It all gets more depressing as we seclude ourselves in our homes, bombarded with concerns around our financial situation, among many others. Self-isolation and depression are positively correlated, hence you simply cannot let it overtake your emotions.
People are anxious, having to deal with both the health and economic crisis that is looming over us. While some things remain out of your control, there are these things that you can take charge of and improve your future circumstances.
It is amazing how Og Mandino in his famous book “The Greatest Salesman in the World” puts it:
“Flowers bloom; flowers fade.
Seeds are sown; harvests are reaped.
All nature is a circle of moods and I am a part of nature and so, like the tides, my moods will rise; my moods will fall.
But today I will be the master of my emotions”
We must master these emotions to ensure each day spent in self-isolation is not depressing but productive.
1. Reboot and re-plan your future
Grab this time and rethink your existing skills, qualifications, and relevance in the future, or if this is the time to make the necessary switch to ensure that we are well braced when such a crisis hits us in the future.
Now is the time to re-train and acquire skills in the sectors where there are skills shortages such as Nursing, Teaching, IT, Trades & Construction. It does not have to be a fully-fledged degree or master’s programs, simple short courses which are offered free during this crisis will tremendously elevate your chances to come out stronger after the end of all this.
2. Self-development
In this time of adversity, you can develop a better version of yourself through ongoing personal growth. Changing the focus from things happening around us will not only ensure that we remain calm, but it will also allow us to focus on things that make a difference in a good way.
Time is not an excuse anymore. Now that we are locked down into our homes, everyone suddenly has more free time. The worst thing anyone can do is waste time worrying about things that are way beyond their control.
Force yourself to employ growth mindset and engage into:
- Communicating to strengthen relationships.
- Reading to learn, especially self-development books such as; “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie to help you get out there and make your life more rewarding.
- Listening to podcasts and motivational speakers.
- Focusing on things that add value to your life.
Invest this time in yourself to make a marked difference in YOU to take a major step in your progression.
3. Exercise/Walk:
The biggest reason why we do not get enough exercise is generally presumed to be lack of time. We can safely say for now that we have an abundance of that.
Even if you are not a fan of intensive workouts, small and consistent effort will motivate you to build good habits, guaranteeing long term success.
You can do your backyard gardening, lawn-mowing, long walks to the park or even fun yard games with your kids to keep your fitness in check. Such forms of physical exercise will be less daunting and easy to action.
For more advanced ones, with gyms now closed, you can get going with your daily press-ups, sit-ups, aerobics or Zumba workouts.
Exercise will help you regulate your anxiety levels during these tough times.
4. Work towards earning a passive income to expand your risk horizon
This enforced seclusion may help you built something significant. These could simply be:
- Affiliate programs with major networks such as Amazon or E-bay.
- Exploring your freelancing options on Upwork and Fiverr.
- Set up on Air B&B and rent out a spare room.
- Step into a totally different career and sign up for some short courses and test your ability.
- Startup a blog website. There are so many options out there to get your website set-up through engaging a creative yet affordable web developer.
Use the existing scenario to your advantage and brainstorm ideas on how you can generate passive income while working for your 9 to 5 job.
With thousands made redundant over the past few weeks, it is high time we contemplate seriously on getting a side income to supplement our existing earning capacity.
5. Avoid watching too much news on television and social media
While it is acceptable and necessary to keep abreast with the current news especially the updates on coronavirus pandemic, the heavy indulgence will create fear and anxiousness among us. And you will end up being depressed about items as futile as these:
- Whether others are following the social distancing rule
- The amount of toilet paper at the store
- How long will this pandemic last
- Whether the government will provide much-needed assistance or not
Letting go of things that we cannot control is the best bet when it comes to mastering your emotions.
Rather, switch your attention to things we can control:
- My positive attitude
- My own social distancing
- My kindness and grace
- Turning off the news
- Finding fun things to do at home
- Limiting my social media
Always remember that the more you think negatively about something, the more you are attached to it.
Bonus Tip: Listen to music
As simple as it sounds, music provides the much-needed respite to our brain following the absorption of more than needed information, particularly the worrying news.
Music instantly uplifts your mood, especially happy music. Most importantly, if you are trying to implement something new in your daily routines like exercising, music gives you that boost in motivation.
It is also demonstrated through research that if you are trying to do something which you don’t highly like or enjoy, then pairing it with something else that uplifts you will get you better results in accomplishing those tasks.
To encapsulate this, unpleasant feelings merely indicate that you are excessively influenced by your negative thoughts and believing it. It is very easy to break the positive relationship between self-isolation and depression by changing the way we think.
