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!
