You Don’t Have To Be Productive During a Global Pandemic

How to stay sane during the quarantine? This is a question many people are asking themselves right now.

The current situation caught me in the middle of a mental health crisis, so I know a thing or two about trying to stay sane.

Here is my tip, especially for those who already had mental health problems before all this mess began. It may be even a little counter-intuitive to everyone else, and the exact opposite of every other advice out there — structure your time, stick to a schedule, stay occupied… I think those pieces of advice are good. But there is another aspect to the situation that is not talked about as often. And I believe it can help healthy people as well.

At the beginning of the quarantine, I made a list of various activities to distract myself. It was a long list. There was a lot of stuff I wanted to do for a long time. Learn hand-lettering. Practice Spanish. Clean and organize our whole apartment. Maybe learn how to draw comics? Or how to paint?

It didn’t quite work out. I was so stressed that I couldn’t concentrate on anything.

I believe a lot of people push themselves into doing things right now because they feel that they “should” when they have all this free time, etc., etc. Advice like this is now all over the internet and it seems that everyone and their dog are sharing their accomplishments and tips for various activities. That can create constant pressure on the top of everything happening right now.

In the end, I kept a list only of those things that really helped me relax like reading or listening to music… and dropped everything else. Whenever I feel overwhelmed, I lie down in my bed, pull a blanket over my head, and just shut the world off.

I still have a few activities that I love doing — like writing — but I don’t force myself into them when I don’t feel like it.

So: No, you don’t have to do everything right now. You don’t have to write a book or start a business. You don’t need to learn to knit or paint or play the bass guitar. (Please don’t learn to play the bass guitar while your neighbors are forced to stay at home.)

Just breathe. Just take care of yourself. Just do what helps you relax. And if you can afford it, postpone everything stressful that isn’t necessary to do at the moment.

Lower your expectations of yourself instead of pushing them up. And don’t feel guilty about it in the slightest.

And please — if you have friends or loved ones that suffer from mental illness and some energy to spare, reach out to them with support. Because when everyone is more or less anxious, imagine what the isolation and the fear do to your brain if it’s already stuck in a bad place.

Ask them if they need help. Or just be present in their life. Let them know you are here. We need it now more than you can imagine.

If you enjoyed this story, you may also like this article about how to explain depression to your loved ones:

Or this one about how to teach yourselves more positive thinking patterns:

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