We are experiencing a pandemic. It’s a scary time for everyone. We can’t help but feel overwhelmed with emotions. We feel sad, scared, and worried. Isolated and quarantined, it’s even hard for us not to be dragged into a worry spiral. External and internal noises are louder. And sometimes, it can bring us down.
So as much it is crucial to stay at home and practice social distancing, it is important we take care of our mental health during this crisis. Here, we give you some tips how to take care of your mental state and manage your mood swings:
- Practice mindfulness meditation
Mindfulness meditation can bring you clarity and calm. It’s a practice the encourages you to be present, acknowledge your emotions, and let it go. And it’s all grounded by breathing. Practicing it will help you be less overwhelmed with all the emotions triggered by the pandemic and the quarantine. It will remind you that what your feelings are normal and it’s okay. And eventually, what you’re feeling will end.
- Social media distancing
One of the easiest ways to have emotional triggers is to through social media. With the crisis, everyone’s frustrated, angry, and depressed. And social media is everyone’s platform to express and let go of these emotions. There’s nothing wrong with how you want to express your emotions, but it can cause a ripple of negativity, affecting everyone around you. It’s the least of things you want to on this tough time. So practice social media distancing. Give yourself space from all the negativity in social media and the urge to use it for your frustrations. Instead, get your news on reliable sources and be a light to others.
- Track your mood
During this crisis, it’s normal you’re feeling different kinds of emotions. You are living a different reality. And you probably don’t understand where all these emotions are coming from. Tracking your mood can help you understand your self and your anxiety. It gives you an insight about your emotional patterns and how you can avoid them. Do this by using an app, like Misu that gives you a complete and detailed report by automatically tracking your mood using AI. Or if you’re old-fashioned, write on a journal.
- Exercise gratitude
You may feel like everything’s wrong in the world right now. But there are little things in your life that are good. But because of your clouded thoughts brought by the quarantine, it’s easy not to see them. You can break this loop by exercising gratitude. Every morning or night, think of five things you are grateful and write it on a notebook or your phone’s notes. It can be a small thing as waking up, sleeping in a comfortable bed, or time with family. Practice it every day and you will see a difference in your mood.
- Feed your optimism
This is a time of uncertainty. And it’s hard to be hopeful with all the news about the virus, death rates, and new cases. As it feeds your sadness, there’s a way to power up your optimism. Read good news about the crisis: people helping each other, updates on the vaccine, stories of hope, etc. It will bring a sense of hopefulness that, even this crisis happening, there’s still something good in the world.