How to survive COVID with your mental health intact. Tips from a licensed therapist in Long Beach
1. Be kind to yourself.
You may have to get creative because perhaps your healthy coping skills before COVID involved going to a movie, dinner, a concert, a sporting event, going out with friends. Now you have to get creative and it is harder. You may have to have a picnic on your living room floor, find online games (such as houseparty) that you can play with friends online, find out what “concerts from home” are being televised by your favorite artist, do a virtual museum tour, etc.
2. Protect your sleep.
Turn off the news and social media after a certain point in the day. It is not healthy to be looking at death rates and scary statistics right before bed. Anything involving COVID tends to increase anxiety and social media and the news has a high percentage of this content. Try instead to watch a TV show, or look at the hashtag #COVIDkindness, or try to google “good news stories” so that you are in a better state of mind before you go to sleep. Those negative news stories will most likely still be there for you to catch up on when you wake up.
3. Create a balance.
Monitor how much you are watching the news and you are on social media. Our brain needs a balance of positive to every negative we experience throughout the day. Keep in mind that we need about 5 positive things for every 1 negative thing to stay balanced. If you consider that a picture is supposed to be worth 1000 words, imagine how much damage a news story can be or how much damage a video can cause (like watching the news or a video clip on social media). It is important to stay up on the news for your safety and to know what rules and regulations your area has in place, however it is important to limit this information and balance it out with positive things.
4. Use your free time in your favor.
Journal more, meditate more (or learn to meditate), and make a conscious effort to reach out to friends more to connect online. Whether you are working or laid off, this may also be an opportunity to rethink your career choice. You may have more time on your hands to update your resume and research careers that would fit you better than the career you are currently at.
5. Remember that we are all in this together.
Even though we are apart physically, we are all going through similar things and experiencing similar fears and anxiety. Reach out to friends and family. Zoom with friends to cook together or do a free online workout video together. Societal norms are pretty much gone right now and so you can be creative in setting new norms for your family.