Amid the pandemic, it is quite easy to feel overwhelmed and anxious or even depressed. We have all been experiencing powerlessness, irritability and frustration. As much as we need to focus on lowering the spread of the virus, we need to take care of our mental health. Increase your mental resilience by trying the following tips:
After a point, the news can start causing more harm than good. Yes, stay up to date, but know where to draw the line. If the frequent and negative news makes you feel even more stressed out and anxious it is time to take a break. When you decide to get more info on the situation to ensure that you get the information from credible sources. It can be extremely upsetting listening to the death or infection toll daily. Rather focus your energy on situations that are fully in your control, and Covid-19 isn’t. Another great way to distract yourself from the current situation is to find activities that you enjoy. They may bring back some normalcy to your life. Make time to unwind and to take care of your own needs.
Eat healthily and get enough rest. When you’re feeling overly stressed or anxious remind yourself to take deep breaths. Exercise when you have the chance and avoid drugs and alcohol. Research has shown that when our bodies feel healthy and strong, so does our minds and our natural resilience increases.
During the lockdown, we are all socially distancing ourselves from one another and staying away from places where people normally tend to gather in large groups. However, in times of crisis, we all seek human connection and the comfort of others. This has led to many creative ways of maintaining these connections. Lucky for us, there are multiple ways/platforms of connecting with people. Check-in with friends and family often and make use of other means of communicating such as video calls or FaceTime.
Taking care of yourself, friends or family can help you cope better with stress. Helping others in your community will straighten it. By knowing the facts, you automatically reduce stress and understanding the risks also goes a long way in reducing stress, especially with all the fake news floating around on the internet today. Sharing accurate and helpful information will help others reduce their stress levels too. In times like these, we need to all look out for each other and expressing kindness, patience and understanding are helpful to everyone.
As you probably know by now, your mental health is just as important as your physical health. Unfortunately, we sometimes forget the importance of our mental health and we neglect it for a while. When we get sick we visit a doctor but when our mind gets “sick” we ignore it and carry on as usual. This will often only lead to making things worse for yourself. Connect with others that you trust and open up to them about your mental state. If you are already struggling with anxiety or depression continue with your treatment but be aware of new or worsening symptoms and seek the help of a professional if need be.
Write down a list of things that you can control and what you can’t control. If you have no control over these external factors, it’s best to let them go. The factors which you can control like adopting a positive attitude can then be focused on and incrementally developed and improved upon. Some factors which we have no control over might include the following.
Things out of our control:
Things in our control
On national women’s day, we celebrate the brave women of South Africa who took charge and stood up for their rights to be equal in our society. In a country faced with numerous gender-based challenges, it has become evident that the women of this country have had to face and endure hardship over and over again. All of which had a major impact on everyone’s mental health throughout the years.
Seeking help only when you’re in a crisis can be dangerous mentally. The certain stigmas placed upon mental health must be fought so the people who are struggling to cope can get the help they need, without feeling judged. Prevention is always better than cure, so we suggest taking our basic mental health quiz online for a quick assessment. However, if you feel that you need our help in improving your mental health get in touch with us.
