Finding inner peace during the ongoing pandemic
The pandemic has left us all jaded and anxious about the uncertainty of the future. We are spending more time at home than ever before, especially due to the work-at-home etiquette that became popular during this pandemic. With more time at home, we also tend to spend more time on our cellphones and, consequently, on social media.
As much as I would like to agree that social media can sometimes be a good tool for us to get entertained or bring us joy, I would also have to say that excessive usage of it carries detrimental effects on our mental health.
With more time on social media, we start to see really nice images or content from people, which prompts us to compare ourselves with people. When that happens, our anxiety starts to kick and we tend to become unhappy for not having the kind of life that we see on social media.
In this article, I have come up with 5 ways on how to cope with anxiety during quarantine at home.
1. Start Your Mornings Right
For the people who work from home, the lines between work and home are blurred and it can get hard for you to differentiate between when is it time to rest and when is it time to start working. It can also affect our body clock if we are unable to differentiate between the two of them.
Every morning when I wake up, I will open up my windows to let all the fresh air in and I also light up incense fragrant sticks to refresh my mind. After that, I go for a shower and then take a wet towel to just clean my table and start off my day.
2. Small Changes Matter
I also make small changes in my life such as wearing my watch in the morning when I’m about to start my work and also taking it off after I’ve ended my work. It is these small subtle changes that you make in your life that enable your subconscious to be able to differentiate between work and home.
I suggest having a definite and significant change to your work attire, your practice, and your behaviour throughout the day. Even though I am working from home, I make sure that I have my attire ready for me to wear after I shower and it can be something as simple as a t-shirt and shorts. Before I go to sleep, I tend to change to my pyjamas, which can be like a singlet or also any comfortable shorts that I would like to wear to my sleep. So, I can have these two distinct changes in terms of my attire, and even though it is something small, but these are important signals to give to your brain to tell it that “Ok, it is time to switch the mode between rest and play” in the middle of the day.
3. Put Your Phone Away
Sometimes, I get quite caught up with social media with all the mindless scrolling so what I would do is that I will put my phone under my pillow. This small trick can help keep the phone out of my sight and save me from all the pointless scrolling.
What about Messages?
Although texting platforms, such as WhatsApp or Telegram, are still important in our life because we need them to connect with our colleagues, you can actually set up WhatsApp desktop on your computer itself so even when you don’t have your phone next to you, you are still able to reply to your colleagues via your desktop or your laptop.
Try to put your phone away from you for one day just to see how it feels and how it changes your behaviour towards online connections and social media.
4. Meditation
I started meditating when I was in my teenage years. However, at that time, I didn’t know the right techniques and realized that it didn’t really help me in my mental health because I started off with the wrong techniques. I didn’t know what to focus on when I meditate so I give up back then.
Later, I went to Bali in 2019 and attended a 3D2N yoga retreat. That was when I realised how I’m able to use meditation to reduce stress and help me with my life.
What is Mediation About?
Meditation is really about a habitual process of redirecting your thoughts and also training your mind to focus. Many people use it as a way to reduce stress and anxiety in their life.
There are and there will have many thoughts that will come to your mind when you meditate and it is ok.
What to Think About
Think of your mind as a clear blue sky and all the thoughts that come through your mind are just like passing clouds. We want to be as clear as possible and it is perfectly normal and perfectly fine if there are thoughts that come through your mind. This is part of the process of meditation. What we really want to do is to train our mind to identify when the thoughts come to our mind and when to acknowledge them and let them go and continue with our breathing.
I recommend that when you meditate, think of a place of peace and scenery. For myself, I usually think of this beautiful river I saw in New Zealand. I imagine the sounds and the river flowing. The water is fluid and while all the imagination is going through my mind, I use it to direct my focus on my breathing.
Noting
When we meditate, we have many thoughts that come to our mind, such as thinking about a certain meeting that is going to come up at 4:00 p.m. later or an event that has happened in the past. This event can evoke some emotions in you and these emotions can be sadness or anxiety. You have to differentiate between the two thoughts. One of them is thinking and one of them is feeling. When you meditate, it is good to acknowledge whether this thought is thinking or feeling. When we acknowledge it, we gently let it go. Over time, as you train to note more and more, you are able to control your thoughts.
