Every cloud: Managing your mental health amidst self isolation
With all the tragedy happening in the world as a result of the coronavirus, now might seem like an unusual time to talk about being positive. Yet staying positive is a core ingredient in the recipe of successful coping in a crisis. Now, more than ever, is the time for us to be proactive about creating small moments of happiness in our days, given the findings in psychology research that positive emotions help us to undo the negative effects of stress. I’ll come to a few practical things you can do to foster positive emotions shortly, but first I’d like to take a minute to appreciate some of the better memories we’ve made with our loved ones and ourselves inside our four walls.
For our family, we’ve made zoom calls, house partied and connected with friends we haven’t seen in years. We’ve eaten and drunk too much. Baked. Splashed. Made dens and eaten ice-cream. We’ve also wobbled together and been pushed from our comfort zones. I’ve tried - and failed miserably as a teacher and to tolerate the tantrums. But succeeded in making dens and holding “the best” teddy bears picnics.
While many of us are grieving our old lives, by tuning into these three silver linings where we can, we can potentially change our brain chemistry and build up our energy stores to help us cope with the more challenging aspects of life. Taking charge of our mental health and capturing the small moments will help as we go further into the unknown, too. If we can foster positive emotions, the flow-on effects are well researched, and well documented. In fact, positive emotions are a key resource for us during the coronavirus crisis because they can do a number of things:
Increase your resilience: Research has shown that when we experience positive emotions on the back of a stressful event, we bounce back more quickly and have a faster “cardiovascular recovery” time – our heart rate lowers and our blood pressure stabilises more quickly when we are able to be positive.
Increase your immunity: a study where people were deliberately infected with the influenza virus and rhinovirus found that those people who had more positive emotions were more likely to fight off the symptoms. People low on positive emotions were 2.9 times more likely to contract a respiratory illness in this study.
Make you think more clearly: the way we feel influences the way we think. Positive emotions boost our problem solving abilities as well as our judgment, decision-making, cognitive flexibility and creativity. Staying positive will help you and your kids to be better at solving all the little problems that are being thrown our way right now, such as figuring out new technology platforms for working (and schooling) from home.
As the saying goes, every dark cloud has a silver lining and this is your chance to thicken that lining and take charge of your mental health so that you come out of this experience stronger. Hopefully when all this has passed, these will be the things we will remember most. Until then, be kind to yourselves and eachother. Give yourself a pat on the back today. Whatever you’re doing, you’re doing a great job.
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