Keller @ Large: Stressed Out By COVID, Inflation, Ukraine? You're Not Alone

BOSTON (CBS) -- Has two years of pandemic life sent your stress levels through the roof?

You have plenty of company.

New national polling finds 58% of us cite COVID as a major source of stress. Six in ten feel their lives have been forever changed by the outbreak, with two-thirds losing hope that the pandemic will ever end.

But believe it or not, COVID isn't even close to our biggest stress factor these days. In that poll, 87% say inflation is stressing them out, with another 80% citing the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the potential of Russian retaliation for our role in supporting the Ukrainians.

"Those results do not surprise me," says Dr. Natalie Dattilo, director of psychology at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

And Lexington-based clinical psychologist Barry Elkin agrees. "When people feel helpless they get anxious and they get sad," he says.

These two doctors see this stress crisis up close every day in their work. And they agree people need to find dry ground in their every lives to escape the flood of bad news that has engulfed us.

"Happiness for people doesn't just happen," says Dattilo. "Without routine and purposeful activation of our pleasure and reward centers in the brain we forget how to feel good."

"There are many things in the world that we do not have control over," notes Elkin. "But we do have control over our own behavior, whether that behavior is turning something off or going outside or being nice to another person."

Optimism has to be part of a stress-reduction plan. Notes Dattilo: "it will not be like this forever, I can guarantee that."

And Elkin adds: "Oftentimes I quote one of the best psychologists around, Bruce Springsteen. And one of his lovely lines is "it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive."

Dr. Dattilo's list of self-help antidotes to the stress crisis includes connecting socially in any way possible, keeping a journal, doing creative things and reading or listening to an audiobook. And both doctors zeroed in on the phenomenon of people feeling guilty for focusing on their own pleasure when we feel surrounded by so much misery. Volunteering to help others is a stress-reducer for many people and can help combat that guilt, they say.

And we've got an idea of our own. Pro sports can be a stressful take and not everyone can play a sport. But youth soccer and baseball are starting up, so why not try watching the kids play down at your local field?

Maybe their enthusiasm and a little fresh air will help you unwind a little.