4. Read Something
I have so much time at home that I find myself reading a lot of books during this quarantine period and I would like to recommend some of the books I’ve read. These books have shifted my perspectives in life and changed the way I handle my day with more confidence.
The Art of Happiness
The Art of Happiness is written by reverend Dalai Lama and Dr. Howard Cutler. In the book itself, he shares his ideas about compassion for people around the world. During this period, we all want to exercise more empathy in our relationships with people. He mentioned having compassion not only for the people around you but also compassion for yourself. Sometimes, we do not want to be too harsh or too hard on ourselves for not doing anything at home. I admit that sometimes, I too didn’t know what to do at home and what the future is gonna be, but this book is able to give me some insights on how I can start to adjust my lifestyle and have more compassion for the people around me.
The Magic
The Magic is a sister book by The Secret written by Rhonda Byrne. In essence, The Magic is about gratitude; being thankful for everything that you have in life.
From this book, I learned to be grateful for everything that I have. For example, I’m thankful that I have access to clean water. I’m thankful that I have a roof over my head. I’m thankful that I have an audience that I can reach out to. And I’m thankful for every single thing in my life, especially during these dark times. We see a lot of negativity on social media and it is so important to be thankful for everything in our life.
3. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying is written by Marie Kondo. I would say that this book has really helped me tremendously in changing my life. I recently renovated my room and I kind of changed my entire setup as I was inspired by this book. It encouraged me to tidy up my space and also to give respect to the things around me.
Re-Evaluate the People and Things in Your Life
She taught me about discarding all the unwanted items in my life, such as the clothing in my wardrobe. She also linked unwanted items, such as unwanted clothing, to unwanted people in your life.
Sometimes, there might be toxic people or toxic friends in your life that you have to let go of, and even though you can have a good time hanging out with these friends, it might not be beneficial to your work life or your social life or your mental health. It is so important to reevaluate what these people do in your life. If they really do not benefit you at all in the long term, maybe it’s good to distance yourself away from them and also to cut them off from your life.
4. Joy at Work
Joy at Work is another book written by Marie Kondo and Scott Sonenshein. I find it beneficial because she taught me how to clear and declutter my digital life and it can be as simple as clearing up the desktop space in my computer.
My desktop used to be very messy and disorganized and there are files and documents all over the place. This book taught me to clean up my digital space because I look at my laptop every day and it’s good to have a clean space to be productive. I deleted and discarded all my documents, images and files that I do not need anymore.
5. Take Care of Your Body
It is important to take care of your body too because the mind and body are connected together. When you take care of your mind, you want to be sure to take care of your body as well.
This includes the food that we eat. Unfortunately, during this time, we are taking in a lot of junk food. There are certain days where I’ll binge on potato chips and a lot of sweets and chocolates but I also make sure to detox and cleanse my body.
Green Juice to Detox and Cleanse
- 1 x handful of wild rocket or spinach
- 1 x lemon with rind (include the lemon peel)
- 1 scoop of Moringa powder
- 1 scoop of chia seeds
- A dash of turmeric powder
- A pinch of rock salt
- 100 ml of milk
- 200 ml of water
- 3 ice cubes
Bring them all to blend and consume 1 cup every morning.
Supplements
I highly recommend taking Vitamin C and fish oils. Both help to boost your immunity and your body’s natural defence against viruses and cold. To manage stress and anxiety, I take Ashwangdha and holy basil and I have benefited greatly from it too.
Endnote
Happiness is never a destination, it is always a journey. If you refuse to help yourself, you are unable to pick yourself up. You have to help yourself before someone else can help you.
There are times where I too am uncertain about the future because there is just so much going on. I read the news daily and, sometimes, the news can be quite depressing.
It is ok to be vulnerable because you acknowledge your emotions and when you acknowledge them, don’t suppress them. Don’t hide them but just let them go and once you let them go, you realize how much lighter you have become. It is perfectly fine to have no idea what is going on and we do not want to judge anybody during this point in time. It is perfectly fine if you are productive and it is also perfectly fine if you are not productive at all because we are going through a pandemic, so it is normal for you to not know what to do at this point in time.
Good luck, stay healthy, and love yourself!
