A Listing Of Tips to Manage Emotions and Anxiety
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On Safe Practices
On Managing
It’s more important than ever to prioritize your mental health. @shinetext & @MentalHealthAm are offering free resources to help you manage any anxiety you might be feeling about the #coronavirus. You are not in this alone. Click here for more info.
This is a fantastic read. Fave gems are:
Mentally prepare for what we are facing. Some people will try and calm your anxiety by minimizing the scale of this pandemic. For me, that ends up backfiring. Use the CDC and WHO links above, inform yourself of the facts. If you feel yourself getting overly worked up, step away from the COVID-19 information and take a breath.
Find trustworthy, reliable information. Don’t just fall for anything you’re reading on social media. There’s a lot of people out there panicking and being irresponsible about what they share. Stick to information from reputable sources and medical and public health professionals.
Inventory your fears. Set a timer for 2–5 minutes and do a freewrite on your phone, laptop or just a piece of paper about what you are thinking about what your worst fears are. Getting it out can help, or can at least give you a starting place to asking for help from someone else.
Inventory your needs. Set a timer for 2–5 minutes and do a freewrite on your phone, laptop or just a piece of paper about everything that makes you feel comfortable, safe and loved. This can give you a starting place on setting up your space and schedule to meet these needs and keep you going.
Make a wellness checklist.Take out a pen and paper and come up with 5 check-in questions to ask yourself to assess how you are doing. Write these down and post them some where you will see them to remind yourself to take care of your needs. My questions are: When was the last time you had water? When was the last time you ate? When was the last time you talked to someone? How is my breath? How is my heart?
Get right out of bed in the morning. Try not to look at social media, emails and texts before your feet touch the floor.
Do a mental health inventory, and journal about it. What do you usually suffer with? Write down your anxiety about how the stress of COVID-19 might worsen these symptoms.
Keep taking your medications, if you have them.
Download the Calm or Headspace Apps and start doing some basic meditation. I’ve found the Body Scans and Emergency Check-Ins a great resource for helping me calm myself and focus on my breath
Monitor how much you are drinking/using different substances, and do a regular gut-check if this usage is helping or harming you.