Right now, the world is really uncertain and it can feel really scary. Shops are empty, a disease you can’t see or stop is spreading and there is nothing you can do to stop it. We may be able to slow the disease from spreading with social distancing and cleaning everything but I want to talk about a much bigger problem and that is your mental health, which is being decimated by this pandemic. Hopefully this article will help your anxiety while you are in Lockdown :)
Firstly, accept that you feel anxious
Start by accepting you feel anxious, don't deny it, don't try and fight it. You feel anxious and that is okay. You have a good reason to be anxious, the world is uncertain right now and it is okay that your anxiety is peaking. But we are here to give you the tools you need to help keep your mental health in check during these turbulent times.
Routine
Routine is the most important thing to establish as soon as possible. You need to create a good manageable daily routine to help you get through each day with structure so you don’t sit and feel super overwhelmed with panic. You also need to create a self care routine to help you to take of your body and mind.
A daily routine can be something like:
Wake up at 7am
Getting ready routine
Do mini morning mental health self care routine
Start work at home in designated work space at 9AM
Tea breaks at 10:30
Lunch at 1pm
Finish work at 5pm
Do a short home workout or yoga video
Do mini evening mental health self care routine
Unexpected things happen but if you have a solid routine you can return to, it will help you feel grounded and in control.
Avoid the news
Avoid the news if you can. If something important happens, someone will tell you, you do not have to sit and watch the news all day each day. Give it up completely and then find a trusted friend or source and ask them to keep you posted with only the urgent stuff that will affect your day to day life for example, lockdown or school closures. Indulging the news each day all day is only destroying your mental health and for no reason, you can’t control any of this that is happening, you can only control yourself and your actions. Follow the government guidelines, focus on keeping yourself and your family safe and you will be fine. Don’t let the media scare you into believing you are going to be a bad person if you don’t curl up in a ball of fear.
While you're at it, clear up your social media. Social media is causing mass hysteria and negativity and you don’t need it, it isn’t helping you or your mental health. Clear out all the negativity that brings you down. Top tip, if you don't want to offend your friends, you can hide their feeds instead of unfriending them or unfollowing them. Start to follow positive channels that help you feel secure and safe. Your mental health is the top priority during lockdown.
Meditation
If you suffer with anxiety or mental health issues, meditation is a do at home, portable, take it anywhere you go to cure unhealthy thoughts. If you are experienced in meditation, put it in your self care routine and do a meditation once or twice a day. If you are new to meditation or you feel like it isn’t for you because you have a busy brain, try downloading an app and doing a guided meditation, attend an online meditation class, try a youtube guided meditation. I would also advise reading The Headspace Guide to Mindfulness & Meditation by Andy Puddicombe. You can get it in audiobook form or a used copy from eBay. It will change your whole mind about meditation and if you try it, meditation can change your world.
There are several options with meditation, it just means letting your brain chill out and not be constantly subjected to over stimulus. We are always doing more than 3 things at once and are constantly being bombarded with sound, light, news, information and chemicals that we are overwhelmed by.
Ways to do this:
Guided meditations on you tube are great or an app you can download for free on anxiety
Walking in nature
Undisturbed video game time.
Breathing practice, just sitting, closing your eyes and breathing, 3 seconds in, hold for 3 seconds and breathe 6 seconds out. 10 times.
A Nap. Yep, take a mini nap to avoid all the endless screens and information being thrown at you.
Find what works for you and find what makes your brain relax and make that a priority for 10 minutes a day (the perfect length for a guided meditation). You don't have to do it everyday, not everyone has time but if you are struggling, make the time.
Home workouts
Keeping fit is going to really help with your mental health. Exercise releases these chemicals in your brain:
Endorphins: Endorphins mask physical pain and promote feelings of happiness.
Dopamine: Dopamine boosts our mood and makes us feel great. It contributes to the feeling of accomplishment and elation from completing a task, achieving a goal, or winning in a game.
Serotonin: Serotonin boosts our confidence and makes us feel awesome. It also supports a sense of pride, status, and gratitude.
Oxytocin: Invokes feelings of love and loyalty. This chemical drives us to be around people we like and trust. Oxytocin is produced through human touch and acts of kindness or generosity.
These are all things we need to feel when we are anxious, locked inside and struggling. There are many options we can do in order to do a home workout, there are a lot of local gyms and PTS running online classes, you can find a tutorial on youtube or even do some online Yoga classes, Yoga by Adriene is a great place to start. By getting all of these natural chemicals in your brain, it will help improve our mental health and make you feel grounded.
Focus on eating healthy
Now is the perfect time to focus on learning to cook. We are all inside, we need things to do and cooking is a great place to start. It is rewarding, when you cook you create bigger portions so you can have leftovers the next day, it boosts your creativity and allows you to feel fulfilled and inspired. Better yet, it fills you up and stops you filling up on sugar. Now is the best time for you to focus on reducing your sugar and caffeine intake, it will greatly help in reducing your anxiety. What you consume affects your mental health, our bodies crave natural foods so by focusing on cooking, eating healthy foods and cutting out things that are bad for us biologically. You will feel so much better.
