Social distancing and self isolation may draw emotions out of you that you are not used to. Often we can busy ourselves through life as a distraction from standing still and noticing or accepting what we feel.
Due to COVID-19 we have all had "standing still" sort of forced upon us. Try to not push out whatever you are feeling. Approach it with kindness to yourself. Ask yourself what you are feeling, is it proportionate to what is going on? Are you feelings trying to tell you something? Does this remind you of something you have felt before?
It can be hard us working from home and not able to see our friends or socialise as we normally would. Try to recreate as much routine and normality as possible.
Getting up and doing your normal routine, putting on work clothes and setting up a work station in a specific part of your house really helps with creating structure and separating home and work.
Try scheduling dates with friends via video calls. There are a lot of free apps you can use, some of the best ones I have found are Zoom (for individual and group conversations) and Houseparty (for video calls and games).
Used to go our for meals with your friends? Recreate it at home! Spend time cooking a meal from scratch, this helps enhance creativity and can be really calming. Then have you meal together via video calling.
Exercise is a fantastic way to help boost your mental health and process any tension or stress. You may have a lot of free time now due to not having to commute. Why not use that time to create some new habits? A lot of fitness influencers are putting their content online for free, have a look on social media. Joe Wicks has always kept his content on his YouTube free. All of his workouts involve little to no equipment and can be done at home. Set yourself some goals, knowing you have 2 or 3 weeks at least at home, maybe think about what you could achieve in this time.
Its very easy to spend a lot of time watching TV and snacking. Food has an impact onto our mental health. Where possible try to have a balanced diet and lots of fluids. Try to schedule time away from screens such as TV, tablet/ phone. Spend time reading, learning a craft or finishing some jobs around the house you have maybe not had the time to do.
Calm is an App that has a lot of resources for meditation, mindfulness and resources to help you sleep if you are struggling due to stress/ anxiety. They have recently made a lot of their resources free: www.calm.com/blog/take-a-deep-breath
I created some coping strategy leaflets a while back, some of the strategies may have to be adapted for social distancing but I wanted to share them as a free download.
If you feel you would like some extra support during this time please contact me via my contact form. I am able to offer either a stand alone session (online video calling) to give you the space without any judgement to process your feelings. I'm also able to offer short term and long term sessions.