Anxiety is common but contagious
One thing that this coronavirus
pandemic has caused us is a feeling of uncertainty. And this uncertainty has made us anxious.
Yes! Coronavirus anxiety is real.
Yes! Coronavirus anxiety is real.
It’s also a truth that this is not the
first time we are getting anxious.
We all, at some point in our lives, must have experienced anxiety.
We all, at some point in our lives, must have experienced anxiety.
What distinguishes anxiety from an anxiety disorder is its severity.
Everyone is suffering from anxiety one way or the other.
Even though we know that this anxiety
is temporary unlike the actual anxiety disorder that some people may suffer from(may they heal
sooner), that’s right there and we can’t seem to get over it.
Especially people who’ve been put into quarantine or who’ve been kept into isolation.
I don’t even wanna talk about those who’ve been diagnosed and kept in isolation, because their pain(both physically and mentally) is a lot more than those who are just being subjected to lock-down.
But, being in a lock-down is distressing too, we’ve been locked-down in our homes for weeks, not that I am complaining but it’s just human psychology to be bipolar at times.
One day, you are all enthusiastic and hopeful and the other day, you are dull and sulking and thinking about when all this madness will end.
Especially when you look at those numbers chart by WHO, you lose it.
The lock-down has caused us restlessness, stress, anxiety, feeling de-motivated, totally lost and whatnot.
Some just ignore what’s happening and some just indulge themselves into all these to an extent that it causes them restlessness and anxiety.
I’ve been both in but recently (as in, since a couple of days)
have taken the middle ground, which I
think is safer for our sanity my friends!
And that is controlling what we can and
letting go of what we can't.
We can’t control those numbers listed by WHO(though social distancing is proving highly significant)
But, there are certain things that remain in our control, like handling this anxiety.
It’s a bit difficult to not get carried away but it’s not impossible.
These are some stress and anxiety handling most useful tips
(note that some of these tips don’t just comply with the current situation alone but are laid out in general).
Talk to yourself
Believe
me, it impacts massively.
Whenever you are nervous about something or uncertain, just give yourself a pep talk.
I would get anxious whenever I would perform on stage.
Yep! Stage fear, fear of socializing in my early senior school days.
This fear had even stopped me from
reaching my potential.
So what I would do was to speak to myself as if I am speaking to anybody else.
I would encourage myself, I would scold myself if I over-thought too much.
And when I stopped THIS ANXIETY from getting to me through self-talking, I was able to challenge myself and actually, see what I can do.
Believe me when I say I was the most less confident as a child and believe me when I say I have given a lot of presentations in my college days.
Pray
I
can't stress this enough...
This is my #1 priority therapy when I feel or felt anxious or low
Why?
Because It gives an instant boost to my hope and confidence.
The thought that
there’s someone who won’t leave you no matter what is so calming and so
positive.
You can feel it in you a new surge of positivity and you may even smile after pouring out all your worries in front of God.
You can feel it in you a new surge of positivity and you may even smile after pouring out all your worries in front of God.
A therapy called ‘Nature’
I remember there was this one time when I was anxious (actually super-anxious) about something and was murmuring prayers when suddenly my sight fell on the clouds.
And I WAS LOST.
Seriously, I was so lost in the movement of clouds and their shapes that for a couple of minutes, I completely forgot why was I anxious?
And even after realizing that I had zoned out and recollecting my anxious thoughts, I could feel a sudden calmness to my racing heart.
Why?
Because while I was so lost in clouds, a thought struck me, that if He(Allah) could make the clouds standstill without support (the impossible task for us humans), can’t he solve my problem
(which is otherwise possible by a human
himself/herself and super easy for God)
Believe me, it works wonders on your mind and heart. Give it a try
Make someone laugh or smile yourself
I know that this seems impossible when
you are anxious but it’s not impossible.
You are anxious, you are stressed but you aren’t doomed!
Take it as a challenge and also as something to ward off your mind from those gloomy, uncertain
thoughts.
Make an effort to smile
When you smile, your brain gets tricked into the illusion of everything is awesome and it gives signals to your racing heart to calm down, relax and think logically. Or see someone smile, I bet you'll get an instant boost on your mood.Make an effort to make someone laugh
And see the results yourself.
When someone signals that they are interested in your words
(either by laughing or listening), you
feel confident. You feel worthy of something.
This is a very small sign of feeling worthy but if your anxiousness is related to something like feeling un-worthy or un-heard then this might make a difference.
Focus on the roses, not on thorns
Faced with situations like these, it’s a breeze(so easy) to focus on the negativity.
In fact, when you are stressed or anxious, you tend to focus more and more on negativity, even find negativeness in everything.
Try and try hard to reflect upon the goodness, the situation has rendered.
A coin has two sides, so your situation might also have some(if not many) boons.
My suggestion is to write positive
affirmations and those good things you extract out of the bad, on a sheet of paper and hang it on
a wall or somewhere in your house and look at it time and again to remind yourself of
the goodness.
Help others
In situations like these, the best thing you can do to yourself is to help others.
When you help someone, you feel a surge of happiness just by seeing them smile.
And it’s also somewhat related to the faith that if you do good to others, good might come back to you.
Read self-help books
Read more and more
books on self-help and optimism, books about self-confidence, courage, and intelligence
should be on your list.
Think about it! If it
didn't help with anxiousness, why on earth would there be tons of books written
on the topic? And why
would even doctors prompt you to read...
This is a sign that
reading indeed helps calm our otherwise haywire thought process and gives us an idea of what it
would be if it's not what it is now.
Connect
With your inner self, with friends and family, with neighbors ( if they aren't all grumpy)
This is the time to
make connections.
This is the time to
reflect upon the relationships you've nurtured.
The more you reach out to your loved ones, the more confident and secure you may feel, and this confidence may reflect upon your inner thoughts and you may feel less anxious.
Apart from these 8 tips,
- try to avoid news and social media posts that have negative vibes as much as possible.
- watch TED talks that talk about optimism, courage, self-confidence and such. I am listing down three of my personal favorites
- The power of vulnerability by Brene brown
- getting stuck in the negatives( and how to get unstuck) by Alison Ledgerwood
- Hacking your brain for happiness by names doty
- Practice gratitude
Poor mental health is certainly not something to possess especially when it can have a larger impact on our immunity and right now taking care of our immunity should be our main priority.
I hope you like the tips and pray that it makes a significant difference in your lives.
If you like it, then please share and show appreciation by commenting.
2 comments
Love everything you shared and yes I talk to myself a lot too and it really helps,Now I’m gonna watch the Ted talks recommended by you .Thanks again
ReplyDeleteGlad you found it useful. Thanks for your comment:)
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