As I talked about in last week’s blog – it is the dead of winter – winter in a year of social distancing, nonetheless. It is no joke, and should also be no secret that winter blues, anxiety, depression, COVID emotions and much more play a part of our daily lives.
I promised to write more about this exact paragraph above and this topic of COVID emotions. So, here I am. As always, I like to start off with a hypothetical question of how are you feeling? This week’s questions to ponder are more along the lines of do you experience the winter blues? The stay at home loneliness? The quarantine boredom?
Are you feeling a little uneasy with the ups and downs and back and forths of the virtual world versus doing in person activities? Are you feeling overwhelmed with attempting to run a household, manage your career, have self care time and take care of your health all under one roof now? I understand. It is a seriously tough year. It’s a tough world.
Spoiler alert: I don’t have any of the answers. I have zero solutions.
Spoiler alert #2: I am just writing this blog to share with you that you are not alone. Though we feel lonely, we shall not feel alone.
However, one thing I want to gently remind you is that yes, you can absolutely do ANYTHING. You can do ANYTHING you set your mind to. However, you do not have to do EVERYTHING. There is a large difference between trying to do anything and trying to do EVERYTHING. Remind yourself of that as you select what is most important to do, and what can be pushed to the side. Because at no point do you need to try and juggle everything.
Last week I wrote to you in a blog about managing motivation, finding a rhythm of consistency and having a tribe for camaraderie. But in these days and moments, even the best of systems still yield moments of what I like to call “Covid Emotions.” It is like you just can’t describe how you are feeling or why you are feeling that way.
Really, the best I can present you is a song that has worked for me and a concept I spoke about last year: So, you had a bad day.
“You had a bad day
You’re taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don’t know
You tell me, “don’t lie”
From a wellness standpoint, the best I can tell you is you had a bad day. It’s not a bad life. It’s not even a bad month or bad week. It’s a bad day. And, being completely transparent, sometimes it’s just a bad moment that doesn’t need to take over your entire day. Either way, you had a bad day. Let it happen. Let’s not deny that emotions exist. Let’s allow ourselves to move through the existing emotions. Try to naturally work through and overcome these rollercoasters of thoughts. Even more importantly, avoid hiding or pushing these bad moments, bad days, bad emotions aways. You can’t hide them. You can’t put them under the carpet and pretend they don’t happen. Because, the reality is, they do. And, it happens to all of us.
If I had to list out my top my top tips for overcoming these existing emotions would be :
Meditative Movements in your body – preferably outdoors, taking in some sunlight, fresh air, and deep breaths. If you meditate, add some slow meditative breaths to your outdoor movements. This will help reset.
Drink your water – hydrate your body, to activate all the internal pieces and as your flush your body with hydration, reset the mind
Eat & Nourish Your Body – nutrients run your body, including your hormones and mood. Eat a healthy, colorful meal
Disconnect – Take an hour or a day to just turn off the technology and disconnect from what you can disconnect from. Refrain from checking social media.
Reconnect with only what matters: I know I just said disconnect. But once you re-connect, make it a connection with what matters. Whether a group text with family or a video chat with friends, or a facebook group with a tribe of like-minded people, reconnect and keep that connection going. Lean on those connections for support.
At the end of the day, the solution still remains: tomorrow is a new day. Take what you can in strides. Take it day by day. And when needed, take it moment by moment.