The anxiety and fear we are all feeling is normal. We are in a situation and world where we have no control. We are being told what to do to save lives but many are resistant because 'the government can't tell me what to do.' We, in the US, struggle not having our complete freedoms. This loss of control in our lives is causing a great deal of stress.
Like us you may have had to close your business. This may have been your only income. You may have had to make the tough decisions to let great employees go for now and hope they are there when you get through this. We all still have leases to pay and expenses that won't just stop. What do we do?
The more we have control of the better we feel. Our panic and anxiety decrease. These tough times can bring us to the biggest breakthroughs of our lives. We have all been through tough times, maybe not on this scale but we have made it through; a death, a divorce or a job loss.
We have all had that one day where it felt like someone shot us in the stomache with a shotgun. That day that was the.worst.day.ever. The day someone died. The day someone left you.
This virus and its changes has crept up on us. It will not be a one and done and where we slowly started to heal. It started out as a blip and slowly it is taking over our lives; thinking about it, talking about it, watching it and for some of you working with it. Its brought fear and disbelief. This can't be happening that we are forced to stay home in the Land of the Free. Yet it is.
There are some ways to deal with this situation that we can try to reduce our anxiety.
1. Get on a schedule if you are at home working or at home unemployed. Organize your day; it doesn't have to be minute for minute, a simple morning and afternoon division will work.
2. Set one goal a day and make it. Make a list of those things you always say you never have time for and dedicate an afternoon to it; sort through your photos, clean out your emails or paint the kitchen-it doesn't matter just do it!
3. Get outside! You are not snowed in. Its almost spring! Go for a walk each day.
4. Drink a lot of water. It keeps you hydrated which is good and keeps you from being hungry and eating all the time which is better.
5. Keep the same nighttime rituals and bedtime, wake time schedule.
6. Organize something-anything. A drawer, a closet or whatever it doesn't matter it helps us feel in control of something.
7. Stay connected with your phone, email or playing games via social media.
8. Limit your news and Facebook intake to 1/2 hour a day per.
Take heart that you are not alone in this and increase your support of each other. We are social beings so it is against our very fiber to stay away too long. But we have to STAY HOME for this to work. We have to work together. Maybe this is what all those group projects (that we hated) in school were about!