I shared last year that I have anxiety. I try not to make a big deal of it; but it’s been quite a challenge trying to manage anxiety during the covid-19 pandemic. I am suffering from sleep loss, focus challenges, loss of motivation, aimlessly wandering around, and general symptoms related to a major life change.
I have been trying different things to help ease and reduce some of the anxiety, and I want to share them with you if you are suffering from it during this pandemic as well.
Tips For Managing Anxiety During The Covid-19 Pandemic
Talk Out Your Feelings
When my anxiety starts to ramp up, I notice one of my first symptoms is wandering around and the inability to think straight. When that happens, I notice that if I talk out my feelings to my husband, and even my kids, it helps me to see clearly. I am able to get my thoughts out in front of me and they can recommend suggestions for me to get back on track.
Writing is also helpful to me. When I write something about what I am feeling on Facebook or mention it on my nightly Facebook Live I have a lot of comments about it. It makes me feel better knowing that I am not the only one having these feelings. I also feel better knowing that this pandemic is a large trigger for anxiety.
Many people haven’t been through this before. So there is a lot of uncertainty. I am very goal driven. Being a marathon runner, I need a race on the calendar to drive me to get in my miles. I have been praised on my work reviews because of my ability to meet or exceed goals and timelines. It’s just how I am wired. So now I am setting or finding new goals to help push me or keep me motivated.
Stay Active
I just registered for the runDisney Virtual Race Series today because of two things. I love their race medals and miss runDisney events, and I need a goal in place. There are three virtual 5K races in this challenge. One for each month of the summer.
My kids and I have remained diligent about staying active every afternoon. We either take a bike ride up to the farm to collect eggs and then go for a longer ride around the neighborhood after egg collecting. Or I will go for a run while they ride their bikes. Working out definitely makes me feel better. My kids also seem happier after we come back from doing something outside.
I also prefer to do any activities outside. so I can feel the sun and the air on my skin. I need to be out in nature. When I am out with the kids I have been packing a little backpack with my camera and tripod. We went for a longer bike ride yesterday and I am so glad I had my camera with me because I was able to wander a little bit and capture some beautiful old barn photographs while we were out there. I also saw deer out in one of the farm fields.
I love wandering around with my camera taking pictures. It brings me so much joy.
Take A Shower and Get Dressed
I know when the quarantine first started I fell into a habit of waking up in the morning, rolling out of bed and walking into my office with my pajamas on, and working until the end of the day, going for a run, then taking my shower.
I didn’t bother to put on makeup or get dressed for the day. This went on for a few weeks. I even went live on Facebook without makeup! I would NEVER show my face to the public without makeup, even when I was in labor with my kids!
Now, as we are four weeks into this, I feel better if I start my day with a shower, get dressed and put on makeup. I feel like I can make some videos that I will use in future projects, I am “put together” for the day. My clothes still fit and I haven’t fallen off the wagon of eating well and continuing to work on my weight loss.
Watch A Funny Show
At least two or three times a week I like to sit down with everyone and watch a show at night. We don’t actually have time every night to do it because we all need to take showers, or we were at the farm later, or Adrienne and I had a long Facebook Live session. But when we can, I like to veg out for a little bit and watch something educational on Disney+. I look forward to those times.
I introduced my son to I Love Lucy and he’s been hooked on the show. Then my daughter got hooked on it and then we all started to watch it together. It’s a classic and was one of my favorite shows when I grew up. I enjoy when he comes into my office laughing, and shares the clip from the recent episode he is watching.
Play Games
I want to do more of this as a family. I want to play in our driveway again and play badminton and four square. We love playing games in our family. Surprisingly, we haven’t played four square yet. We’ve been a little busy! But as I try to figure out the balance between work and play, I’d like to incorporate more games into our family time.
We did host a virtual bingo game online when the pandemic first started. It was quite an event. I would love to do that again. We also tried to play Kahoot online and I’m going to work on making some quizzes for them to play along with. They use that program in school for their learning and I’d love to put some quizzes together using some things we are learning about at home during the quarantine.
Go For A Drive
The other night we took a short ride around town. It was 8:00 and my daughter mentioned that she hasn’t seen her school or the center of town since her last day of school. That was over a month ago! So all four of us drove around town, part of it was on their old bus route. We then stopped at my parents’ house and visited with them in the driveway for a little bit. My parents and brother wore their masks so we were being responsible.
It felt good to ride around in the car again and see our town. But it also felt weird. We left our little bubble that we have been living in for over a month. I am starting to feel safest at home.
Breathe or Practice Meditation
I need to listen to my own advice. Somehow during all of this, I have become so busy with work that I haven’t been able to take the time to breathe and give myself grace. I feel that I am working so hard for my clients because I am driven by their goals. So I naturally gravitate towards that because it’s how I am wired.
To randomly just play, or breathe or do things on a whim doesn’t come easily for me. I can’t just stop what I am doing. I have to “close up” what I am working on so I can “put it away” in my brain to allow myself time to not work and not feel guilty.
Meditation has been a huge help for me. I like to use the Calm app. If I am feeling anxious I will open the app and turn on the ocean waves sound. This helps ground me and gives me some focus. I will also run the app when I take a shower and allow that time to breathe and slow down.
Maintain A Normal Bedtime
It’s important for your body and your mind, to keep a normal bedtime. Your body’s circadian rhythm has a lot of effects on your hormones and how you sleep, digest your food, and heal your gut. This has an impact on your weight and if you gain or lose weight. Especially if you are trying to lose weight. When your sleep cycle is off, you will struggle even harder to lose the weight.
When you stay up later and wake up later, your serotonin, cortisol and endorphins get disrupted. This affects your mood. The circadian rhythm is closely tied to our mood regulating hormones. If you are feeling off, take a look at your schedule. What is different in your daily schedule that you weren’t doing before the pandemic?
If your sleep is disrupted because you are worrying about family and friends; or can’t sleep because you are thinking about things, it will have an impact on your mood. When that happens, you tend to go down a path of unhealthy choices. So take a moment now to think about what you are doing at night and how are you winding down your day to allow yourself time to breathe and let go of the negativity from the day.
Give Yourself Grace
As you are all aware, this Covid-19 pandemic is all new to us. No one has been through this before. I saw something recently that was a great description of how I feel many times.
I have been trying to take my advice listed above. My nights are the hardest. I can’t seem to fall asleep easily at my normal bed time. So I am working on that this week. It’s important now that the kids are also back in school this week. They need to be awake and alert for their online classes. Especially with this new structure of learning that is unfamiliar for them.
I gathered up this advice from what I have observed in the last month of staying safe at home. Do you have any tips that you can recommend for helping us get through these anxious times? Please share them in the comments!