Mental health and COVID-19
Underestimating the importance of maintaining a healthy mindset could have serious consequences.
Mental health is vital to the optimal functioning of your life, especially during times of uncertainty. Taking care of your mental health is an often overlooked area of body and mind maintenance. It seems almost an impossible task when everything in life seems to be moving so fast; you barely have time to breathe. However, to lessen the impact of life’s wear and tear, some action needs to be taken to help restore some sanity and balance. Taking care of your mental health is an often-overlooked area of body and mind maintenance. With the current COVID-19 (Corona Virus) pandemic sweeping across the globe, underestimating the importance of maintaining a healthy mindset could have serious consequences. Here’s how you can actively strengthen your mental health, and it’s not as complicated as it sounds.
Maintain your physical health
Physical well-being plays an essential role in every aspect of your life; ensure you are getting enough exercise, eating well, and getting enough sleep. Physical exercise can be as simple as running on the spot, doing push-ups or sit-ups, and any activity that can raise your heart rate and breathing is excellent.
Release anger and frustration
Emotional control is vital to your mental health. Experiencing anger and disappointment is natural, but allowing those emotions to build up is unsafe. There’s nothing good about it because it’s tempting to hang on to the negative feelings and seek other less efficient coping methods. Now is the time to learn how to handle your anger and frustration effectively and safely. Know how to walk it off. Even though it seems to be winding down, distraction is the key here.
Keep your brain active
Boredom is the brain’s adversary, so you should challenge it frequently; this will help prevent complacency. Read lots, including poetry, prose, and literature, listen to music regularly (change and mix up the genre), complete crossword puzzles and brain teasers, learn a new language, and learn something different daily. There has never been a better time to read and study to help strengthen and improve self-regulation. Take advantage of that.
Develop awareness
It’s easy to get caught up in the negatives of a situation. Discipline yourself to look at difficult circumstances as a learning experience. Learn how to glean new skills from the adversity you face and make notes on how to use them for future situations. Think about how you have come through difficult times before, and become aware of what tactics or habits helped you overcome those times.
Sense Stimulation
It’s not enough to keep your brain engaged; you must also stimulate your senses. Being under lockdown doesn’t mean you can’t do things to stimulate creativity and new ideas. Listen to music you wouldn’t usually listen to, practice your writing skills, learn unique photography or video skills, and try different food.
Mental health and fun
Developing a healthy balance in life is an integral part of being able to bounce back from adversity. Good mental health depends upon having fun and finding happiness whenever possible. Make a conscious effort to make home life more fun for everyone; now is the perfect time to dust off the old board games. Whatever form of play you choose, make sure it’s something that the whole family will enjoy doing. It’s also a great way to mend or strengthen fractured relationships.
It’s not enough to keep your brain engaged; you have to stimulate your senses too.
Maintain a healthy separation
Your relationship with your partner is the most significant connection in your life (apart from the one with yourself). Being happy and balanced is impossible if you struggle to keep your relationship off the rocks. It can be even more challenging to remain objective and understanding when you’re both stuck in the same space daily. During a normal working day, many couples spend time away from each other; this creates a personal space and appreciation for each other. However, couples that are in the same home for extended hours or days need to deliberately and mutually agree to create a space and time separation. There are many creative ways for creating a separation ‘bubble’, which I will leave up to your imagination. 🙂
Mental health and relaxation
Relaxation is necessary for optimal mental health. However, many people fail to disengage their minds completely even while doing the things they love. So, as a way to alleviate your tension and increase your relaxation, learn how to meditate or practice mindfulness. Besides, you may want to find something that will help you to disengage entirely from all the internal negative dialogue. What behaviour or activity do you find so enjoyable it causes you to lose track of time? This behaviour or activity is the one you want to practice and practice often.
Mental health and the present
Life is too short, so if you can’t find the time to savour it, make the time. Slow life down and learn to enjoy it as much as possible.
In summary
What’s important is that you understand how important it is for you to take control of what you can and make the right choices for you and your happiness and health. No one can put you in the corner unless you allow them to – so don’t let them.
