HOUSTON – Whether businesses recommend you wearing a mask or not, there’s an obvious difference of opinion wherever you go.
Some people are wearing masks, distancing themselves. Others are not.
Ethos Behavioral Health Group has advice on how to diffuse arguments related to your choice of personal safety.
Licensed Professional Counselor Ceci Hudson Torn admits there's a lot of reasons people dislike masks but she says having compassion for other people's boundaries is critical to keeping the peace at home and in your community.
“Imagining the fear or anxiety, the emotions that are likely motivating the other person and acknowledging those emotions in a respectful way and acknowledging their point of view,” Hudson Torn said.
On the other hand, if you find your boundaries are stricter and your friends or family are shaming you into something you don’t feel is safe, express your level of comfort and ask for it to be respected.
“Holding space for what we feel comfortable with, with the best information that we have and holding space for the other person about what they feel comfortable with. They are emotionally supported in doing the best with information that they have. Really coming to those debates and those conflicts with the sense of gentleness, acceptance and willingness to hear the other person‘s perspective,” advised Hudson Torn.
This has been a difficult virus to navigate because new information is coming out all the time. In the beginning, we were only really sure about the 3-6 foot distance from other people to help keep transmission low. Now, there's growing evidence that masks keep transmission low.
So, expect these recommendations to be around and people in your life to be following them until there’s a vaccine.