Now more than ever we need to take care of our mental health practising self-care, kindness and compassion. Sometimes, it’s easier said than done.
Read this article to find out more about how to safeguard your mental health and take better care of you.
What should I do to safeguard my mental health if I’m feeling anxious about coronavirus?
Take back control:
Follow the advice from the Government and take the right precautions: your mental health will benefit from it.
Make sure your loved ones are doing the same. Raising awareness around you and following the right steps to stay safe will help you feel more in control and less anxious.
You can check the NHS website, and the Government website, both of which are updated on a regular basis.
You can also register for WhatsApp updates from the World Health Organisation.
Maintain a routine that makes sense for you:
In a time where everyone is forced to stay home, maintaining a routine is more important than ever.
Our lives are normally dictated by the same activities repeated day after day: we wake up, have breakfast, go to work, work, get home, see friends, go to the gym, exercise, prepare meals, have a shower, go to sleep, watch movies.
Keep doing what makes us feel ourselves will help to live the quarantine in a better way and also help us when our lives will go back to normal. Try to wake up at the same time and make a new routine that makes sense to you.
Here is what our Marketing Manager, Federica, says: “I found a new routine that works great for me. I wake up in the morning and while I would normally walk to work and get there in 30 minutes, I know practice yoga watching YouTube videos for 40 minutes before starting to work from my living room. It helps me live the day with more positivity, it wakes me up and stretches my muscles and back making me feel better about sitting for the next 8 hours. Make sure you get up and take small breaks when working from home is crucial. Normally we’ll have chats and conversations with our co-workers or colleagues, it’s good to call them or have a chat with a housemate from time to time. Remember to drink loads, breath some fresh air and change position if the one you are assuming it’s not comfortable after a while. I work from my kitchen table but every now and then I also enjoy sitting on the sofa and working from my laptop using a lap tray with a cushion. The perks of working for Blue Badge Co I guess!”
If you are not working, use the free time to improve your personal and professional life. Read the books you never have time to read, learn all those dreams locked away in a drawer and try to take better care of your health by practising exercises at home. Keep in touch with your friends and use this new time to hear from the ones far away you never have time to call. Technology allows us miracles these days!
I know that sounds very structured and rigid, but routine, habit, and structure are going to make us feel like we are back in control, consequently, our mental health will benefit from it.
Accept some things are out of our control and don’t lose sight of the positives:
It’s important to accept that what you had planned out for these months ahead won’t happen. If you had the graduation you dreamed of living, a wedding already planned out or a trip you were really looking forward to doing it can be really frustrating acknowledging that we won't be living those moments.
To preserve your Mental Health, write a list containing all the things that frustrate you about the lockdown and save it for better times. Use the time to rearrange for the future or rethink certain arrangements.
Remember this is all temporary. If you feel lonely or sad, think that the entire world is facing exactly what you are facing right now, we are all living the same situation and experiencing the same fear, frustration and hope. We can change for the better after building a new perspective, we’ll be grateful and appreciate the world in an all-new way. There is beauty in everything we do, all the moments we live.
Remember to be kind to yourself, stay positive and do the things you love.
What is it the advice the Government gives that can help me safeguard my Mental Health?
According to the information you can find on the Government’s website and the NHS one you should only leave the house for 1 of 4 reasons:
- shopping for basic necessities, for example, food and medicine, which must be as infrequent as possible
- one form of exercise a day, for example, a run, walk, or cycle – alone or with members of your household making sure you stay at least 2 meters apart from other people when doing so
- any medical need, or to provide care or to help a vulnerable person
- travelling to and from work, but only where this absolutely cannot be done from home
More information can be found here https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/
