5 Ways to Cope with {yet} Another Lockdown
With the ever-climbing daily COVID numbers, 24-hour news cycle of disturbing and worrisome stats from around the world and close to home, and now another lockdown in effect, many of us are seeing the impact this all has had on our mental wellbeing.
Here are 5 ways to cope with this second {or third?} round of lockdown measures and the reality we find ourselves in.
Stay Connected
Whether you go for physically distanced walks with a friend or chat online with family, staying connected is important. So much research evidence supports that social interaction is key to mental wellness.
Dr Seppala from Stanford Medicine writes that “people who feel more connected to others have lower levels of anxiety and depression”. She also writes that “social connectedness generates a positive feedback loop of social, emotional, and physical well-being.”
But how do we stay connected when many of us are experiencing major Zoom-fatigue, don’t have a lot of time for ourselves, or are worried about what is safe and what is not? When looking for ways to stay connected from a distance, keep it simple, be realistic, and get creative!
Meet outside at a distance with a neighbour for a few minutes each day, call a family member to check in and say hello, or kick it old school and write a letter to your best friend and send it in the mail! If you’ve got it in you, start a virtual book club, dinner club, or cooking club.
Find what works for you.
Get Nature in Your Eyes
A good friend of mine often says, “I need nature in my eyes!” and she’s totally on to something. Research shows that there is a strong connection between spending time in nature and reducing stress, anxiety, and depression. Even our brain activity changes after spending time outdoors. Can’t get outside? No problem. There’s even research suggesting that listening to nature sounds can have an impact on our mental wellbeing. Get some indoor plants and channel your inner green thumb.
Not digging the crowds at the Leslie Street Spit or the Beaches? That’s okay too. Find a small park nearby, find your favourite neighbourhood tree, take a family walk around the neighbourhood, or watch the birds outside your window and take a moment to connect with the silence of the outdoors.
Create Space and Time Boundaries - for you and your children
Working from home was great for the first 5 minutes. Then reality set in. If it’s hard for adults, it’s just as hard for the kids - maybe even harder. While it might not be possible to create separate spaces for your “office”, “classroom”, and home environments, it’s important to create mental boundaries that ensure distinctions between those different parts of your day. If your kitchen table or your bedroom floor serve as your office or classroom, make sure that you try to help each other make the shift from the end of school or work to the beginning of your home, family, or personal time. Put things away as best you can, set a timer, or have a routine that signals a shift in your day and into your personal time.
Help your children cope with learning from home again
Children get a lot out of going to school and they have fun learning alongside their peers so it’s not surprising that learning from home can be such a challenge. Because this could be our reality for a little while longer, it’s important to keep things in perspective and support your children to cope with at-home learning once again.
Learning Space: Allow them to create a space that is their own for learning - give them a voice in making decisions around where it might be, what they would need to make it comfortable and conducive to learning, concentrating, and having fun.
Routine: Children thrive with a consistent routine that sets out clear expectations. Setting up a routine for the day and around online classes that includes things like reasonable wake and bedtimes, snack breaks, leisure time, and homework time can give them predictability and hope that it’s not all boring and arduous work throughout the day. If you post your routine somewhere like the fridge or wall and get your child to help with planning that schedule, this also provides an opportunity for reading, writing, and time management skills!
This can be equally important for high school students where they will learn time management skills and keep them focused. Developing a routine that ensures time for learning but also time for leisure will provide them with a mental break as well. Involving them in the development of the schedule will get them to buy into it and sets them up for success. They will know what works for them and gives them agency and control over their learning and time.
Do what you can and find what works for you and your family.
Make sure to set boundaries on the information you consume
It’s important to stay informed and up to date on the latest news, whether it’s COVID related or news from around the world and in our own country. But all that “doomscrolling” can really have an impact on our mental wellbeing. Setting boundaries on the times for keeping up to date as well as being aware of how we are feeling while we are reading and learning about the news are important parts of keeping mentally well.
Tip: try not to read the news first thing in the morning or right before bed. When we start and end the day with learning things that can create feelings of hopelessness or fear and worry, we will find it hard to concentrate on other things, learn and retain information, and we’ll have difficulty falling asleep (not to mention all that pesky blue light from our screens).
Try taking a break between news articles by taking three minutes to reflect on what you’ve read; what are your thoughts, what are your emotions, and what are your physical sensations after reading that piece of news? Remember, the news will be there tomorrow.
Seek support
Sometimes people feel that in addition to their own established strategies and coping skills, seeking professional support is also beneficial. Engaging in therapy with a mental health professional, such as a social worker, psychotherapist, or other professional, can have a positive impact on your mental health and help you gain insight and strategies to continue dealing with our day to day that can sometimes seem overwhelming. If you think professional support would be beneficial to you, we’d be happy to help. Please feel free to reach out to us.
Whatever it is that you do to keep yourself physically and mentally well during this next phase of our COVID journey, make sure that you are following all of the restrictions and guidelines laid out by the Government of Ontario and stay safe!
This blog post was written by wellbe’s social worker + psychotherapist Claire Molloy. Book your virtual session with her here!