COVID and the Uncertainties
It’s been more than a year since Covid-19 came into our lives. At first we didn’t take it so seriously and as chronic as it turned out to be. We thought of it a temporary thing that will end soon. So we can say that we were never ready for what we are dealing with right now. There’s one thing for sure that humans are not so fond of uncertainty. It altered our lives in such a way that it feels weird to even think about how we used to live without masks and without germ phobia. Who would have thought that we won’t be able to greet someone by hugging them or shaking hands with them? Who would have thought that we’ll be working online or attending college or school online for more than a year? But the silver lining is that we found a way, a new way to keep our lives working and moving which helped us a lot. If we didn’t have anything to do, it would have impacted us the worst.
Lockdown impact and the survival
When lockdown was first announced, most of us took it positively as a few days off from work, college or school but at the same time we were a little or more than a little anxious about the virus. But most of us took it as adventurous and thought that everything will be normal soon. But then lockdown kept on extending and extending and extending. Corona cases were increasing and increasing and increasing. But we adapted because that’s humans’ natural tendency- we adapt easily. It helps us in surviving. We got used to the new normal- social distancing, wearing a mask and sanitizing everything but still at some level it is unbearable.
The most neglected during Covid-19 – Mental health
Covid-19 took a toll on the world’s economy, on humanity and on physical and mental health. Mental health has always been the dimension that’s been the least talked about. It still deserves more recognition than it gets because it is that important. Our mind is very powerful tool and once we set our mind to achieve something then nothing can stop us. But if something goes wrong in the mind, it can turn our lives upside down. Covid-19 had a worse impact on our mental health. Suicide cases rose up, psychiatric diagnosis rose up and anxiety became too common.
Second wave and what now?
A month back the whole world was almost about to enter the remission period and the second wave covid-19 emerged unannounced, giving no time for arrangement and India had the worst hit. No one was mentally, physically, financially or medically prepared. But it’s a waste to time to dwell in the past. The present demands preparation and handling the situation. People are becoming hopeless, anxious, stressed and chaotic. It’s almost like, ‘the situation is not under my control anymore’. But still there a number of thing that you can do that can make you feel like you are in control and can bring you mental peace.
Here are few ways to regain your mental peace and deal with and pandemic anxiety with explanation:
A. Consumption - Digital
1. Limit your news consumption
Yes it is very important to know what is happening around you and be updated but you don’t want to over consume news because this way you’ll be feeding your anxiety and stress and you’ll be trapped in a loop. Don’t feel that you are being ignorant or anything, your mental health deserves peace. Mentally we keep on constantly weighing the probability of everything happening. If you will consume news in extreme amount, you’ll automatically weight the probability of getting covid-19 more, more than the actually probability. You can start feeling feverish, or that you got cold and will directly associate it with covid-19 symptoms because mental distress can manifest itself in physical symptoms. Ever got fever or cold or pain anywhere in the body before exams?
Watch news once or twice a day.
2. Limit social media consumption
These days’ social medias are full of covid-19 related news. If you feel that it is getting too over whelming for you, please deactivate your social medias for few days and take a healthy break from it. In general, also, few breaks from social media is very healthy for mental health. Try to spend time with yourself and with your loved ones.
3. Watch happy movies and shows but do not binge watch.
Most of us love watching movies and shows and Netflix, amazon prime and hotstar has made that really easy for us. Make sure that the content you watch makes you happy and leaves you in a good mood. But please make sure that you do not binge watch. These days our digital consumption is already very high because everything is done on phones and laptops these days and it has an adverse effect on eyes and physical health. Keep a check on your consumption.
B. Practice Positive changes
4. Have a routine.
Make sure that your sleeping and waking up time is that which comes under the normal range. Do not stay up late and wake up late at it effects your physical health and right now we need to take extra care of our physical health. Our physical health is related to our mental health. If we are physically unwell, it effects our mental health and if we are mentally unwell, it effects our physical health.
Plan your days beforehand, make a list of things that you want to do the next day as it will help you in giving motivation. Also try to include the time you want to wake up and go to sleep if you are having troubles fixing your sleep wake cycle. A plan helps you stay organized and achieve your goals better. Try to stick to your plan and by the end of the day try to tally what you expected to do and what you did.
But not all days can be productive and some days might come when you don’t even want to get out of bed which is totally fine, give yourself a break and relax but make sure that these are only few days not most.
5. Time to take up your hobbies
Staying at home sure gave us a lot of leisure time on our hands. Utilize that time to indulge into your hobbies because there’s nothing that can make us happier than doing something we love. If you love dancing, then there are bunch of tutorials on YouTube. If you love gardening, go plant some. Do the thing you always thought that I’d do if I got the time but make sure that you can do that thing at home. Sign up for something that you always wanted to do.
6. Exercise and Yoga to stay physically fit.
As mentioned before that mental health and physically health is related so exercising and yoga makes us physically fit and therefore has a positive effect on our mental health. We are supposed to stay inside our homes so our physical activities have reduced. Exercising and yoga gives us strength, power and also lifts up our mood.
C. Consume healthy
7. Eat healthy
Good food reduces stress. Take proper amount of nutrition and diet. Do not indulge into unhealthy eating habits which also includes eating at wrong hours. Make sure that you eat proper meals at least 3 times a day and on proper time. Don’t eat excessive junk food.
D. Seek help and be available when required
8. Stay connected to your friends and family
This is a stressful time for everyone so make sure that you keep a check our friends. Talking to your friends will help you to release stress and put you in a good mood. Talking about what you are feeling, and listening to them can be really helpful. You can play online games with them or ever watch movies and shows with them. Do not forget to spend time with your family too, plan out small things like cooking up special dinner or a movie night which can cheer up your entire family.
9. If you are a religious person then pray to god
Prayers can give you massive amount of strength physically and mentally to deal with hardship. It will help you feel positive and spread positivity around you. God is always listening to your prayers.
E. Go easy on yourself
How we cope or deal with a situation every much depends on how we perceive it. If we perceive something out of our control and never ending automatically we’ll cope up poorly. But if we change the way we perceive a situation, we can deal with it better. If we start seeing the present situation as an examination or trial that will end soon and we need to stay strong together than we shall pass it with flying colours. Stay strong and this will pass too. :)
MindVit
MindVit is a conscious digital platform dedicated to the mental and emotional dimensions of health. We’re no therapists. We’re not doctors. We’re certainly no sages or philosophers. We’re a diverse team committed to creating a digital home for you where you can practice mental wellness safely, positively, and mindfully.
Comments