Pick a new hobby you want to learn and focus on it
Having a project will help keep you focused and provide that feeling of fulfillment. Pick something you have always wanted to do or learn and become obsessed with it. Start that blog you have always dreamed of, learn a new language, repaint your whole house. Pick something, decide a rough plan on how you are going to go about it and get started! Go all in to help your mental health.
Socialise
Reach out to your friends, don’t sit alone and spiral, if you are feeling lonely, call a friend, reach out to your online friends. Don’t be afraid to talk about how you are feeling to friends you feel safe talking too. Organise online game nights, book clubs or facetime hang outs so you can all catch up and chat about what is going on. Social distancing doesn’t mean social and emotional isolation. If you want to see people, facetime them!
Practice managing your anxiety
Create an anxiety battle plan so that when that fear and anxiety comes in with a new wave of news, you can handle it and not feel overwhelmed with fear and stress. Everyone has their own personal choices that help them deal with their anxiety, create a list of all of them. Everything that has ever helped you and google a few more, then when your anxiety comes knocking, systematically go through the list and keep trying until you feel safer. Journalling is a really good tool, writing down how you are feeling, gets it out of your head and into a safe space. You can use the online tool Penzu to journal in a safe space, it is a really good little journaling app and it is free! For more information on creating a battle plan, I have another post here: https://jadenyxlifecoach.com/jades-blog/creating-an-anxiety-battle-plan
Clearing out your fear and guilt
This is a very powerful tool you can use to help you handle your emotional storms inside. Grab a notepad or a friend to talk too. We are going to go through each of your unhelpful emotions and clear them out of your mind.
This process is broken down into a very simple structure:
You work out why you are really struggling, the real reason, the raw unfiltered petty, sadistic, honest reason. Don’t be afraid of who you are, you aren’t perfect.
Reassurance. You reassure yourself that you are safe and that what you are feeling will not kill you.
Corrective language. You correct the narrative in your head from negative to reassuring and positive.
We start with Fear.
Write down all the things you are afraid of, don’t hold anything back, nothing is silly. Pour everything out into the notepad.
Once they are out there, I want you to write down all the reasons that you will be safe if these fears come to light and how you know they won't kill you. This way we take back power and you can begin to face them and let them go. We often forget how much we have been through in our lives that we often feel beat down and defeated. But we are the ones who have defeated so much. Don't let fear stop you doing anything. Feel the fear and do it anyway and you will realize just how scary it actually is.
Once you have let it go and you feel secure about each fear. Move on to guilt and do the same process.
Write down all your feelings of guilt, remember there is no shame here, you are in a safe space, get it all out. Forgive yourself for it. You did the best you could in the situation you were in, it is time to forgive yourself and move forward. You aren’t a superhero, you are doing the best you can, forgive yourself and in the future, make plans to avoid the choice you made.
You deserve to be happy, let go of your fear and your pain.
If you want to go one step further, start the process again with feelings of loss, shame and lies you tell yourself (like I am not good enough) and loneliness. You can also do this process with anger but anger is just the bodyguard for sadness, so you will return back to loss, fear and guilt.
If you would like the full post on this: https://jadenyxlifecoach.com/jades-blog/6-steps-to-clearing-negative-emotions-and-being-happy
Final thoughts
I hope this was helpful in helping deal with your mental health, remember that you are in control of your mental health, even if it doesn’t feel like it sometimes. You are strong and if you feel like you are struggling, reach out to one of the many charities that are ready and waiting to help you.
I would also like to offer my greatest gratitude and amazement to the NHS and any member of the medical professions. All the nurses, carers, private health care professionals that are working endlessly and at their own personal risk to help those most in need. These are the people who deserve medals.
Emergency Help Information:
Helplines and resources
Get urgent help
YoungMinds Crisis Messenger service
Save our Crisis Messenger number on your phone. Text YM to 85258 for free 24/7 mental health support if you are having a mental health crisis.
Emergency services (999)
If you or someone you live with is seriously injured, call 999.
More information and support
Have a look on the following pages if you need more information or support:
Other helplines and services
Samaritans
if you're in distress and need support, you can ring Samaritans for free at any time of the day or night.
freephone (UK and Republic of Ireland): 116 123 (24 hours)
email: jo@samaritans.org
The Mix
if you're under 25 you can talk to The Mix for free on the phone, by email or on their webchat. You can also use their phone counselling service, or get more information on support services you might need.
freephone: 0808 808 4994 (1pm - 11pm daily)
Women's Aid
if you think you may be experiencing domestic abuse and you identify as a woman, you can talk to Women's Aid for free and confidential support
email: helpline@womensaid.org.uk
you can also chat to a support worker using their free instant messenger service, Mon-Fri (10am-12pm)
Citizen's Advice
if you have money or work worries, Citizen's Advice can help
freephone: 03444 111 444 (Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm)
text service: 03444 111 445
you can talk to a debt adviser online for free Mon-Fri, 8am-7pm
for advice on anything else, you can chat to an adviser online for free Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm