“Your personal experiences make up maybe 0.00000001% of what’s happened in the world but maybe 80% of how you think the world works… We’re all biased to our own personal history.” Morgan Housel, Ideas That Changed My Life

COVID-19 Stressing You Out

According to the CDC, everyone reacts differently to stressful situations such as a pandemic and lock down. As Americans experience the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic such as worry about job loss, concern for your health or that of a loved one, the need to social distance, confining yourself to your home or apartment, changing your routine, spending more screen time than normal, it’s important to practice some degree of emotional self-care.

Finding ways to practice self-care can help reduce your stress and enhance your emotional well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. Healthy ways to cope with stress include:

• Taking daily walks
• Practicing meditation
• Making time to pray and to express gratitude
• Knowing where and how to get help
• Taking breaks from watching, reading, or listening to the sensationalized news stories and coverage about COVID19, protests, and political rancor
• Reading novels and writing in journals
• Learning a new skill or hobby
• Eating healthy foods and getting enough sleep
• Avoiding or reducing eating processed foods, foods high in refined sugars and carbs, and fried foods
• Exercising and prioritizing time to unwind by doing activities you enjoy
• Connecting with others (while social physical distancing measures are in place, consider connecting online, through social media, or by phone or mail)

Gratitude

Gratitude is recognizing the “value for favorable things or positive life experiences for which we did not actively work towards or ask for”, according to Sadhguru. Gratitude is important because it helps us see a world that is much bigger than ourselves. When we have gratitude, we can help ourselves and each other grow personally or professionally.

Psychologists find that, over time, feeling grateful boosts happiness and fosters both physical and psychological health, even among those already struggling with mental health problems. Ways you can foster gratitude by keeping a journal to write about the little joys of daily life or by writing down “three good things” that have gone well for you and identify the cause. Additionally, you can also foster gratitude by writing thank-you notes to others or going out of your way to be kind to others, according to Psychology Today Magazine.

Sources:

1. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hope-relationships/202004/overcoming-depression-and-desperation-in-the-time-covid-19
2. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/gratitude