Although distancing is the right response to the COVID-19 pandemic, this can lead to some emotional and mental challenges including: loneliness, sadness, frustration, anxiety, and depression. So how can we help cultivate social well-being while avoiding infection? Here are some tips for staying mentally well:
- Connect with others. Talk with people you trust about your concerns and how you are feeling. Now is the perfect time to practice using technology in socially healthy ways. Here are a few suggestions for how to connect without contact:
- Face-to-face from afar: The next best thing to in-person interaction is video chat, because facial cues, body language and other nonverbal forms of communication are important for bonding. When possible, opt for video over messaging or calling and play around with doing what you would normally do with others.
- One-minute kindness: Receiving a direct message or e-mail with a genuine compliment or expression of gratitude is personal and long lasting and only takes a short amount of time. When you find yourself scrolling through people’s posts, stop and send one of them a few kind words. After all, we need a little extra kindness to counter the stress and uncertainty.
- Cultivate your community: The basis of connection is having something in common. Whatever your interest, there is likely an online community of people who share your passion. You can also find digital support groups and networking groups to discuss and engage with others in what matters most to you.
- Deepen or broaden: There are two basic ways to overcome loneliness: nurture your existing relationships or form new ones. Reflect on your current state of social health and then take one digital action to deepen it—such as getting in touch with a friend or family member you haven’t spoken with in a while—or to broaden it—such as reaching out to someone you’d like to get to know.
- Make time to unwind. Try to do some other activities you enjoy. Some examples might be:
- Be in nature: It’s your best bet of getting out of the house and keeping 6 feet of distance from other people. Find an area where you won’t encounter crowds. Breathe fresh air. Notice things about the world around you that you didn’t see before. Perhaps start bird-watching, notice shapes in the clouds, observe the shapes, colors, and movements of nature. You’ll be surprised by what you notice when you really look.
- Get moving: Yep, you can still exercise. You can go on a secluded walk or run — as long as you keep your distance from others. You can do indoor workouts using free workout routines on YouTube. Keep your immune system strong and clear your mind. Movement also releases chemicals that increase mood and reduce depression symptoms.
- Self-care and meditation: Take care of your body. Take deep breaths, stretch, or meditate. Try to eat healthy, well-balanced meals, exercise regularly, get plenty of sleep, and avoid alcohol and drugs. Life is slowing down for a bit. Emptying your mind and centering your awareness no longer feels impossible — and it may help you relax.
- Create: Creativity allows you to access and release emotions and to feel some sense of control and accomplishment. Draw, paint, crochet, knit, build. Create something and give your body and mind an outlet for any difficult emotions during this challenging time.
- Take a break. Take breaks from watching, reading, or listening to news stories, including social media. Hearing about the pandemic repeatedly can be upsetting and needlessly perpetuate and/or increase anxiety and depression.
- Accentuate the positives. Try to notice and focus on what you CAN do during this time. We cannot always control our environment, but we can always control how we respond to it.
- It won’t last forever. Remember, this storm will end. The unknown always provokes anxiety but it’s important to remember that this won’t last forever and life will return to normal eventually.
Lastly and most importantly, HOW you think about social distancing is also vital. The terms we use to describe the situation sets the emotional tone for how we feel about it. If we think in terms of what we’re being forced to do and what we won’t have access to, it creates a sense of powerlessness. Anxiety and panic can start to creep in, not to mention boredom and apathy. Combine that with a lot of uncertainty and an endlessly ominous news feed, and you have a recipe for a mental health disaster.
However, if you stay focused on the things that you still CAN do, what you still have, and intentionally practice these suggested activities, you will diminish feelings of anxiety and depression and get through these next few weeks successfully, and maybe even happily.
Jaimi N. Scott, LPC
Licensed Professional Counselor
Some information was obtained and summarized from the following sources: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-prevent-loneliness-in-a-time-of-social-distancing/; https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/14/us/what-to-do-this-weekend-coronavirus-trnd/index.html; https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prepare/managing-stress-anxiety.html; https://www.talkspace.com/blog/coronavirus-social-isolation-working-from-home-tips-advice/