Covid-19 Resource for Self-Help

Covid-19 Resource for Self-Help

The uncertainty of the Pandemic has created problems for us that we’ve never faced before. To make things more difficult, our social circles may not be physically accessible. In such a scenario, finding ways to comfort and help ourselves becomes important in ensuring that we’re making the best of whatever is available to us.

Self Help Activities

  • Mindfulness
    • Practicing mindful, focused breathing, even for ten minutes a day reduces stress and promotes relaxation.
    • Making your bed is considered a “keystone” habit. Making your bed in the morning is correlated to more productivity, a sense of well-being, and even better budgeting skills. It sets the tone for accomplishment throughout your day when you complete this one task the moment you get out of bed.
    • Wake up and write your thoughts onto paper for ten minutes to liberate your mind from the mental chatter that may have set your morning off to a negative or anxious start.

 

  • Apps during lockdown
    • Calm Harm: It provides tasks to help you resist or manage the urge to self-harm. If you want to you can set a password so that it’s completely private. You can also personalise it if you wish. The app then provides you with four categories of tasks to help you surf the urge. ‘Distract’ helps in learning self-control; ‘Comfort’ helps you care rather than harm; ‘Express Yourself’ gets those feelings out differently, and ‘Release’ provides safe alternatives to self-injury. There is also a ‘Breathe’ category to help calm and get back in control. You can do the activities for either blocks of five minutes or fifteen minutes with a countdown for each minute.
    • Google Arts & Culture: Take a tour of museums and art galleries around the world from home. This can be just to learn more about these things or something you can add to your travel bucket-list: something to look forward to.

 

  • Group activities
    • Cooking together and eating together can make a fun activity out of a chore that is usually burdened on select members of the household. Dividing chores can help people stay active during the lockdown.
    • Looking at old family albums can induce nostalgic emotions which can help in soothing the tension surrounding the current situation with Covid-19.
    • This is also a good time to create new familial/group traditions, while trying your best to recreate or revamp old traditions suitable for the lockdown. 
    • Board games, dumb charades, karaoke can act as ice-breakers after a busy day where everyone was trying to finish their individual tasks, and can now unwind from the day together.
    • Set out some hours to watch old home-videos or favourite movies with your family/flatmates every night/evening as a way to unwind and connect without having to force conversations
    • Do-it-yourself craft videos to upcycle old furniture/waste into useful items are available on Youtube and other video sharing sites, and can act as a good activity to try together.
    • Netflix party, or being on a conference call with friends while everyone watches the same movie or TV show on their cable connections can substitute for a get-together.
    • Many friends and family members are now following guided meditation audios together, as a way to both relax as well as create a sense of togetherness.
    • Get onto as many trends as you want during this quarantine. People are finding a sense of community and connection by following various kinds of social media challenges like dance routines, baking, skincare, at-home-haircuts, and many more.
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