Are You Feeling Stuck and Anxious at Home?

Fear and stress are enough to make one physically sick. The current situation is really worrisome. The nation is under lockdown and none of us knows for how long it is going to extend. We are instructed to stay at home and that’s the best and least we can do right now. But staying at home for so long can create and aggravate mental health problems especially to those who already are going through some sort of mental distress.

But let me remind you, you are not alone, we all are together in this! Sooner or later this shall and will end but we have to keep going on. Right now, I understand things aren’t completely in our control but we can still manage to take baby steps.

There is a well-known quote by the storyteller Jay Shetty, “Location has energy and time has memory”. It could be helpful to look at our lives under lockdown through this quote.

Devote a particular location for specific tasks. This will help your mind to understand, change, and work in a different pattern every day. So even if you feel stuck, don’t work where you are sleeping, don’t eat where you are working, and don’t sleep where you are eating and so on.

You may do this in the comfort of your home, but performing different activities in a single space can mix up the energy created. As a result, one may feel eerie, frustrated, and demoralized. It can also lead to less productivity, physical, and mental health problems.

Research shows that this has the capacity to make you suffer from insomnia, migraine, and increased anxiety. Be smart enough to choose your location and invest your time.

Information is very important, especially for keeping up with the current situation. To know about the medication, updates, prone areas, and new rules implemented by the government. However, it is important to remember that too much information can lead to confusion and overwhelm. In the end, it only contributes to our fear and adds to our stress. Additionally, amidst so much fake news going around, be smart enough to choose the source of your updates. Check and verify all information only from official websites, like WHO. It is also important to limit your timings of checking the updates. Stay informed, but not at the cost of your own mental health!

It is a pandemic, not a holiday! You are not swedging alone, be kinder to yourself.

Connect to nature, read a good book, cook, or watch something pleasant. If it helps you, you can busy yourself by trying something new, discovering a new hobby or learning a new skill. But again, remember this is a pandemic, not a productivity assignment.

As Racheal Cook said, “There’s a huge push of people thinking that because we are home right now, we can be productive and that we’re all going to be able to stay as focused as we were a month or so ago, but that’s just not the case”.

You don’t have to rush right now. Let people do what they want, but you take your time. The idea is to keep yourself engaged and relaxed. Go at your own pace. You do you!

However difficult, it is important to be hopeful right now and try to move ahead even if they are as tiny as baby steps. Be connected to friends and family, take care of them, and relax right now. Remember, you are your own priority and a healthy mind is a necessity.

This article is written by Ruparna Dhar. She is from Silchar, Assam, currently pursuing her Btech in Computer science. She has always been interested in psychological values and attributes related to it.