How to deal with the COVID19 emotional challenges

Hope you and your family are safe and doing well.

These past few weeks have been challenging both in terms of adjusting to a new work environment with spouses working from home & kids need to be homeschooled. Also for some people, family members are far away and dealing with the fear of what if.

It all started with denial moving to fear & then acceptance quite quickly for me. The first week I, much like anyone else was ok using public transport and then came the fear that woke me up in the middle of the night thinking of family far away in India and that most of them are older people who gave me so much love while I was growing up.

Now that we are in the third week of lock-down in Canada, I seem to have a plan in place for dealing with the new normal. I have learnt overnight how to homeschool a 4-year-old while running my business. It’s funny how quickly my clients got used to MickeyMouse clubhouse running in the background. My husband knows that if he wants to use the dining room as an office, there are no meals to eat 🙂 because we have an open-plan house.

“We’re all in this together but have to find our solutions.” Each one of us, no matter which country we live in, what language we speak, which religion we follow, whether we believe in God or not: We’re facing the same VIRUS. This makes me feel we’re connected more than we think we are.

A few things that are helping me at this time are:

1) Leave things to a higher source: Knowing that my parents are far away & I cannot reach them anytime soon I have decided to have faith that God is keeping them safe.

2) Be mindful of what content you consume: I realized that when I was watching the numbers each day, I was anxious & couldn’t get anything done. I consciously chose not to watch the news that told me the death toll or how the hospitals are crashing down. I decided to only take in information that will allow me to make informed choices & keep myself and my family safe.

3) Tenacity to be more patient: Suddenly we all have realized that we can be more patient with each other. Clients, colleagues and bosses understand that there are kids at home & we don’t live in soundproof studios.

4) Find a good feeling thought: Watch something that makes you laugh. Think about the time you will be outdoors. The vision of a picnic near the lake makes me feel uplifted. Right now, the best thing we can do for the world is to stay indoors & be as stable as possible. I can take better care of myself & my family when I am relaxed.

5) Stay Connected to your higher self: This may mean different things to different people. Pray, meditate, be thankful for what you have. All of it helps!

6) Channel your energy into something positive: Last but not the least, work on something you wanted to for a long time. Pick up the project that dream project that you kept postponing for lack of time. Or take up a new hobby like painting, reading, cooking etc. My best friend who was mostly seen at work even on weekends is at home. She cleaned up her paperwork & threw away old bills from 2016. Yes! 2016, she had no time before this. Write a blog that you wanted to, or edit your resume. One of my clients started his dream project & has set a deadline for it. Just do something positive each day.

Make sure you’re following the social distancing guidelines laid out in your respective countries & taking all safety measures to keep yourself and others safe. If you have some more ideas, please leave a comment below as is may help someone.

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