I think it would be fair to say that it feels like the world has gone a little mad over the past week or so. The World Health Organization declared Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak a pandemic and governments and organizations including Worley have been responding accordingly.
Back in February Singapore felt a little crazy when the government raised their Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (DORSCON) to orange. At the time we had the highest number of cases outside mainland China. Singapore residents responded by panic buying hand sanitizer, soap, basic foods like rice and noodles and toilet paper. After three days the government told everyone to calm down because there plenty of everything for everyone, and the good thing about Singapore is everyone listened and calmed down. So much to love about the little red dot!
Singapore residents like me have been watching in fascination from the sidelines as other parts of the world have progressively gone through the same panic buying process with a “been there done that” kind of mentality, though the panic and anxiety levels are rising as the numbers of people infected and dying from COVID-19 rises. Talking to others it seems like many of us are feeling the same. While the COVID-19 virus has been a problem in China since early January it’s only in the last couple of weeks that many people, including me, have been feeling tired, anxious and upset with the potential knock-on effects.
So while I am washing my hands more frequently and carrying hand sanitizer wherever I go, late last week I made some decisions to preserve and manage my mental health. Here are some things I have found helped.
1. I have backed off social media
While generally social media is great for helping us feel connected and keeping up to date with friends and family, I have realized that currently nearly every post on Facebook and LinkedIn is about COVID-19. While there are some funny memes going around many of the posts are driven by people feeling anxious and scared, which makes me feel anxious and scared.
Also everyone on social media thinks they are an expert or feel the necessity to express their opinion on everything incuding the current situation.
For my own mental sanity and safety, I have decided to limit my time on social media.
2. I am limiting myself from News sites This is a bit like social media. Nearly every article or news story online or on TV is about COVID-19 and it’s all too much. There are now two places I try to limit myself to. The first are the twice daily whatsapp messages from the Singapore government which simply and clearly state what’s going on, and any changes to government decisions about travel restrictions and so on. The other site I visit and which I (probably insensitively) call the Coronavirus leaderboard which provides a visual update of how each Country is tracking.
3. I am keeping my exercise up
Since the start of the year I have been training to do a big triathlon in Vietnam. It would be the longest I have ever done and it’s a massive personal goal for me. Because I’m not athletic at all, the swimming, running and cycling training is tough.
Last week (during the height of me feeling that the world is going to end) I just felt like I couldn’t do the training anymore. It was all too hard. I gave up and missed four training sessions. I gave up because I wasn’t feeling great with all the worry about COVID-19. I gave up because even though my race hasn’t been cancelled yet, it will be. I gave up because I was at the point of hating running training. I gave up because I felt relieved to not have to do the race. And I gave up and let go of all the pressure I had been putting on myself.
But then what happened? I realized that my back was hurting from doing no exercise. I realized that I missed the good feeling you get from being outside in the warmth and the sunshine and moving your body. And I missed the social aspect of exercise (even though we are supposed to be practicing social distancing).
So Monday I got out of bed and went for a bike ride with my husband Arran. Today I got out of bed and went to a swim squad session. And my head and my anxiety about what’s happening in the world is not as bad.
4. I am reading real books
What are real books you say?
I used to read books on my iPad but then got myself into a habit of hopping into bed at night and ending up down a YouTube rabbit hole watching senseless videos that have no educational or even good entertainment value. We all know that blue light produced by iPads and other devices can cause eye damage and reduces our chances of sleeping but despite this I would sometimes spend far too much time consuming mindless content.
The stupid thing about this is I love reading, and growing up I would always read a book before bed. So enough with the iPad. I’m not even reading books on my iPad. I’ve gone old school and am reading two real books at the moment. There is something quite calming, satisfying and nostalgic about interacting with something that’s not electronic.
The fiction book I'm reading is the latest release from Marian Keyes called Grown Ups. It’s nice to be ensconced in the goings on of an Irish family far removed from my day-to-day life. The non-fiction book is Strive by Dr Adam Fraser. I feel like I really need to read this book at the moment. It’s about how striving towards a goal is important to achieving fulfilment and performance but that it takes struggle. My triathlon training is a BIG struggle.
5. Working out what I can control
I’m sure many of us reading this post have been through downturns in their industries or in the wider economy. I’m sure we all know what this could mean when organizations start to struggle. I’m sure many of us are feeling anxious and scared. The trick is to work out what you have control over and what you don’t. Then you can work out your response to the things you can’t control. Because your response is what you can control. Get it?
So being forced to work from home may be out of your control but how you organize your home workspace, how you have breaks and how your organize the day is in your control.
6. Cuddling up
Social distancing is really important to flatten the curve and is something we should all try to do by staying home as much as possible. Many of us stay at home with other people – kids, husbands, wives, grandparents, flat-mates, visitors and also pets. It’s likely that if someone gets the virus in your household many others in the same household also will.
When my kids were little and at childcare 5 days a week Arran and I would get every bug they bought home with them and usually 5 times worse. I suspect COVID-19 will be no different. So while we are being encouraged to not shake hands or hug people out in public (apparently elbow touching is the go) I’m going to ramp up the cuddling of the people in my house. Husband, kids and pets. According to this article cuddling strengthens immunity so it’s actually protecting us!
Would love to hear about the things you are doing differently to protect your mental health.