My tips for keeping mentally well in a crisis

Starting my fourth day working in the home office has brought home some memories for me of a very difficult time a few years ago. My business had ended and I was scrabbling around for odd freelance jobs, applying for new ones and generally very anxious about the future. Sometimes I got so anxious that I could only lie on the floor in a ball of worry. You most likely have found yourself bound to stay at home due to the current Coronavirus restrictions and your mental health will be under threat at this time of crisis and anxiety for everybody.

If you are struggling, here are 5 tips to help you pick yourself up again.

1. Try not to panic – take things step by step

Take things one step at at time.

Try not to get overwhelmed on the magnitude of it all, the implications of what’s happened, the likely fallout, that can paralyse you like a rabbit in the headlights. Give yourself small goals and try to achieve them. Trying to pick yourself up when you’ve been flattened is really hard but it can be done by taking small steps. Ask yourself, “what do I need to do now?” or “What do I need to do today?”. And if you do manage to do these even small things, you’ll feel better.

At my lowest, I read the serenity prayer to myself every morning, then forced myself to go for a walk (see point 3).

2. Focus on the positives

If you have a roof over your head then be thankful. You are OK today. Maybe OK this week. Or even this month. If you have food in the cupboard at the moment then that’s another positive. If you have people around you loving and supporting you then that can be priceless. At the moment, all is OK. You don’t know about next week, or next month, but that can worry about itself. If past is another country, then the future is also.

3. Try to keep mobile and excercising

Finding yourself at home all the time is tough, the walls of your rooms can seem to turn against you. It’s really important to set aside time and make yourself have a daily walk or bike ride. 40 minutes walking at a steady pace will be about 2 miles. It will keep your head clear and your body functioning, and will almost always improve your mood. Even if it’s dull and raining, walk in the rain and see the beauty in the water droplets hanging on the bushes, or trickling down the gutters. Then you can comfort yourself with a warm drink and sit down when you get back home, and you’ll feel like you’ve achieved something. Current advice is of course to not mix in any public areas, so the exercising might have to be in your front room for the time being, but it’s still very important to keep doing it.

4. Be kind to yourself

You may be beating yourself up about things that you feel you should be doing but aren’t able to, or things you though you’d achieve but haven’t done for whatever reason. Be gentle on yourself. Yes, we all need drive and focus to get us to do things, but we also need to cut ourselves some slack sometimes. I am particularly bad at relaxing and feel I should always be doing and achieving. My wife reminds me that relaxing is also doing something!

5. Be social and let others lift you.

There will be people around such as friends, family, or work colleagues who will lift you and help you get back on your feet. All you need to do is allow this to happen. I know this is hard at the moment when we are limited to contact by phone or on-line, but this makes it more crucial than ever. Humans are generally social creatures and we need the affirmation and encouragement of others to build up our confidence and self-belief.

I hope you found these points helpful and uplifting. Things may feel very insecure at the moment, but we can sail through this if we remain supportive… together we can go on to achieve great things. Take care and stay safe.