5 Ways to Stay Mentally Happy During a Pandemic

Times now are difficult and unprecedented. Nobody expected the pandemic to stretch for so long. Everything around us is different from what it used to be in the yesteryears. There is not a single person who is not affected; people are talking about losing jobs, salary reductions from 50% to 75%, or even no salary at all. Everyone is worried about their loved ones and their health.

Every day you get to know that somebody or the other is COVID-19 positive. Even our lifestyle has changed – farewell parties and get-togethers have become virtual, students are worried about their university admissions or their grades, younger students are more worried about playing with friends in the park and their outings. Each and every age group has some or the other worry and stress.

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But what can we do about it? How can we keep ourselves stable in these situations that are so challenging? As a psychologist, I would like to share what we should do to keep ourselves stable. There are five important points.

1. Self-Care

Do we really take care of ourselves? We take care of others in life; our spouses, children, family, etc. But do we really pay attention to ourselves? The first suggestion is self-care, which includes the food we eat, water intake to hydrate our body, regular exercise, the right amount of sleep, etc. These are necessary because only then will your body be fit and ready to support you in all your activities (mental, emotional or physical).

2. Focus on Your Mind

You need to have an attitude of gratitude and appreciation. Look for the things that you possess and believe in it. The negativity around you will keep bothering you unless you concentrate on the positive things around you. You will eventually begin to see more positive things happening. So how can you see or search for positive things around you? You need to start appreciating people. When you appreciate others, you feel good and others in return will start appreciating you. You can be grateful for the small things in your life. When you appreciate those things and be thankful for the small little things which you have, your life will be very different.

Practice mindfulness and meditation. Your present anxieties and worries of the future will disappear. Spare at least 30 minutes in a day – you can divide the 30 minutes into two slots of 15 minutes if there is a time constraint. You can do breathing exercises for 15 minutes while watching something that will soothe or calm you. At that moment, you are in a state of mindfulness – you forget the past and future.

3. Breathing Exercises

There are different types of breathing exercises you can try to observe your breathing when you are angry, when you are sad, when you are happy. You will notice a different pattern for different emotions. You can do regular breathing exercises and regulate your breath and in turn, you will be able to balance your emotions as well. Breathing is a very important tool. We breathe every day, every morning and every night. Try regulating your breath through the different processes such as long and deep breath, quick breathing, fast breathing, etc. Keep aside 10 minutes in a day for making your inner self strong, healthy and happy.

4. Helping Others

When you help others, you start to feel really good. It could be something very small such as an act of kindness. You can go outbound to extend that healing hand to others. You can make a call to someone you love or care for. You can thank them for something they did in the past for you. You can return the favour during times when they are really in need. You can also just do a small deed to support a stranger in need. Help others in your life and see the kind of happiness you get from it.

5. Positive Food for the Mind

Read books that have positive messages, watch videos that provide positivity and you can interact with people who have positive attitudes. You should surround yourself with positive things and people to support you to change your negative thoughts to positive and thus working on your beliefs and subconscious mind.

These five steps may be experienced by different people differently. Some may like one more than the other, but the important thing is that it will touch your lives and change it completely. You will stabilize your inner being and find harmony with things around you.

I would like to suggest one thing that you need to avoid and be careful of. When there are negative thoughts coming to you, you must not allow them to eat up your time. Your negative thoughts correspond to the time you give it. If it gets that time then it will become bigger. The bigger they are, the more time they will eat away from you. So if you want to be stable, ensure that you don’t feed your negative thoughts and they will disappear.

Keep yourself engaged in things that you like doing such as going for a long walk or drive, dancing, listening to music or chatting with an old friend, connecting to your community members, spending quality time with family and friends. But do not sit idle. If in case negative thoughts are worrying you a lot and you are not able to put the above in action, then you can consult a psychologist and seek professional guidance.