It has almost been one and half
months since we were asked to stay at home to be safe from the pandemic. Many of
us have been asked to work from home. This is becoming the new ‘normal’ and
some companies are looking at this as the way forward.
However, I am sure that this
condition is not the same for everyone. There are single people, married and
staying at home with spouse, stay at home moms, working dads, working moms, working
single mom/dads, working solo moms/dads, etc. Everyone is facing their own
struggle. Be it boredom or too much of things to handle. They have their own
concerns.
The world economy is going
through a hard time which has resulted in pay cuts and certain other actions
that have been taken by the companies. Only few industries have been able to
survive during the pandemic such as food and essentials. Even the oil industry has
fallen as the industrial energy consumption has decreased. These are affecting
the day to day lives of almost all the people directly or indirectly.
Some are experiencing issues in
relationships when they have got to spend more time together. In the local
context, some parents might not understand how “working from home” works and creating
chaos.
ICRC is forecasting that the
stress level of the people may increase exponentially. The fear for death of
loves ones, financial concerns, job insecurity, home schooling and not being
able to go outdoors have made people to suffer within more and more.
Psychologists around the globe have
been trying to offer help and also have given guidelines on how to stay
positive during this difficult time. Here are some of those tips that everyone
can practice at home to stay positive and happy during the dark times.
-
Set goals for each day, doesn’t matter if they
are small tasks
You can think
of what kind of things that you’d like to get done within the day. It could be
to check and work on all pending emails, or to clean up your room, or
de-clutter your wardrobe, to cook your favorite meal, to try out a new recipe,
to sew a design that you always wanted to try or may be simply spend some
quality time with family. Setting up a goal or a task will give you a sort of
purpose and keep you motivated throughout the day.
Take few
minutes to just breathe and feel it. A mindfulness practice allows us to have
space from our cognition and emotion, so we can see things as they really are.
Rather than being anxious, we can see that we’re experiencing anxiousness.
There’s a big difference.
- Take time to be grateful for the things that you
already have
Gratitude is
always a good practice to improve your mental health. In her book, “The
Secret”, Rhonda Byrne mentioned that “It is impossible to bring more into your
life if you are feeling ungrateful about what you have.” Be grateful for what
you have right now. Basic food needs, family around you who are healthy and
safe, more time for you than a regular day, more time for self-reflect, and
list can go on. If you are a businessman/woman who doesn’t generate any income,
be grateful for what you have earned so far and for the fact that you will stay
safe and healthy to think on better ways of come back. Be thankful for the free
time you got to think about new opportunities. Even with pay cuts, be grateful
for the job in hand. You might have got less and less of material things, but
find something to be grateful for, and be thankful about those.
You can find a
lot of home workout videos online. Even if you don’t want to browse internet
for that, do a little bit of stretching exercises, some star jumps, short runs,
few abs workouts and you will feel better.
- Prepare a time table for you and kids and get to
adhere to this
If you are a
parent (even a single or a solo parent) having a kid who needs home schooling,
then you must be going through a very hard time balancing daily home chores, juggling
work and home schooling altogether. The best way is to prepare a time table,
with tasks given for each one for each time slot. You can assign something for
the kids which they can do on their own while you are doing office work. You
can may be get them engaged in kitchen which will be an added life skill for
them as well. Take this opportunity to learn better time and work management
and add some skill to everyone’s life.
- Prepare a reward system for kids to help with
home chores
This could be a
motivation for the kids to help you out as well. You can set the rules and
regulations, but the key is not to expect them to be perfect. You might have
more of cleaning at the end of the day but what’s important is to get the kids
to learn to do things on their own. This is the best opportunity you will get
to teach kids on certain skills they will need.
It is important
to keep social connectivity so that you won’t feel alone. But it would be a
good idea to talk about positive things and share laughter than share
grievances that increase your level of stress more.
You can also
connect with your partners. Express yourselves. Make more time to talk about
the family and the relationship between yourselves. Communication helps solve a
lot of problems. This could be the best opportunity to renew the bond.
Most
importantly, connect with your inner self, think about what you always loved to
do, and think about your dreams and make plans to get them into work.
- Learn new things, take an online course, start
doing what you always wanted to do
This is the
perfect time to try to learn new things. You can refer to an online course, on
anything you like. Be it a technological learning, a theory, or something like
sewing, gardening, cooking or even art. Start a blog, share your ideas, plan a
new business venture, coz you have more time than you ever had and more than
you will ever have!
Take time to
reflect and think of the most sustainable ways to spend the rest of your life.
This is one of the best times to sit back and plan the rest of your life.
- Avoid negativity in social media and learn to
use them in a positive way
While we have
more time to use and engage in social media, please also bear in mind that your
mood will depend on the last 10 posts that you were engaged in, on social
media. They can very easily spread hatred, jealousy, irritation, frustration
and anxiety. Take time to reflect on these points and try to make a connection.
Try to avoid such posts/platforms and try to engage more with posts that boost
your positive energy.
Sometimes even
the posts that will look like teaching you new things, will also create
negative impacts within you such as jealousy and insecurity, so during this
time, learn to use social media platforms wisely.
Also remember,
that you are average of the five people that you mostly spend your time with.
Choose wisely.
Eating well and
healthy plays a major part in maintaining physical and mental health. Eat
consciously to maintain this.
Now that you
have got more time for yourself, try to sleep more and establish a healthy
sleep pattern. You can think about the achievements of the tasks set in the
beginning of the day and feel happy about what you have achieved. Practice
gratitude and be thankful for the positive vibes around you.
This is a difficult time. Staying
at home is difficult for everyone, including kids. Be understanding of this
situation and remember that the goal is to stay safe, above everything else.
What is mentioned above are just something additional you can think about, to
avoid being stressed.
In the essence, be determined to
come out as a better version of yourself. With more knowledge, more empathy,
more kindness and more love.
By Dinu De Silva
