“It may be stormy today but it is not going to rain forever!” That is the thought that my sister Dr. Juhi Deshmukh, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Savitri Bai Phule University, formerly Pune University gave while discussing the coping strategies under the current Covid-19 situation. In her video, she stressed that keeping your mental health is as important as your physical health, especially under the current situation. Some of the coping strategies that she shared in the short video are:
Validate Your Emotions: Survival instinct is inherent to human nature and it is this instinct that has brought humanity this far. We tend to feel and also to try our best to ensure that we and our community, which includes all of humanity, should be safe. It is this thought that has ensured our survival through ages. So, don’t reject or suppress this feeling of anxiousness under the current situation. It is okay to feel that we are not fine but we must not let it overpower us. We must accept that yes, we are anxious and not so fine and be willing to embrace this negative human emotion as much as we embrace the positive and that will help us to be at ease with ourselves.
Bond Using Bandwidth: Man is a social creature and social distancing is an alien new term in the current scenario but it is very important to ensure that it exists with social connectivity. Do not be socially isolated while keeping your social distance. Connect with people, reach out to your friends, family, spend quality time, do things together, and make use of all the modern media to stay connected with your loved ones. Use social networks, send messages, write emails, video chat, make phone calls, stay connected with those who matter to you while maintaining social distance.
Have A Routine: What is routine? It is setting small goals that we achieve through the day. We may not realize it but sticking to a routine gives us not only a sense of purpose but also a sense of fulfillment or achievement. So, it is very important to have a disciplined time for different activities of the day. Have a fixed time to do your chores. Be flexible, give yourself a leeway but don’t go overboard and throw caution to the wind. Stick to some kind of routine.
Exercise: Our body needs its daily dose of endorphins and positive neurotransmitters every day and exercising provides our body with these little feel-good chemicals. You do not have to go all out, bodybuilding ‘a la Arnie style’ but do workout for at least half an hour daily.
Recharge Yourself: Make the most of the time that we have at hand. Do the things you have been wanting to but have not because of time constraints. Now is the time to nurture your hobbies. Finish reading those books you have been collecting in the hope of reading someday pick up needlework, painting, do anything that gives you happiness, makes you feel alive.
Orient Yourself To The Day: One thing that we do not realize while being glued to our screens through the day due to work or otherwise is how fast the day passes by. Soon it is evening and there’s a slight sense of melancholy. The reason is not some big scientific theory. The fact is the lights dim in the evening and we are caught off guard of the reduced brightness, which mildly affects the body and we tend to feel low. We must orient ourselves to the day. Take a break from the screen every hour or so. Take a stroll in your lawn, balcony, and look out of your window, breathe in the air, and observe the day pass by.
Stay Spiritual: To me being spiritual means, connecting to the higher self. Say a prayer, do some chanting, sit by yourself, practice gratitude for all things wonderful not to please anyone but to foster and nurture creativity.
Be Self-compassionate: We expect the most from ourselves and no one but we alone can save us from our own self. Be easy on yourself. It’s okay if everything does not go as planned, it’s okay if you are not in top form or unable to give your best. We cannot be cent percent productive at all times and especially during these times. So, be your own mother and stay patient with yourself. Keep doing things to the best of your abilities but do acknowledge that your best can be a little less than yesterday at times.
Lastly, stay positive and be happy. Let this be Mother Nature’s time to heal herself so that she indulges us again with her bounties. Here is a chance for us as well as for nature to reclaim what we lost in our daily struggle to survive. So, let us all take a break for a while and make the most of this time to tune in to ourselves.
Watch the video at: https://www.facebook.com/juhi.deshmukh.5/videos/3342912369071917/
