Anxiety and stress during hard time
The lockdown and fear associated with the pandemic could be catastrophic for our mental health. In our article COVID-19: The Psychological Impacts of Quarantine, we have cited the various psycological effects of this period on our well-being, now we will outline how to overcome these negative effects and get back to our normal life.
In this hard time, our emotions could become debilitating if they become too intense, too overwhelming.
So we have to learn how to regulate them, how to manage them...
- Act on his thoughts
What happens inside us is a reaction that has the particularity of being like an automatic sequence of thoughts and gestures. It is a chain that bites its tail and the motor is often the guilt.
For example, if I am bored, then I will feel sadness that will lead to shame because I actually have a lot of things I could be doing. This shame will cause thoughts of guilt to bounce back and cause ruminations or withdrawal behaviour.
To deal with this chain reaction, you have to change one of the elements of the cycle because only one element will have an influence on the cycle and can break it.
- Change your point of view
I can tell myself that it's just a subjective point of view that I'm dealing with a specific situation. It's not necessarily the truth. My thoughts are not obligatory thoughts but automatic thoughts. I can act on them and modify them towards another truth that is just as true.
I am not talking about negative thoughts or positive thoughts. I am talking about different thoughts.
For example, if we feel "stuck" in thoughts that become ruminations, after defining the emotion that is the basis of them, we can imagine what someone else would think in our place or how I could talk about it or even how I will think about it in a year ....
- Inform yourself differently
The media are necessary information points, but they can become anxiety-provoking and lead to ruminations.
We must therefore limit the quantity. Keeping informed once a day is probably more than enough. We are unlikely to "miss" an important event since at the moment, apart from information on the coronavirus, there is little that is brought to our knowledge.
One can also stick to a single medium, preferably written, because in this case one can choose which articles to read and which not to read.
It is also necessary to inform yourself during the day and avoid asking before going to bed and/or as soon as you wake up.
- Manage and Track your emotions
It is essential to define our so-called negative emotions. What fear? What sadness? What anger?
Once we identify them, we name them. We don't judge ourselves, we accept them. We are living beings. We have emotions.
Our current environment being exceptional, frightening, it is quite normal to feel negative emotions more strongly.
And maybe you even notice that the so-called positive emotions: love and joy are also exacerbated and very present.
- Breathe
When we are anxious, we consume more carbon dioxide and run out of oxygen.
That's why it's important to learn how to breathe.
There is an excellent free and commercial-free application published by the Thermes d'Allevard that promotes cardiac concordance: Respirelax+.
It allows you to regain calm and serenity in a few minutes. In other words, it can soothe anxiety and rebalance the supply of oxygen and the release of carbon dioxide. You can set up the application as you want and as you feel it is best for you.
- Relax
When we are anxious, our muscle tone increases as our body prepares to flee or fight. But when we are confined, we don't need the muscle tone that increases our state of tension.
A simple exercise consists of breathing in by contracting a group of muscles, then slowly breathing out and releasing the contraction.
There are a lot of more or less easy exercises currently available on the Internet. Let's take advantage of them
- Meditate in full consciousness
In a state of intense stress or anxiety, mindfulness mediation can be used.
A simple little exercise consists in stopping for a moment the movement of our body, the movement of our mind and to focus on a precise point of the external or internal environment.
Here too, you can find on the Internet, full of mindfulness exercises. Let's take advantage of this as well.
- Discover forgotten activities
This is not necessarily the time to embark on learning a particular language, art or sport. We risk not pursuing and procrastinating, thus increasing our guilt, thus lowering our self-esteem, thus brooding more...
I'm thinking more about activities you might have had one day: Playing board games with your family or friends (like video games), doing puzzles, knitting, coloring, cooking, sewing ...
Here again, the Internet and smartphone applications are an opportunity that we can exceptionally seize for this exceptional situation.
Something that you love to do and that will make you proud, because the most important thing today is your self-esteem: self-confidence and assertiveness. This self-esteem will allow you to go beyond this period of confinement and begin the period of deconfinement which will be something we still don't know and which may also be exceptional.
- Think about tomorrow
This may be an opportunity to start reflecting on what you are learning about yourself at this extraordinary time. An opportunity to understand how you could change who you have been in order to be more human, stronger. Simply more content and aware of living.