How to survive and thrive in the Covid world?
This blog shares the wellbeing skills that will help you deal with the stresses of Covid-19. It will transform you into a stronger, wiser, more resilient person, as well as help you emerge as more compassionate, positive, healthy and happy.
Hopefully, 2020 will highlight that the flash car, big house, high-level position at work etc is not going to make us immune to a crisis. But what will help, is a healthy strong resilient physical body and friends and family for support. It makes sense therefore, to use the time in lockdown to strengthen your resilience and your bonds with loved ones.
How can you do this?
Imagine you are a machine that is overworking every day during the Covid pandemic. It is inevitable that eventually it will break down. To ensure you do not break down, you have to be maintaining all aspects of your human machine which are the physical, emotional, mental, social and spiritual.
Physical
If you cannot get to the gym, then go for a walk, or walk on the spot as you watch TV. Run up and down the stairs, anything that will get you moving briskly at regular intervals in the day.
When you cannot manage 3 healthy meals, aim for one a day and then build from there and commit to drinking more water and cutting down on alcohol and caffeine.
Emotional
It is easy to overlook the tirade of emotions that are felt as you are battling with the practicalities and the multiple demands of Covid. The most common ones are sadness, anger, hurt, guilt, frustration, fear, uncertainty, confusion, disappointment and helplessness.
Imagine a bottle within you filling up with some of these emotions. The easiest way of emptying this bottle is by writing out how you are feeling every day. You can write unsent letters to the people concerned with the emotions or imagine they are sitting in an empty chair and verbalising your feelings at them. Both these techniques will help you to ‘empty’ your emotional bottle safely, without any repercussions. Doing this everyday will ensure it does not fill up again.
Mental
With lots of things to attend to, your mind would be racing and on overdrive. It is important to calm and slow it down. Find solitude in your day a few times and practice breathing and mindfulness. Here are a few you can try.
Social
Make sure you speak to someone from your circle of family and friends every day. It may not be for any practical help, but just so as you feel connected with other people and the outside world. Strike a conversation with someone in the park or in the shopping queue. Instead of withdrawing from the world, be proactive in staying in touch and having regular human face to face connection.
Gratitude and Spirituality
Write your Positive Biography. Take one year of your life at a time, starting with your earliest memory. Make a list of everything positive from each year: Your interests, achievements, acts of kindness, kind things others did for you etc. You can do this together with your family and friends who can remind you of things to add.
Add photos and images, videos, anything that will reinforce those memories. Then talk about it with others and share it as much as you can. Keep adding to this every day or as much as time permits. This is also a great game or project with children which will help them to grow up with a strong sense of self and confidence.
Everyday make a list of what you have and what has gone well with your friends and family instead of fearing the worst. It is no-good worrying about something which may never happen, but what you have now is real. Be thankful for that.
Learn to give gratitude for the beauty around you- we are all connected with the same energy, so that beautiful sunrise or fragrant flowers are a manifestation of the same force within you. It is an expression of your self-love. According to the law of attraction, the energy we vibrate out attracts more of the same (Abraham Hicks)- so when you get out of the negative state to a joyful state you attract more happiness into your life. When you are feeling good, there is no resistance to the things you want to attract in your life.
Acknowledge every good thing in your life as an expression of love and acceptance from yourself to yourself.
Summary
Going through a crisis has an opportunity to transform, to grow, to lift in consciousness as never before.
We all, in our own way, have an innate propensity to transcend out of a crisis with the right approach and support for our human machine and the global community. I hope this article has been helpful for you in finding your way out of the woods on to a lighted path ahead.