6 tips for your mental health during self-isolation
The coronavirus has us self-quarantining, social distancing, and generally spending time alone. Here’s some advice to help you manage your emotional well-being
People all over the world are in pretty much the same boat: self-isolation. You’ve got your food stocked up, studies on hold, maybe you’re working from home. You’re ready to hunker down with the roomies or solo. Two weeks – that’s nothing, right?
But the truth is, this is a pandemic. Two weeks, on repeat, may be your new normal. To survive and thrive through it, you’ll need to feed your mental health, too.
As you enter times of self-isolation, taking care of your mental health is more important than ever. Truly preparing for a pandemic means preparing for long-term changes, which might include how you access therapy or if you access it at all. But, in this case, instead of batch-prepping as you would for meals, you have to learn how to take it day by day.
That doesn’t mean resigning to hopelessness, however. As Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk and peace activist, once said, “Humankind’s survival depends on our ability to stop rushing.” It means we owe it to ourselves to be patient – with ourselves and each other.
Here are six ways to care for your mental health in these confusing times.
1. Ground your anxiety
Practising mindfulness and grounding techniques is useful to help us be present in this way, says Sierra Frederick, a social worker. It doesn’t help to be overly panicked about the future, which we can’t really control.
