5 Ways to Reduce Anxiety During COVID-19
You’ve now been at home for what feels like years and you’re worried about what comes next. You’ve lost your sense of normalcy: you can’t find the motivation for your workout routine, you might be relying on food, alcohol, or over-sleeping to help you cope, your day has lost all sense of structure and meaning, and your relationships feel distant.
You know what you need to do to feel better and less overwhelmed, but you can’t find the strength and motivation to take the next step.
You may be facing job loss or uncertainty. You may be feeling fearful about what’s to come. You might be feeling constantly on edge and more irritable and less patient with friends and family.
Maybe you’ve never felt this way before or you’ve never experienced this level of overwhelm to this extent. You might find yourself thinking…
· How do I stop feeling this way?
· I feel weak for feeling like this for no reason…
· Why does it feel like others have made this transition easily, but I’m feeling overwhelmed?
· Will life ever be the same again?
· Will I ever feel financially secure again?
· Why am I constantly feeling on edge?
· I feel guilty for the way I’ve been treating my partner and/or my children…
· I feel worthless for being so unproductive working from home…
· I’m fearful for my health and the health of others, but I’m also fearful for my finances and livelihood…
· I feel helpless…
These are questions many of us have no real answers to. We’ve been given a circumstance we have very little control over in the form of a worldwide pandemic: a situation that even those of us with high levels of anxiety and catastrophizing tendencies could not have prepared for.
We have been faced with this reality now more than ever: we are not fully in control. And that desire to control the uncontrollable is often what makes us feel anxious and overwhelmed.
Actually, many of the symptoms of anxiety that I often see when working with clients are many of the exact same natural by-products of living in isolation during a pandemic. Anxiety affects our relationships, our engagement with our communities, how we care for our health, our coping mechanisms, and how we focus on our goals and career. All of these areas have been naturally impacted by our current circumstances so it’s not unusual that our levels of anxiety would also increase during this time.
But there is hope…
Though we have little control over coronavirus and the restrictions put into place by our local, state and nationwide leaders, we do have control over how we respond to our circumstances. Especially for those of us living in the state of California, where we were put under shelter in place very early on and we might be one of the last states to begin transitioning back to normal, we must find a way to cope and find our calm as we prepare for the transition.
When we do the work to take responsibility for what we do have control over in our lives, we can begin to see change in the way we engage with ourselves and the outside world.
You will be able to re-engage with your life again.
You will be able to go after those goals you had before COVID-19.
You will be able to cultivate meaningful relationships and connections after COVID-19.
You will be able to care for your whole being: physically, mentally and emotionally.
You will be able to find a sense of control again in your life.
And you don’t have to wait until California returns to normal. You can begin taking the action steps right now to live a more happy, fulfilled, and calm version of you.
Here are 5 ways you can begin to reduce your COVID anxiety:
1. Schedule time to connect (even virtually) with relationships that make you feel good about yourself and life.
We are relational beings as humans so it is completely normal that time in isolation would begin to increase your levels of anxiety and affect your mood. When we don’t experience our normal levels of connection this can impact our mental health. Our healthy relationships bring us a sense of security, trust, and assurance that can help combat anxious feelings.
2. Make a plan to safely get out of the house regularly.
Start interacting with your community again. Even if there are restrictions on social distancing, you can engage with the outside world. Getting outside to take a walk or even getting in your car and taking a drive can begin to make you feel a part of something bigger than yourself again. Though you might have been spending more time at home, your community is still out there.
3. Care for yourself in a way that feels good.
You might be feeling out of alignment without your regular routine of going to the gym, engaging with a spiritual community, or investing in some self-care. These areas of your life might not be able to look exactly the same right now or in the near future, but you can adapt and incorporate some elements that feel right for you. That might look like taking a walk or going on a run outside instead of hitting the weights in the gym. That might look like starting a meditation routine instead of joining your community in prayer or worship. You can get creative in how you evolve with your self-care.
4. Make a list of things that have felt good during quarantine and things that have felt not so good for you.
Do some reflecting on things that have felt good and bad during quarantine. Maybe you’ve been getting more sleep, but you also have been drinking more. Our experience during this pandemic doesn’t have to be strictly bad or strictly good. You might have mixed feelings about your life during quarantine and that’s okay. You can honor all of those feelings at once. Getting clarity on where you want to go and where you want to change can help you create new and meaningful goals going forward.
5. Ask for help and guidance.
If this list still seems a bit too big or even if you’re just looking for a new perspective and more guidance, you can always ask for help. Sometimes you need a guide to maximize your growth and healing and that’s okay.
We might not be able to control our circumstances right now or going forward, but we can begin to take small steps toward calm and peace of mind again. If you’re needing more guidance, I use evidence-based anxiety therapies via online counseling to help you live less anxiously and less overwhelmed—even in the midst of a pandemic.
Thinking about counseling?