Is it Time for Collective Psycho-Hygiene?
Hygiene has been a high priority during the pandemic. Many of us have become rightfully obsessed with washing our hands and shielding our mouths, noses, and eyes. And, yet, there’s growing evidence that one of the biggest risks of our COVID era is not just our physical hygiene, but our “psycho-hygiene.”
I was first introduced to this concept when reading psychologist Abraham Maslow’s diaries for the last decade of his life. While he never published this hyphenated word in a book or academic paper, he used it frequently in describing what a self-actualized person is able to do for themselves. They know how to bathe, cleanse, and rejuvenate their mind and spirit especially in the most difficult of times. Great companies know how to do this collectively with their employees.
As we sit in this social sweatbox the day after voting, our psychological pores have been overworked in America. It feels like we’ve stunk up the place based upon the dirty games of politics. It’s time to stop wrestling with the pigs and take a metaphorical shower.
Here are a few of my suggestions for how we can improve our collective psycho-hygiene while I take a waterfall shower in the desert.
