How to Cope With Lockdown Anxiety
Youngsters facing relationship issues and losing patience with their partners. Employees worried about when (if at all) their next paycheck will come in. Students with hazy academic futures. People living alone who just want someone to talk to.
There's no doubt many people are finding being stuck indoors for a long time very stressful and is putting families under huge amounts of stress. Maintaining one’s mental wellbeing during a pandemic is as important as containing the viruses. One should not lose sight of mental health. We are in unprecedented times, and it is natural to need help in coping with our situation.
If you're struggling to keep going and are finding it all depressing, We have a few tips to help you to cope.
1- Stick to healthy eating and sleeping habits
Stay close to your normal routine, families should plan their daily schedules together, so that everyone knows what the other is doing, and individual preferences can be accommodated. Seemingly harmless changes to a schedule can cause discomfort to others.
2- Be mindful of each other
Living through a lockdown is a new experience for everyone. Staying in can feel like a loss of independence for many of us. For those whose work has come to a halt, it can feel like a loss of purpose; even for those older adults who have been home-bound, staying indoors isn’t an issue — but if they live with family, having people around all the time can be quite an adjustment. Be mindful of this and find ways to listen to or accommodate each other’s concerns.
Being confined to a small shared space is also bound to cause friction between family members. We are responsible for setting our own personal boundaries. Pick the right time and have a conversation about it with loved ones — it could be something as simple as asking those around you to knock before entering your room. Keep the conversation tone relaxed and quite.
3- Minimise Corona Time
Freeing up your day from work or social obligations gives you plenty of time to obsess, and if you have a tendency to consult Google for every itch and sneeze, you may be over-researching the pandemic as well.
Choose a couple of credible news sources and follow them for a limited amount of time each day (30 to 60 min). Dedicate the rest of the day to yourself and to your relationships. Do not get obsessed with the news coverage.
4- Stay connected
Stay connected with your social network, make phone and video calls on a daily basis to others. Staying in touch has never been easier. Promote enthusiasm and hope.
For those who live away from their elderly parents or relatives, do not panic. Instead, show cautious concern. Although, you may have good intentions, repeatedly calling one’s parents to issue instructions could have negative consequences, after all, those at the receiving end might bristle at the idea of their life suddenly being managed by their children, when they have run it themselves all this while.
6- Seek help when you need it
If you begin to feel stress, anxiety, or depression and need someone to talk to, do not hesitate to seek help. Use telehealth as an option to talk to a professional if your anxiety becomes unmanageable.
Many licensed psychologists are offering telehealth options over video chat platforms. Remember to reach out for help if your anxiety is reaching proportions that are unmanageable without professional help.
Finding peace in the fact that you are doing your part to “flatten the curve” will certainly build mental strength to combat the stressful situation the whole globe is experiencing.
This pandemic will eventually pass, and life will move on. The return to normality can be an overwhelming experience, and we need to pace ourselves gradually into the new reality.
The same can be said of organizations too. For many people, the home ecosystem has slowly become the new normal. So returning to work at an office could require a major adjustment. It is important for employers to recognize this and demonstrate empathy by giving their employees time to adapt.