Trying Times

During the time of writing, governments across the world have been taking action towards preventing further infections of COVID19.

Handwashing and mask-wearing are proven measures to reduce viral infection rates, and they have little impact on our way of life. A tactic being increasingly, and rightly, utilized by governments is the concept of Social Distancing (or Self Isolation). It has much more of an impact on our lives.

Being distant from others is vital for the fight against infection, but it can have negative impacts on our body and our mind. We are social, it’s in our nature. Studies have shown that isolation can have a severe effect on our overall health, with some showing it can lead to a shorter lifespan. Our psychology is built on a sense of belonging with other people, so being aware of our social needs is vital when we’re socially distant. Here’s how to keep on top of mental health in self-isolation.

What To Do

Here are a few techniques for maintaining awareness of your mental health during isolation.

Voice Calls

Call someone. Conversations and chance meetings that naturally happen throughout the day won’t happen if everyone is at home. Make an effort to call people you’d usually see in the office, in the classroom, on the construction site. If you’re feeling bored or lonely, you can guarantee that they feel the same way.

Helpful tip: don’t talk about the virus!

Photo by Paweł Czerwiński on Unsplash

Video Calls

Video calls are even better than voice calls. Our voices are not the only medium we use to converse, we also use our body. There are subtle cues that we subconsciously emit, and interpret when communicating. These cues add to our communication without us even recognising it. Just being able to see each other’s face increases the bandwidth of information by providing context to what we’re saying to each other.

Mindfulness

I’ve found that the mention of “Mindfulness” tends to divide people into two categories:

• Tried it, loved it, recommend it.
• Heard about it, think it’s a load of BS.

I have to admit, I used to be in the latter camp. I used to think that the word “Mindfulness” was some wishy-washy hippy-dippy enlightenment phrase that came with “spirituality” and ouija boards.

However, ever since I was little, I’ve always struggled to sleep. When it was bedtime, I could not nod off no matter how hard I tried. I used to resent how quickly my little brother started snoring in the bottom bunk whilst I lay there with my mind racing. This struggle with falling asleep continued into my adult life.

Mindfulness changed that, and it started with breathing. That’s all it was. Deep, controlled breathing and counting to 10. Clear your head, and think of nothing but the amount of breath going in and out of your lungs. That’s it.

Start with controlled breathing and you might just find yourself going full Yogi and meditating on a pole 6 hours per day. Mindfulness is great.

Exercise

Lower rates of depression have been found in people who exercise regularly.

In a world where gyms are closed, sports have been postponed and group activity, in general, is not advised; finding the motivation to exercise can be difficult.

Photo by Sam Owoyemi on Unsplash

Small bursts of exercise can help give you the boost of endorphins you need to clear your head and get on with the day. See if you can squeeze twenty pushups out while your bread is toasting. Maybe you’ve been sat at your laptop for a couple of hours, try some sit-ups. Pump that heart and oxygenate your brain. You’ll be surprised at the extra mental energy you’ll feel afterwards.

Social Media Exile

This one is a big step for a lot of people. We have trained ourselves to reach for our pocket devices when we’re bored. We can’t resist the temptation to scroll through images of other people’s lives or check the latest sensational Facebook post from friends and family.

Initially, it is tough. Try to push past the anxiety of not getting that constant dopamine kick. Once you’re there you’ll notice how much calmer and content you are not being bombarded with notifications that don’t add anything to your life.

Read

Fiction or nonfiction, reading a good old fashioned book is a great way to escape the clutches of anxiety. Starting is sometimes tough, but once you’re on a roll it’s like nothing else. I prefer fiction because a good story has the magical effect of transporting you to a completely different world inside your head.

Photo by Jonas Jacobsson on Unsplash

Plan

Make a list of things you want to achieve at the beginning of each day. They don’t need to be huge achievements, in fact, the smaller the better!

You’ll get far more satisfaction ticking off lots of small items on your list, in quick succession; than ticking a small number of larger tasks, that take longer.

Walk Away

If you’re isolated with someone else, there may come a time where tempers rise. In those cases, learn to walk away. Take a second to cool down, list the feelings in your head, walk through them and why you feel them, take them to their roots and consider that the other person feels the same emotions, but on the other side of whatever the issue is.

It helps to write this process down as you’re doing it, which brings me to the next point:

Journal

Write your feelings down: what happened, how you felt and why you think you felt like you did. Once you’ve put all your worries and thoughts from the day down in ink (or pixels), looking to the future becomes easier. Once all that stuff is out the way you can start to write about what you plan to do.

Reach Out

If all else fails, reach out to someone. You’re never alone, there is always someone feeling the same way and there is always someone willing to talk about it.