Managing Anxiety

Naturally, everyone’s anxiety is pretty high at the moment. Many people are working from home and self-isolating, and everyone is (or should be, lol) social distancing. It doesn’t matter if you’re anxious about catching the virus yourself or passing it on to others, the anxiety is real and intense. We have been gathering anxiety management tips to pass on to our patients at work (and to use for ourselves), so I thought I would share some here.

Remember – you cannot control what is happening in the world, but you can control how you respond to it.

1. Self-care. Regularly do things which make you feel comfortable and relaxed e.g. take a bath, cook or bake, watch a movie, read a book.
2. Maintain a routine. Although you might be at home all day, try to do similar things you do on an average day. As tempting as it is, try to avoid staying in your PJs all day.
3. Use social media with caution. Social distancing can be incredibly challenging, leaving you feeling isolated and lonely. Use the wonders of technology to keep in touch with friends and family, but try to limit how often you are using it, as it can easily escalate your anxiety (especially with the constant media coverage).
4. Give yourself time and space. This is especially true if you live with others and you are all working from home. Also, allow yourself time and space to worry – this is a scary time for everyone and it is okay to feel anxious, but make sure you don’t give yourself too long for this!
5. Exercise. YouTube has a wonderful range of home workouts and yoga routines. Go outside (once) for that form of exercise (no more than once, listen to Boris). Join that 9am PE lesson (The Body Coach TV).
6. Seek support when you need it. This is so important, especially if you already struggle with your mental health. Continue to reach out to friends, family and professionals and look after yourself.
7. Understand your mindset and try to challenge the anxious thoughts you are having. You’re not stuck at home, you are safe. Following advice of self-isolation, social distancing and washing your hands, you are reducing your chances of catching or spreading the virus.
   

“Our anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strengths” – C. H. Spurgeon.

 

The Self-Isolation Life

I thought I would add to the plethora of posts about the craziness that is currently going on with COVID-19, and write a little about how self-isolation is going for me. For some context – we are on a temporary rota at work so we work one week from home then the other we are based in the clinic.

I made the decision to not go home to London to stay with my family, mainly because I am still going in to work and even though I don’t have symptoms, I’m incredibly worried I have the virus and might pass it on to my parents and brother. I have only really been self-isolating for a week but as I’m sure is the same for others, it feels like months. Every now and again, living alone, I do feel cut off and lonely and it has really seemed to intensify over the last couple of days which I guess was to be expected. FaceTime is great, but really not the same.

Talking of technology, I’ve been doing some telephone sessions with patients and I hate it. It’s so hard. It’s hard to not be able to see someone’s body language while they are talking, hard to not be there when they are talking about something really difficult, hard to use therapeutic silence without feeling awkward and so hard to know I am not giving them the service they deserve. It has made me value physical presence in my work though, so there’s a silver lining I guess. I was feeling really rubbish about it, but a parent of one of my patients told me that it was helpful for her to be able to talk on the phone to me and that it was better than their child not getting any help whatsoever. It’s amazing how much positive feedback can change your perspective.

To be honest, part of me just wants the comfort of being at home with my family, even if I am just spending time in my bedroom, which I think is what this all comes down to – comfort. This is such a surreal situation and everyone is trying to hold on to any amount of normality, routine and comfort they can find to make it easier. I’m trying to keep my routine, both on work days and weekends (which actually is pretty terrible even without the self-isolation lol). I don’t particularly struggle with a lack of motivation when it comes to work but when it comes to all the self-care bits I know make me feel good (yoga, reading books, writing), I’m finding it tough to get off my couch and away from Netflix. I’m trying though, and I guess that is all anyone can do at a time like this.

Please look after yourselves, it’s okay to feel anxious and hopefully we will get through it together.

“Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other” – John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men.

P.S. The struggle to find loo roll and pasta is real.