Here are six steps for staying well during times of prolonged isolation and disturbance:
1. Keep a Routine
- It is critical to keep your daily life predictable to the extent you can
- If you’re working remotely, stick to a schedule
- If work is on pause, create a new daily schedule for yourself and stick to it
- Consider one 2-3 hour block of focused activity in the morning and another in the afternoon
- Start a project you’ve been wanting to do but haven’t had time
- Watch the DHWC webpage for upcoming ideas about what others are doing
2. Take Care of Your Body
- Sleep well and stick to a regular bedtime
- Enjoy the luxury of waking up without an alarm
- Don’t linger in bed once you’re awake—get going
- Eat healthy food—Eating a balanced meal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner will make you less tempted to stress-binge
- Exercise daily and take advantage of having more time for it
- Set new fitness goals for yourself
- Walk, run, or bike while maintaining social distancing
- Take one of the many guided exercises available online
3. Nurture Your Connections
- This is the time to connect even more than ever
- If you live alone, consider building daily check-in routines that keep you connected
- If you live with others, remember to lift them up emotionally
- Consider doing things together that you all enjoy
- Walk away from conflicts at this time
- Connect remotely often with people you’re close to outside of the house
4. Find Purpose
- We’re in a time of prolonged pause from activities that give our lives purpose
- Remember this is temporary
- What can you do during this time to create purpose for yourself?
5. Take Care of Your Emotions: Seek Out Joy
- We have so much more control over our emotions than we think
- Find ways to redirect your attention to what brings you happiness
- Try this what-went-well-today exercise
- Seek out playful activities—music, dance, and games
6. Take Care of Your Emotions: Keep Your Worry in Check
- Anxiety is our mind’s way of getting us to pay attention to threat so we can problem solve
- When used for problem-solving, anxiety is our friend
- It’s not working right when we just get wound up without solution
- The U.S. Department of Defense decided to build soldiers’ resiliency by teaching them to "decatastrophize"
- You may want to learn this powerful technique