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If you feel like you're losing your mind with the pandemic and the lockdown, here's a list of 7 things that helped me stay sane!
If you feel like you’re losing your mind with the pandemic and the lockdown, here’s a list of 7 things that helped me stay sane!
‘The struggle is real, it’s ongoing. Every day is a mood swing. Some days you wake up excited to get to things and some days it’s just a compulsion to get out of the bed. Life has become monotonous. There’s no looking forward to meeting friends and family, no upcoming vacations. Jobs are at risk, life is on hold. The constant stress, the long wait, the hope that everything will soon be back to normal – that’s all we are left with.
I have tried everything- music, exercise, podcasts. Nothing seems to work permanently. I am running out of ideas. Now, I want to run, run away to a place where I can feel the wind on my face without those hideous masks on. Where I am not scared to touch things without catching anything. I want to soak the Sun, dance in the rain.’
This is something I wrote on a day I was feeling really low. It made me think how the circumstances we are living in must be affecting so many of us.
My life wasn’t very social even before the pandemic, and still the current situation is taking a toll on my mental health. I can wonder what it must be for the people who went out every weekend and had a big social circle!
So, I thought why don’t I share a few things I have been doing to cope with this stupid, horrifying situation that we all ended up in.
What did I do to change the way I felt on that day? Well, it was nothing dramatic! I didn’t just show a middle finger to the current situation and say, “F**k you! I am gonna do what I wanna do, ain’t nobody stopping me from living my life! Know what? I’ll pack my bags and book a ticket to Europe.” Well that have been stupid!
Jokes apart, what I did was just pull myself together. I told myself to focus on the positives than the negatives, to take advantage of the situation than crib about it.
Yes, it is difficult to stay positive every day (especially during that time of the month). Things hit you when you are not even looking.
Here are a few things that are helping me cope most days (of course I still have days when nothing works).
Discipline- I try to keep a routine to an extent, like sleeping on time and waking up a bit early. Exercise surely has helped me a lot. Eating on time.
Keeping the surroundings clean – It helps a lot. I feel like cleaning the home, cleans my mind as well. It unclutters your thoughts.
Restricting your time online- This a life saviour. We don’t realize how much time we waste browsing, watching online series. I am sure most of you don’t feel good after spending so much time on them. And I always end up feeling guilty and for some reason, it always leaves me feeling more anxious.
Reading books- Well I have always found reading helpful in so many ways, be it any genre. But if you are not a reader, you can try some self-help books to lift your spirits up and change your perspective about things.
Some of the books that I really love and can be helpful are –
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck By Mark Manson
The Choice: A true story of hope By Edith Eger– this book changed my perspective in so many ways. I think everyone should read it
Take some time out for a thing that makes you happy- For me, it is writing. It’s a cathartic experience for me. I feel my thoughts untangle when I write.
Learn- This is a big one. Firstly, it will give you a sense that you are utilizing this time, and secondly it will give you a sense of accomplishment.
Learning about Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and take a course- This is something I did last year, way before the pandemic, and since then I wanted to share about it with people as it helped me so much.
It is something that can help anyone in all sorts of ways, with any problem you are facing in life. This is all about questioning the deep-rooted fears and beliefs in us which stops us from leading a peaceful and happy life.
Here’s the link to the course which I took, in case you are also interested in it.
While I am not an expert, these are just the tools I found to be helpful and they work most days. If you have anything special in your kit to deal with these hard times, please do share with me here. Don’t we all need good advice?
A version of this was earlier published here.
Picture credits: Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels
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