5 things I am doing to cope with UK's second lockdown
After the sunny glorious summer we’ve had this year, we would dread the winter months even in a normal year. But everyone would agree that 2020 has been anything but normal :) In Birmingham, at least, it feels like we’ve been in lockdown forever! So to go into our ‘second’ lockdown when the dark winter days are setting in, can be especially difficult for quite a few of us.
That’s why, more than ever, our mental health is super important. Never before has it been more important to surround ourselves with positivity and joy. The oncoming weeks are difficult but I’ve decided to take the bull by its horn and do my utmost best to be my upbeat self. I’m sharing the five things that are working for me. I’m hoping this helps at least someone out there.
Taking care of my health - I have been overweight and borderline obese almost all of my adult life - thanks underactive thyroid! When the lockdown first started and they found a link between obesity and Covid…I panicked. There was this intense desire to lose weight. That, coupled with two demanding kids at home…all the housework…and no social life - meant I really wasn’t in a happy place.
Over the past few months though, I’ve spoken …and spoken some more to myself. I took years to get this weight on. I should give myself some time to get it off too - if I want a sustainable weight loss. I have calmed down since. I eat healthier now. I have an exercise plan in place. I have lost more than 10 pounds and I am hoping to keep this loss going. There’s a lot of excitement that sets in when the scales move in the right direction first thing in the morning. That sets the tone of my day.
Your goal might not be weight loss. You might be already at your ideal weight. But anything that you can do towards your health - even the smallest efforts - will, more often than not, lead to positive feelings.
2. What’s to come - We are already well into November. That means we have the festival season ahead of us and that itself is enough to spread cheer! :) So put up your tree this year - slightly earlier than usual if you have to.
My family is from India. So we are celebrating Diwali this week. Diwali is the festival of lights and the biggest festival of the year for Hindus. After Diwali is Thanksgiving. I know that it’s an American festival but Black Friday and Cyber Monday are not! :) We can all do with some retail therapy and buying gifts for Christmas.
Then rolls December where it is all about red, green and gold :) Very importantly for me, it will be winter solstice on Monday, 21 December. I mark that date in the winter because after that its just a short waiting game I tell myself. The days start getting slightly bigger each day after that and spring seems that much closer. I know that is a simplistic view of the weeks ahead - but sometimes simple really helps!
3. Find your happy project - I’ve given myself the project of clearing up my hard drives of unwanted pictures. This is really my happy place. Something I would NEVER get the time to do during ‘normal’ times. Who doesn’t like looking through old photos ? I’m transported right back to the time and feelings I felt while taking those images. When my boys were younger and times were a little simpler. Of course I love those feelings.
But along with the positive feelings comes a sense of accomplishment too. What someone would feel during spring cleaning I guess. My hard drive is 100s of MBs lighter and that’s because I have taken the time to delete what I don’t need. That's some achievement for me.
What is your happy project….your happy place? Is it baking or learning how to bake a new recipe? Is it listening to music or learning a new instrument? Could it be tending to your garden to get it ready for next year? Is it spring cleaning in November ? Preparing for Christmas? Find your happy place…see if you can make a project out of it …and hold on that happy place tight!
4. Days when I am feeling blue - No matter what we do, there are still days when we just feel down. Bleak. Unhappy. For no reason. For no fault of anyone’s. We just have ‘one of those days’.
First step is recognising that it’s happening. And when I do, I tell myself that it’s OK to feel this way. After all, that’s an unusual demand we put on ourselves to always be happy. I think anyone can get tired with that demand! :)
The next thing I do is pick up the phone to connect with either my family, my close friends or someone I haven’t spoken to in a while. I don’t message. I don’t use Whatsapp or any other myriad of ‘easy’ options available to us. I pick up the phone and actually dial a number and talk.
I am a social person. I miss that social connection. And I know if I am feeling that way…there are other people out there too who feel nice with social contact. We are all seeking that. Some people are good about dealing with it…verbalising it…taking the first step towards that contact. Some people are not. It doesn’t matter. Everyone craves it. What I can tell you from my experience is that it feels really really nice after talking to someone - about anything and everything. Nothing important. It just feels good to hear another person’s voice…to connect.
5. Feeling gratefulness for what we have - I would say I am a very grateful person. I Thank God and the Universe for what we have every single day. But never before have I felt this grateful. From this feeling of gratefulness comes the feeling of giving back. I take every opportunity I get to help. For a warm fuzzy feeling - there is no other stronger measure you can take for yourself than to help someone. Be it with time, with money or with simple acts of kindness as we go about our lives. I know when we do this, we are not really helping anyone else but first and foremost we are helping ourselves.
So those are my ‘tips’, so to say, that are helping me take care of myself mentally. If it even helps one person out there, I know this post would have served its purpose.
xoxo