India is witnessing a sudden unprecedented surge in COVID 19 and is in a state of severe crisis. Each day the reported number of new infections and deaths are setting new records and is bringing forward the image of collapsed healthcare system of the country. While only a few months back, with the decreased number of cases, arrival of the vaccines, vaccination drive in the country and loosening of restrictions, people had slowly started to move forward to “normalcy”; this huge second wave has shattered the lives of many around us. Haunting news, images and videos of people crying over losing their loved ones, people struggling to get a bed in the hospital, shortage of oxygen, long queues outside the crematoriums and burial grounds, doctors pleading the public to stay home and maintain COVID appropriate behaviors flooded the Indian media and social media. The second wave has led to a stronger realization that the number reported in the newspapers and television everyday is not just a mere statistics, but someone’s parent, child or sibling.

These have certainly heightened the fear, anxiety, panic of the public by manifolds. People are not only scared about infecting themselves with the deadly virus, but are also extremely concerned with the health of their near and dear ones, especially about the health of the elderly. While people are becoming increasing alarmed about their Health status and familiarizing themselves with different medical terminologies, mental health professionals have indicated the significant surge in what is known as Health Anxiety or Illness Anxiety. It is a mental health condition referring to “excessive worries and obsessions related to a perceived threat to one’s health.”. While it is natural and justified to be anxious about one’s health during this point of time, but the COVID anxiety differs from Health anxiety in terms of the intensity of the anxiety. If left unattended, Health Anxiety may go severe with time, and may start affecting one’s functioning.

The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly changed everything around us. The complete social structure has been forced to undergo a massive change. Death was believed to be the ultimate leveller; it treated everyone the same. But due to the pandemic, even that has changed. You can postpone marriages, cancel travel plans, but cannot do that with birth and death. People who lost their loved ones during the past few months have had a very difficult time dealing with their loss. The forced, and much needed, restrictions on public gatherings made it even more difficult as many of the family members could not be present at the crematoriums to attend the funeral rites. The rites and rituals associated with death ceremonies prevalent in all cultures across the globe were primarily established with the purpose of providing a strong social support to the grieving individual/family so that it helps them to adapt to life without the deceased. It was even worse for those who lost their loved one to COVID-19 as in many cases, they were not allowed to touch or even see the deceased as they were taken to be cremated directly from the hospitals to prevent the spread of infection. Not being able to touch or see your deceased relative, being unable to hug the other people who are grieving can leave a lasting emotional impact.

In addition to all this, the unfortunate stigma arising from the mysterious nature of the virus and false information floating all over social media left the grieving family members feeling isolated and ostracised by the society. As Alice Byrne writes, “there is an acute sense of emptiness when you are forced to grieve in solitude.” It is in fact, in challenging times like these we need to support each other the most. Losing someone to death affects each one of us in a different way. Anxiety and a sense of helplessness are two things that most people experience. Feelings of anger and denial are also experienced in the early stages of grief cycle. The sadness creeps in eventually. The process of grief is a natural one and people should be encouraged to process or express it, rather than suppressing it. If these emotions are not processed/expressed appropriately, they can lead to complex mental and/or physical problems.  Hence, here are few useful ways for you to cope well during these challenging times:

1. Let yourself mourn and cry for your loss. There is no shame in crying, even if you are a male. Talk about your feelings with a close friend or family member. Some people even prefer to write down their feelings in a diary which gives them an outlet and helps to channelize their emotions which can be extremely therapeutic.

2. When you feel sad, do not try to avoid it. Feeling sad is a natural and healthy part of the process of grieving. Instead of hiding your sadness under the mask, acknowledge it and let yourself feel sad for the loss you’ve experienced.

3. Talk to other family members about the good memories you have of the deceased. It will help you mourn, give a sense of closure, and keep their memories alive. Arrange for virtual prayer meets as group gatherings are not allowed; knowing that he/she was loved by so many people would give you the strength you need during this difficult phase.

4. Feelings of self-pity can come quite automatically at such a time, but do not encourage it as it would do you more harm than good in the long run.

