It’s important to stay emotionally healthy every day but more so important during the pandemic. Whether you’re an introvert or extrovert, being told to stay home is hard.
It’s not easy for people who need social engagement. You see, even with someone like me who prefers less social interaction, I do like leaving the house. The random brief chats with cashiers or someone in passing helps fuel my mental health from time to time.
We cannot do that now. When we venture to get those essential supplies, everyone must stay 6 feet away from each other. Everyone has a mask on, for the most part. People are wearier of talking to you and it’s just a mess in society right now.
We’re all on edge, and people who watch way too much news have anxiety. Mainstream media has certainly seemed to do their part to keep people feeling depressed, nervous, and as if the world is over.
As they’ve been doing for years now.
I don’t watch any one particular news media outlet. I prefer to search for what’s going on, and read a variety of articles, watch a variety of videos, and then come to my own conclusion. This practice is something I’m going to recommend below to stay emotionally healthy during the coronavirus outbreak.
Being able to read between the lines and not consume too much of “one side” during the pandemic has helped me stay logical, reasonable, and emotionally healthy.
How to Stay Emotionally Healthy
Now that I’ve figured out what works for my family, here are some tips to help you find a way to stay emotionally healthy during the coronavirus outbreak.
Get Some Sleep
I don’t know about you, but sleep helps during times of high stress, anxiety and so on. When your mental health is suffering, you can take a good nap to try to minimize the impact of fatigue causing emotional stress.
Practice Basic Beauty Routines
I stopped showering for a few days. I was living in my pajamas and bathrobe. I felt like depression was there, and while I did my daily functions a basic beauty routine was certainly least on my list.
Doing this, only makes your emotional health worse. It’s important that you get up, get showered, get dressed, and do something that you’d normally do if you were leaving the home regularly.
Talk to Loved ones
Sure it takes a village, but right now there’s no village, or is there? You can talk to loved ones via video chat services like Zoom or video chat via Facebook Messenger. There are options for you to talk to loved ones while you’re isolated at home.
Listen to Your Body
This leads me to the most important way to stay emotionally healthy; listen to your body. You know when you’re mental health is on edge. No one else can know what you’re feeling if you don’t listen to your body and then communicate this to others.
Practice Self-Care
I’ve talked a lot about self-care over the years. It’s important that you remember what you need to stay balanced during this time. Take a walk. Take a hike. Do something that allows you to get that fresh air and relaxation necessary to stay sane.
While I don’t want to go hiking, because that means being out there with people. I have been making plans to hook up our old Wii console to do some Wii Fit and Wii Sports with my kids for exercise to practice self-care as a family. You could even opt to take a hot shower, with music blasting or a bath.
Do something that helps you feel uplifting, even if this only uplifts you for 15 minutes. Consider doing a Championship Breakfast Challenge, it does help.
Honestly, we’re all feeling differently about life right now. Those who have been personally impacted by the pandemic, such as losing a loved one, may feel deeper anxiety and sorrow right now. Those of us who don’t really know anyone, but are concerned about the pandemic, may experience a different level of anxiety and sorrow.
How each of us is feeling right now is valid. When practicing your own emotional health strategies during these trying times, do take into account that you feel differently than others and that’s perfectly okay. We need to be a community of love and compassion right now, not hate and divide with judgment and ridicule.
As with most situations, this too shall pass. It’s not going to be easy as life is truly unpredictable but there will come a time when you look back upon current events and are grateful that you took some time to stay emotionally healthy.