Taking care of your wholistic well-being during the pandemic...

 Hello readers,

I hope you are doing well in this challenging time. If not that is also fine, we all are having our own challenges and difficulties in coping with this situation. Crisis due to COVID-19 is hitting its peak and everyone is in distress, directly or indirectly. In this difficult time, I request you all to not give up on our mental and physical health . Working on our wholistic well-being should be the goal now. If needed, please seek professional help for both physical and mental health. We all are trying our bests to fight against this situation. Every small step taken by us can make a huge difference in the situation for us and also for others.

In this post, I'll be sharing with you all, a wholistic way of keeping yourselves sane in this challenging situation. Some strategies or ideas which can help us grow our immunity and also improve our mental well-being. I, myself do these to keep my physical & mental health on check and hopefully it'll be helpful for you as well.

Firstly, I want to tell you that, despite the challenges in the current situation we need to stay strong and hopeful. I understand that the stressors in the environment can overwhelm us and make us anxious about everything in our life, but we have to keep in mind that, we have to lead a very healthy, smartly organized and a careful daily routine to survive this.

So, let's start with the strategies (or ideas): 

1. Leading a healthy life: This means, we need to lead a daily routine which keeps our physical and mental health strong. For physical health, do eat food with high nutrients, proteins and less fat & lipids. Try to avoid junk food at this time and eat a lot of fruits, veggies and protein sources (according to your food preferences: veg/non -veg). Do eat your meals timely and properly. Try not to skip any meals. Food is essential to build immunity and we need to build our immunity in this critical time.

2. Incorporating mindfulness in our daily routine: This means, to dedicate a small amount of time for ourselves. Mindfulness practices are very effective and have been proved to be a key contributor in wholistic growth of health. Practicing Yoga, Meditation is very helpful. But if you're a very busy person or not able to devote much time for these you can try this easily, what I'm gonna explain. Usually, we're very busy in our daily routines and our mind is appointed to do so many tasks. As soon as, we get up there's a to-do-list comes in front of our eyes and we immediately start working on it one after another. In my opinion, don't rush and just take a moment. Yes you have a long list for the day but first try this to calm your mind. If you take tea/coffee in the morning (if you don't, you can do this exercise with water also) take small sips of that tea/coffee and slowly let it flow inside. Do not just gulp the tea/coffee and finish it up. Take at least 8-10 mins to finish a cup of tea/coffee. Pay attention to it, how are you swallowing it, take your time and slowly finish the cup. Do not think of your office works, deadlines or other things just be in the moment and practice the exercise. I know it's difficult, I took almost a month or more to master it. But it really gives some calmness to your mind, it's actually new age meditation you can say. When your mind is calm and composed it's easier to handle stress and anxiety.

3. Having some time off the screen: Make a schedule for the day, and do incorporate some time to keep your screen off your eyes. I know, WFH is going on for almost a year and we're literally hooked to our laptops and mobiles. But limiting screen time can really help us to take mind a break and rejuvenate. 

4. Pick up a hobby: I know it sounds a little absurd, that we have a lot on our plate now. But, having a hobby is not a bad idea. Pick up a hobby or restart if you already had one. It can be anything, like reading books (can be fiction, non-fiction or just something interesting) art, singing, playing an instrument, listening to music, cooking and learning a new cuisine or just making your favorite food, learning to make different types of tea or coffee, gaining knowledge about various things in this world, just pick up anything you like. Invest at least half an hour of your day into it and see the change. hobbies are real stress busters and helps to refresh ourselves.

5. Talking to closed ones: Your closed one can be your friend, immediate family, extended family, you spouse or partner, literally anyone. Connect with people, not over social media but in real life. Talk to them, share about days, ask about their lives, connect with human beings in real and you don't have to meet them in person but a phone call or video call can do the job.

6. The power of positive emotions: Positive emotions are the natural immunity boosters and stress busters. According to Positive Psychology, some of the positive emotions are: Love, Hope, Joy, Gratitude, Interest etc. Positive emotions have an immense power to help you cope with the stressors. Trust me, 'Hope' is a strong positive emotion which can enhance our physical immunity and keep ourselves strong. Gratitude keeps us going in life and we all need Love. 

7. Taking time off the COVID-19 news: Take some time off and do not be glued to the news which spreads panic regarding the situation. The time is scary and challenging, we all know that. What we can do is to take proper precautions, wear masks and not step out of our homes. 

8. Check with authentic sources: Do not believe anything or everything, just because you heard it somewhere or it came on your WhatsApp or other social medias. Always check with authentic sources like WHO & Indian Medical Association or your family/known doctors. Use your social media handles to spread awareness and not panic, also use it for spreading news about leads on hospital beds, oxygen and other necessities.

9. Sleep: Sleep is the key to a healthy life. An adult needs to sleep 6-8 hours in a day. Maintain a sleep routine regularly. Even if you have a lot of work to finish try to sleep at least 6 hours. Our brain needs some amount of time to rest and process. Sleep also builds immunity and helps us fight with the stressors around us.

10. Physical activity: Doing some exercises and physical activities boosts our physical and mental health. We all know the effectiveness of it on our physical health, but normally we're not aware about effectiveness on mental health. When we do physical activities, the neurotransmitters of our brain gets excited and our is all pumped up, which in a way makes us energetic, happy and excited. This helps us to cope with the stressors and not get overwhelmed by negative emotions. 

Last but not the least, Putting small efforts to keep ourselves mentally healthy can make a good difference, so that the situational stress doesn’t take us over. Help each other and yourself to keep a healthy mind. Try doing activities inside the house only, which gives you some happiness and refreshes your days. Engage with your family members, children and pets. Have conversations (keep the pandemic out of it), play fun games together, have meals together and many other things what you all love to do together.

Let’s acknowledge every small effort we’re putting towards a healthy life.

This too shall pass..

I hope this was helpful and if you need any more assistance you can DM me (details given in one of the pages)

Stay Safe & Take Care

~ Angira Gupta.