The Coronavirus Lockdown Lowdown
Staying sane among the chaos.
Coronavirus. COVID. Covid-19. Whatever the name you choose, the fear, uncertainty, and frustration invoked are the same. It seems every news bulletin of the last few months has constantly been reminding us about the absolute state of chaos the world is in. While it is important to be informed, being constantly reminded of the death and destruction around us does not do wonders for your mental health.
As a New Zealander, I spent 6 weeks in lockdown.
In that space of time, I almost lost my sanity many times, however, I also found many useful methods for dealing with my lack of motivation and keeping myself in a good headspace.
- Try to Keep a Routine:
For the first few weeks of lockdown, I was completely out of sync. I went from having a tightly scheduled university week to sleeping at weird hours, having no motivation and all kind of healthy eating flew out the window.
This was a path to mental destruction
Within a week my mental state was awful. I lacked any motivation to get up. I was behind on work. In general, I was just extremely lethargic and lazy.
After completing this cycle for two weeks I finally decided to get into some sort of routine. Eventually, I decided on waking up at 8:30 and going to bed no later than 11:30. Initially, this was extremely hard, but within two days I started to feel so much better mentally. Even if you don’t get much done during the day, just having some regularity among the chaos did wonders for me.
Then once you have somewhat of a routine add tasks in slowly. Keyword slowly. Don’t overwhelm yourself early on. Naturally, you will need time to adjust back into work. But with time this will get a lot easier than you previously would have thought.
2. Plan Out What You Need/Want to Get Done:
This simple but vital concept is often left out. Personally, I think it was one of my absolute saving grace’s.
The issue usually arises as such. Say you have been putting off doing a few things, then you start to try and remember all the things you have to do. In the end, it gets overwhelming and you put that tasks off tomorrow. This only compiles further and further, adding unnecessary stress.
Grab a pen and some paper and begin to jot down the most important things you have to do. Initially what this does is enable you to see visually what you have to do, rather than rattle your brain trying to remember. Often once written out the tasks don’t seem so overwhelming.
When you are done writing down your tasks try and leave the paper somewhere you will see it throughout the day. This will remind you of the tasks when you see the paper, often allowing you to get down the workload, even 10 minutes at a time is better than nothing at all.
Then once you are more used to getting back into the work, eventually putting in more time will come naturally. Removing the prior mental barrier to not wanting to do the tasks due to the perceived mountain they represent.
3. Take Time For Yourself:
They may seem ironic given you are in lockdown because aren’t you suppose to be separated from everyone anyway?
While the above may be true, often people are stuck with housemates, family, or other people. Despite being with people you love, even being stuck with the best of people, eventually, if you don’t take time for yourself irritability between the people you are stuck with will occur.
Little differences in habits or previous things you never noticed will start to get on each other’s nerves.
Don’t believe me?
Take, for example, my sister. I never knew how much acrylic nails typing on a phone and laptop all day would end up driving me to the edge of insanity many a time. I even found out when I’m working I tend to bounce my leg up and down. Let’s just say my sister made it very clear how annoying this was to her.
What I found useful was going out for even a ten-minute walk every day. Completely disconnect. Don’t look at your phone, don’t think about the work you have to do, simply just enjoy being outside. Having time to completely disconnect and be within yourself is powerful. It did wonders for my mental health just to sit on the beach by my house listening to some music — completely within my own little world.
It often put in perspective for me that while things might be not so great now, the future I’m sure will be bright. We just have to keep on keeping on.
A Concluding Note:
Overall you need to find what works for you. Everyone is different and likes to deal with things in different ways. There is no ‘correct’ way. Know that it is okay to not be okay in these very odd times. Just do your best and make one change at a time. Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither will you lockdown glow up.
Kia Kaha (“Stay strong” in Māori)