How to Take Care of Your Mental Health During Quarantine
By Olivia Pfeiffer
Due to the current coronavirus, the vast majority of us are trapped in our homes. Our only time in the outside world is the occasional grocery run or walk around the neighborhood. If you’re like me, you’ve found that your mental health has begun to decline. Old struggles with anxiety and depression you thought were long gone have re-emerged during the pandemic. Maybe your normal coping mechanisms are suddenly unavailable to you, or moving back to your hometown from college has been really hard. Or maybe you’ve never struggled with mental health issues before, but in the current state of the world, you are suddenly finding yourself incredibly anxious and on edge. While I can’t claim to be a mental health expert, here are just a few tips to take care of yourself during quarantine.
1. It’s Okay to Not Be Okay
It can be really frustrating to find yourself spending your whole day in bed or slipping back into old habits you promised yourself you would never get back into. If you previously struggled with mental health and problems are now resurfacing, it can feel like you’re sliding backwards after spending so much time on recovery. It’s okay! It’s okay for things to not be okay. It’s really hard, but it is better to acknowledge that you’re struggling with your mental health than to pretend that everything is fine. You don’t have to feel guilty that you’re struggling, either. Just because people “have it worse” and have someone sick in their family does not invalidate your own struggles. You are allowed to struggle with your mental health even with everything that’s going on in the world. Accepting that you’re struggling allows you to try and figure out how to handle your mental health and make it a priority.
2. Don’t Feel Guilty for not Being at Your Most Productive
You don’t have to be the next Shakespeare and write King Lear during this plague. All over social media, people are posting creativity challenges, yoga videos, journal mantras, and homemade bread recipes. And that’s great! There is nothing wrong with that. But the constant expectation to be at the top of your creative game and suddenly become perfect at sunset painting can be overwhelming if you are struggling to just complete your schoolwork. If you want to engage in creative hobbies, awesome! But do it if and when you have inspiration to do it, not because you feel like you are wasting your time if you do otherwise. You don’t have to completely reinvent yourself during quarantine. Just focus on making it through the day.
3. Take a Break from the News Cycle
Every news cycle is reporting on coronavirus day in and day out. News headlines seem to flash worse and worse news every day, no matter where you live. Even social media is bombarded with news about COVID-19. It can definitely be tempting to want to be in the know about everything, to constantly check the stats, and to monitor your own county. While staying informed is important, constantly absorbing the news only contributes to anxiety-related concerns. Instead of waking up in the morning and immediately going to the headlines, try going to a site that isn’t corona-dominated. Easier said than done, but even spending your morning watching a Netflix show or reading a book for 15 minutes sets you up for a better day.
4. See if your therapist offers online or video call services, or join a community such as TalkSpace
If you had been going to therapy in the past but are no longer able to due to social distancing, reach out and see if your therapist is available for sessions over Google Hangouts or Zoom. Even just a few sessions to talk things out can be incredibly helpful, and your therapist can also recommend further strategies to deal with your mental health. If you did not previously go to therapy but find yourself needing it now, the internet is at your disposal. Online therapy sites such as TalkSpace connect you to therapists for one-on-one sessions, and apps such as Headspace provide different types of guided meditation. Though taking care of your mental health looks different now than it did before, there are still resources out there to help.
5. Schedule (Virtual) Time with Friends
It sucks that we can’t go and spend time with our friends right now. It’s incredibly difficult. But don’t discount virtual hangouts! If you usually get Thursday night dinners with a group of friends on campus, try and recreate that experience over Zoom or FaceTime. You can also virtually reconnect with people from your high school. Throw your own mini high school reunion! My friends and I have been doing morning yoga classes together (virtually). It’s a great way to be active and to check in with my friends. Having a themed virtual call or doing something creative together can help you feel connected to the people that you’re missing. Also, don’t be afraid to tell your friends that you are struggling; your friends are there to talk through your problems, or they can distract you from your thoughts.
6. Break Down Your Tasks
Is your room a disaster because you haven’t cleaned it since being home? Make your bed. Have you struggled to find the energy to exercise? Spend 10 minutes stretching or find an easy yoga class on YouTube. Are your online class assignments piling up and you’re struggling to find the motivation for your end of term paper? Just start by logging onto your Zoom class or making a to-do list. This is a really hard time, and expecting yourself to operate at perfectly full capacity will only cause your anxiety to increase. As with anytime you are struggling with mental health, breaking tasks down into smaller, bite-sized pieces makes things more manageable. You don’t have to be totally put-together during quarantine, but you can do small tasks every day that add up to improve your overall mental health and wellness. Remember, as lonely as you feel right now, you are not alone. There are a lot of people struggling. We will all make it through this, and everything will be okay. You are loved <3
