Tips to be Resilient in a COVID-19 Era
If you believe the experts (and I do), then we’re in for a rude awakening as COVID-19 runs its course. Industries are already disrupted, stocks are in the toilet and health care resources are expected to fail.
Pretty dismal outlook.
I’ll leave it to the health care experts to talk about steps to take from a health perspective, but what about our mental health during this time?
Resilience — our ability to effectively deal with challenges, navigate change and be okay with the unknown — is a skill we need everyday, but in the good times, its power and relevance are underestimated. Now, with a pandemic in our midst, it’s something that should come to the forefront. Instinctively, we’re resilient. The key is to proactively build your resilience muscles, so that you can navigate the unknown without getting sucked into the negative vortex of stress and anxiety.
Don’t let fear take over.
Yes, this can be scary, but the risk is that strong negative emotions can infiltrate other positive circumstances in your life and can make it harder to respond respectfully and appropriate to small annoyances. Recognize the fear and identify exactly where that needs to be directed, so that you don’t find yourself yelling at the “idiot driver” in the parking lot or snapping at your loved ones because you haven’t processed your fear of uncertainty properly.
Stop doing activities that make you feel worse or anxious.
If you’re prone to anxiety already, then this pandemic can add fuel to the fire. Notice what makes you feel worse and stop doing that.
For example, I don’t have anxiety and even so, as I was hooked on hours of news coverage when the COVID19 pandemic was declared, I literally felt physical symptoms in response to the news. My heart started racing, my throat felt like it was closing and my mind started catastrophizing. The only way to get a grip on my symptoms was to turn off the TV. If you have anxiety, stay informed with facts, but don’t get sucked into hours of obsessing about COVID19. Choose small doses of information from reputable news sources. This also means, stop scrolling for hours on social media, which can be a huge trigger for anxiety and a hotbed of misinformation and chaos-inducing opinions.
Protect yourself by choosing the information you’re consuming.
When facing tough times, a key to resilience is being very picky about choosing who and what messages you’re surrounded by. Rarely is the old saying, “garbage in, garbage out”, more applicable. Make a conscious decision about the reputable news sources and health care authorities you will listen to and block out the rest.
Write a list of what’s in your control and what’s not.
No one knows what’s going to happen with COVID19 and obsessing over the “what ifs” will rob you of precious time with family and friends and stop you from getting your work done. The most important aspect within anyone’s control is their response to difficult situations. You can take precautions (as recommended by health care experts), avoid catastrophizing, and be open to new possibilities and ways of working if your current responsibilities need to shift because of COVID19.
Choose your words carefully.
The words you choose have power and can unnecessarily intensify a situation. For example, if you heard someone yelled “OMG, it’s a disaster!” from the next room, your stress response would skyrocket, and you’d run to see what’s happened. Upon arrival you may find that someone “spilled coffee.” The brain and hormonal response can’t separate real disasters from the fake disasters. While COVID-19 is a pandemic, we need to be careful about the words we use to describe our immediate situation. Even the phrases I used to open this post are too intense for my liking, but alas, you have to get attention to inspire to read. :)
Be Kind — we’re all in this together.
Emotions are heightened for many people and being empathetic to the fact that everyone you cross paths with may be responding to the COVID19 pandemic differently. They may have intense anxiety or have a family member in China, Italy or Iran who is dying, or they may be on the verge of financial ruin because their industry is being hit hard. When in doubt respond with kindness.
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