Medicosnext
They say the hardest person to live with is yourself. I totally agree. I compared myself to a popcorn, bubbling with so much energy and zest for life. C’mon, look around, there’s so much to do, so much to learn, so many people to meet. I felt like 24 hours wasn’t enough. Then, the pandemic happened, and in no time we were in a lockdown.
Being a lupus patient, and having already suffered from anxiety disorder, it was only natural for the feelings of uncertainty and anxiety to set in. So, right from the day the lockdown was announced, I knew I had to find ways to deal with the mix of emotions brought on by the pandemic before it took a toll on my mental health.
First things first—I made a promise to myself that, during this lockdown I’m going to work on myself.
Here are few of the coping techniques I adopted during this lockdown:
- It’s okay to feel overwhelmed. Don’t ignore your emotions or try and suppress it. I decided to be kind to myself. I recently attended this Ted talk by Elizabeth Gilbert, where she described how she writes a letter to herself every day from the voice of love as a way to validate her fears and anxiety. She says it’s necessary to give yourself permission to hope of how to move on. Ever since then I started writing letters to myself. I named my inner voice Tara (a shining star).
– Start journaling or write to yourself. You’ll love it. Maintain a gratitude journal.
- Enjoy solitude. This time, for a change, I learned to embrace being alone. I realized there’s no need to hurry or rush away from any form of experience that can actually be self-awakening and enlightening, right?
– Spend half an hour alone, doing nothing, just being. Disconnect from all social media and just breathe.
- Be bus, but don’t over-exhaust yourself. I wake up every morning and ask myself, what do I want to do today? And, by that I mean channeling my inner passion and creative projects. I had all the time to indulge in my curiosities, from learning about new ways of plant propagation, gardening, and coloring mandalas, to cooking experiments, de-cluttering challenges, beauty challenges, painting, and so on.
– Do what makes you happy and focus on them. What better time to experiment?
- Positive affirmations or positive mental attitude during the health crisis helps to ensure you get the better out of everything. Just like we do repetitive exercises to improve our physical health, positive affirmations are like exercises for our mind and outlook. The positive repetitions can reprogram our thinking patterns, so that, over time, we begin to think – and act – differently. ‘I’m stuck at home’ can be replaced by ‘I’m safe at home’.
– Read some positive affirmations every day
- It’s a good time to learn something new. I enrolled in this poem workshop and learn interesting ways to write poems, and learned the basics of food photography. Learning keeps you from getting bored.
– Learn something to stimulate your mind and expand your horizon.
- Getting enough sleep is so important. You need to be at your best energy level to function. It’s easy to have oscillating feelings, from happy to scared, when you’re totally fatigued from lack of sleep and have no energy. If you are not well-rested, take short naps during the day.
– Get your beauty sleep.
- Get moving and exercise. Just make sure you do it at your own pace.
– Don’t be a couch potato.
- Family zoom talks and house parties are so much fun. Reach out to your family and friends and connect. You don’t have to feel isolated mentally and spiritually.
– Surprise your long lost friend with a video chat.
Whether you perceive the glass as half empty or half full will completely depend upon you.
