Contributed by: Healthians Team
In a world obsessed with movement, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has brought about the absurd situation of immobility. None of us could have ever imagined that one fine day; the entire world would come to a standstill. That confinement in homes would be ‘the new normal and the cause wouldn’t be an enemy country’s invasion of our territory, but the fear of a tiny invisible virus!
We are inherently social beings and it can be horrendously debilitating to have our right to movement restricted indefinitely. If the stress of social isolation is taking a heavy toll on your mood, you’re not alone.
If you find yourself feeling depressed about self-isolation, these tips to ‘make the best of the worst,’ may help.
Things You Can Do To Fight Social Isolation
Be productive with your free time
This time provides you with the headspace to do the things you’ve always wanted to try but never had the opportunity to. Now is the opportunity to give it a shot. With the extra time on your hands, indulge in constructive things that will keep you busy without putting too much strain on your mind.
Here’s How You Can Do It:
- Catch up with your reading because it will keep you occupied for hours.
- Get started with fixing and repairing small household things
- Watch a movie with your entire family, or have dinner with them or plan some fun activities at home
- Create the garden you always wanted to
- Declutter your wardrobe and get rid of those unwanted garments that no longer see the light of day
Avoid Obsessing Yourself Over News
Everywhere, the coronavirus pandemic and consequent lockdown is the topic of conversation. Everything is flooded with posts, news, and updates about COVID-19. It’s as if there’s nothing else to say. In a state of isolation, the constant onslaught of the news cycle generated by the coronavirus pandemic can become overwhelming and detrimental to your mental health. So it is important that you limit your social media consumption.
Here’s How You Can Do It:
- An easy way to combat the overdose of social media is, limitation.
- If you were only on social media for an hour before the outbreak, stick to that previous schedule.
- Don’t allow social media to eat up your free time.
- Overcome the temptation to stay up-to-date and limit or delete social media apps.
- Use social media usage to things that you’re interested in like astrology, mental health, and stand-up comedy shows.
Give Your Brain its Downtime
The internet wants you to believe that if you’re not doing anything that’s trending, you are wasting your ‘extra time.’ However, that’s far from the truth. Rather, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the best thing to do for your brain is to not use it at all. The concept of “doing nothing” can be useful to you both now and in the future, especially if you have always been overscheduled.
‘Doing nothing’ has numerous scientifically validated advantages. It will help you be more productive and competitive in the future by giving your brain the rest it needs. Your mind will thank you later.
Here’s How You Can Do It:
- Let your mind wander out of control
- Sit and stare into space
- Try a mindless task like vacuuming, weeding, or dusting
- Listen to the birds
- Focus on the scent of a candle
Sanitize your Mind
You’ve grown accustomed to religiously washing and sanitizing your hands, and now it’s time to apply the same devotion to your mind also. Do you know how much ‘excess luggage’ the human mind can store in terms of negative feelings, emotions, fears, phobias, and experiences?
Use this social isolation time to clear your mind of all the clutter and mental baggage that no longer serves a reason, and find inner peace. To get started, you don’t need a medical degree or access to the most recent science. It’s straightforward.
Here’s How You Can Do It:
- Practice deep breathing exercises to clear your mind, induce tranquillity and elevate your mood instantly
- Let go of all negative thoughts, judgments, expectations, and fears that deplete your mental energy.
- Write down your thoughts as if you’re observing the situation from seven to ten feet away, no longer completely absorbed in the emotionality of it.
Introspect
With all the chaos raging around us, it may seem like an impossible time to find your center and achieve inner peace. However, there is a ray of hope shining through the turmoil. The meditative quiet of your current physical isolation is a great opportunity for introspection and rebooting your mind. All you have to do is to seize the opportunity to pause and re-evaluate your life. If you take the right approach, it’s not as difficult as it seems.
Here’s How You Can Do It:
- Each day, write down at least one positive thing that happened to or around you on that day
- Write down a question for yourself (but don’t answer it yet), Reflect on the question you wrote the previous day for yourself, and write an answer to it.
- Ask yourself some more questions – about yourself, about your past, present, and future, and compose answers to the questions that are positive, insightful, and motivating.
Bottomline
Remember, life offers you situations for a reason — for you to pause, reflect, and come out of this crisis even stronger than you were before. Make this lockdown a turning point in your life. Don’t waste it!