5. Take care of your sleep. Emotional strain makes one tired and hence, undisturbed sleep is very much essential for your health. Make sure to sleep and wake up everyday at a set time. Take a healthy and balanced diet; eat light but have all meals.

6. Seek professional help as it would help you to deal with the situation appropriately and in healthy ways. Grief Counselling and Supportive Therapy are widely practised by psychotherapists as they help an individual better adapt to their changed situation. Through therapy, all the emotions are processed appropriately, the person goes through the grief cycle and adapts well to his/her life’s changed circumstances after the loss.

7. Stay away from addictive substances.  Do not consume too much alcohol or any other addictive substance. It may temporarily numb the pain, but afterwards, you will feel worse.

8. Build Resilience as it is a protective and healthy trait when it comes to handling difficult circumstances.

9. Acceptance of what has happened, no matter how hard or painful, is the ultimate way of handling and growing from it.

The past few weeks have been all about the pandemic of Coronavirus (COVID19) as it has affected a large number of countries across the globe. We in India are also experiencing a lockdown as the government is aptly taking an aggressive approach to prevent an outbreak here. Although necessary, the lockdown in itself has led to feelings of fear, anxiety, dread, and uncertainty among people with regard to what is going to happen next. In addition to these, a lot of people are also experiencing boredom, sense of meaninglessness and awkwardness as they are forced to stay indoors and spend this time with their immediate family members and more surprisingly with themselves. With so much happening around us all the time, we humans have not invested much time and effort to understand our true selves. As a result of the current crisis, people are faced by the harsh reality that we know practically nothing about our own selves and thus feeling more troubled. Let us utilise these challenging times to be more in sync with our true selves as well as with Mother Nature.

• Stay indoors and remain calm. Social distancing is the only way we can protect ourselves and prevent an outbreak. Be responsible and encourage others to follow the same.
• Do not post/forward any fake news/messages without checking its authenticity as it leads to panic and would be the worst thing to happen in such crucial times. Encourage others to do the same.
• Maintain the routine. Sleep and wake up every day at the same time. It will ensure your physical and mental well-being. Take bath regularly and maintain your hygiene even though you might not be stepping out of your home. Have proper meals at fixed times and exercise or workout at home itself.
• Spend this time with your family members. Talk to each other, engage in common activities like playing board-games, going through old photo albums, and doing household chores together. Nurture the family bond which might not have been receiving its share of time and effort over the years due to our busy lives.
• Use this time to introspect or reflect on your own life. Try and process the emotions which have been bottled up or even suppressed over time for some or the other reason. Write them down and discuss with your confidant or share them with your therapist as it would feel light and extremely liberating in the end.
• Learn new skills which you always wanted to do or engage in your favourite hobbies as you have enough time in hand now. Re-ignite the child in you and make learning fun again. Draw, read a book, learn knitting, cooking, try DIY crafts; you never know you might just come across a very different version of yourself!
• Stay in touch with your friends over phone call, messages, social media and even video calling as meeting in person is not advisable at present. Have virtual parties and get-togethers over conference calls.
• Keep a check on your screen time. With several social media and streaming apps serving a plethora of series and movies online, it is very tempting to binge watch. Kindly limit your screen time as it will negatively affect your physical and mental health. Once things get back to normal, it would be very difficult to break this habit and function appropriately in accordance with your work routine.
• Delve inside to handle the chaos outside!

COVID 19 has, directly or indirectly, affected millions of lives worldwide. But it has also given us humans an opportunity to finally stop and reflect on what we are doing to ourselves as well as to this beautiful planet of ours. Considering the mad rush we humans were in, this is probably nature’s way of pressing the reboot button and giving us another chance to be more responsible, compassionate and considerate of other living beings that we share this planet with. Thanks to no human activity, within weeks, there are reports of nature reclaiming the lost ground and animals returning to habitats they had long left (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2hNKrfsyNw). We’ve already seen that happen in Chernobyl, where wildlife is thriving now as humans had abandoned that place following the nuclear disaster in 1986. I sincerely hope we all learn this important lesson and mend our ways in favour of sustainable development before it’s too late!