and poor has been soaring at an alarming rate. And profound racial disparities have marred everything from employment to health and housing.
The pandemic didn’t create these problems. In some cases, it merely exposed them; in others, it exacerbated them.
“A stronger normal holds the adversity we’re going through now up as a mirror, one that can clarify what we’ve been neglecting all along,” said Zaki, associate professor of psychology in Stanford’s School of Humanities and Sciences.
Continue reading… “Hitting the reset button: Stanford psychologist says we can build a better normal after the pandemic”
