It’s hard to stay calm when a pandemic is the story of the day. People shelter in place and do their best not to panic.
GenuLines suggests a few activities that can calm irrational tendencies.
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Be Calm and Centered With Stay At Home Activities
We’re trying to keep calm as a deadly but invisible killer moves through our cities and suburbs. Authorities tell us to stay in our homes to prevent COVID-19 spread. But that doesn’t mean we have to fixate our attention on the world’s bad news.
Over-hyped stories step up fear and anxiety.
Settle on your most trusted news sources, then do your best to filter out the media noise. Keeping social distance and careful hand-washing are important.
But your ability to stay calm comes from within.
Here are three of the best ways that you can stay calm and centered in times of pandemic panic!
Meditation & Mindfulness
Consider meditation or mindfulness techniques.
The Mayo Clinic finds meditation can really boost your mental and emotional health. It can even benefit aspects of your physical health.
Meditation can also give you:
● A better outlook on life (positivity)
● Increased feelings of calm
● Greater self-awareness
● Reduced levels of anxiety and stress.
● Improved focus
The best part is: There are plenty of different types of meditation.
If you can focus for longer periods of time try guided meditations or visualizations.
When you’re looking to stay more active while you’re quarantined, you can give yoga or Pilates a go!
Finding a Creative Outlet
You might be stuck in the house for a some time, but that doesn’t mean you have to go stir crazy. Instead try out some new (or old) creative hobbies.
Focusing on building or creating something new can reduce negative feelings.
Creativity is a solid way of helping you to relax.
A creative outlet can be almost anything. Here are a few things you might want to try (if you have the supplies at hand:
● Painting, coloring, or drawing
● Singing or playing musical instruments
● Taking photos or videos of things you enjoy
● Building something with things lying around the house
● Writing
● Puzzles
● Reading something and then writing an essay about it (yes, remember English 101 class?).
These are great ways to take your mind off the world’s troubles.
The idea is to find an activity or task that requires an intense amount of focus and makes you happy. And brings you happy feelings.
Giving Back & Helping Others
It’s completely natural to be fearful of the unknown. But giving back to others can help you to tackle this fear once and for all.
Giving back to the community helps people in need. Instead of fear and anxiety you’ll be working to spread compassion and happiness.
When people are sick or self-quarantined they aren’t able to leave home. But they still have needs that they now can’t meet on their own.
You can be helpful while keeping your distance and not exposing anyone to the virus. You can deliver food and groceries or do things like yard work.
It’ll make you feel good about yourself while also helping those in need! So, call your neighbors.
Post something on your Facebook page to let those in need know you’re available and how to get in contact.
Final Thoughts
You can’t do much to stop the spread of a pandemic. But there are things you can do to reduce your panic and increase your calmness.
Practice mindfulness. Find a creative outlet, and give back to those in need.
You’ll be able to stay calm and centered through most anything!
JohnK 4-22-2020
Overheard: “The true strength of a man is in calmness” ~Leo Tolstoy
Image by Daga_Roszkowska from Pixabay
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