Life has turned upside down for all of us in the last year or so due to the coronavirus pandemic. Nothing is the same anymore. Suddenly, rules of conduct are imposed on us that we are not used to and that we must adhere to in order to preserve our health and the health of other people, including our loved ones.
In such an extraordinary situation, which most of us have never experienced, it is important to preserve mental health. To succeed in this, we need to focus on the positive things. Here is how…
Inform Yourself Only From Verified Sources
The craving for information has never been greater. The media and various portals supply us with information on a daily basis, and, in this ‘jungle’ of news, we need to know how to recognize the true and verified ones. You should not believe everything that is found on the Internet and that can upset you unnecessarily.
Therefore, our advice is: follow only verified sources of information, and these are sites like those of your country’s ministry of health/public health institutes where you can find the latest figures, information, and data on Covid-19 as well as recommendations in regard to how to behave.
Exercise Because Physical Activity Is Healthy and Stimulates Endorphin Secretion
To feel better, we need physical activity. It stimulates the secretion of endorphin, the hormone of happiness that will help us cope with this situation and reduce anxiety. You can exercise within your four walls, and countless training options – from intense 5-minute workouts to beneficial yoga practice – are available online. All you need is a little space, Internet, and goodwill. If you live in a part of the world where spring is now, your options are even greater – train outside (run, power walk, find the nearest outdoor exercise equipment…), and when summer comes, include swimming in your daily routine.
The first place where you will find something that suits your physical condition is, of course, YouTube. If you are a member of a fitness center, follow the online training as well as nutrition tips from people you already know and whom you believe.
Set Aside Time for Culture and Personal Development
Strict coronavirus-related protection measures have also brought us some good things. Solidarity, for example. Many companies and institutions have shown social responsibility and offered, in the general crisis, free content that can be consumed online. So, if you thought you could not watch a play, listen to a concert, or visit an exhibition, you were wrong. Theaters and museums have opened their virtual doors, so you could ‘walk’ through the world’s most beautiful museums and listen to operas from the comfort of your home during the lockdown.
Although the actual doors of the entertainment venues are slowly opening, still gradually and timidly, you can still watch online/virtually the most famous operas performed at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, listen to concerts of the Berlin Philharmonic, or visit some of the world-famous museums.
Learn a Foreign Language or Some Other Skill
You can use your stay at home to learn a new skill, a foreign language, or upgrade your existing knowledge on a topic that interests you or is from your industry. This is a really good opportunity to improve your education. There are many possibilities and you just need to choose a topic. You can learn foreign languages on Duolingo, Busuu, Memrise, Lingvist, Hello Talk…
At Khan Academy, in addition to foreign languages, you can find various topics from the fields of mathematics, science, computing, social sciences and arts, and economics and finance, while there is also a section with preparations for various tests. Mind Tools helps you improve your leadership skills by reading useful texts, while you can watch nice short videos on their YouTube channel. The Coursera site, in partnership with leading American colleges, offers hundreds of lectures on various topics and, while many of them are free, by paying a fee for some you can also earn diplomas that will be useful in your further career development.
Finding a hobby would not hurt, too. Moderate betting during weekends, given that professional sports competitions are back, on your favorite teams that you watch on TV can be an interesting way to blow off some steam. In this case, find an online bookmaker with reliable options for depositing money, such as prepaid cards. The combination of such bookmakers and payment methods can be found at PaySafeCard bookmakers at Bookmaker-Expert.com.
Keep a Sense of Humor
We need humor now more than ever because it helps us maintain common sense, lifts our spirits, and makes us laugh. Therefore, making jokes is very necessary and welcome. Remember – this situation will pass, too. When it is difficult to find motivation for this kind of everyday life, just remember that it will go away. To further strengthen the spirit, we recommend useful texts from the pens of psychologists who teach us how to deal with crisis situations, how to ward off stress, and how to help children, and they can be found on the Internet.
Healthcare institutions and organizations in your country have certainly opened a hotline for psychological support to citizens during the novel coronavirus pandemic where experts in this field will be available to you every day, and these calls are mostly free of charge.
You should know that an increase in stress and anxiety levels in all individuals during any epidemic is normal. Experts in this field of psychology explain that this is most often manifested by fear of illness or death, social exclusion and quarantine due to the connection with the new virus, loss of livelihood, inability to work in isolation and dismissal, as well as feelings of helplessness to protect loved ones.