Since the COVID 19 has been declared a Pandemic in the month of March, educational institutions, offices, shops have all been closed for almost a month now. The increasing number of cases day by day has been adding fuel to the fire and while we stay home, a lot of uncertainty prevails in students who were appearing for their class 10 & 12 boards, final semesters students in their bachelors, masters, M.Phil, etc.
Not only students, working professionals, people who are self-employed, etc. are all facing uncertainty in terms of the degree, financial condition, and the fear of contamination. As humans, it is very natural to worry during these times. But emphasizing too much about the uncertainty can lead to various problems not only health-wise but can impact our mental health and sleep as well.
The best advice during these times is to be mindful of the current situation and be aware of what we are feeling and thinking as we can let them flow naturally and cannot control the situation outside to make things better. We as humans we are inclined to towards thinking that we are only facing difficulty in our lives but the current situation is a danger for everyone. For the students who are feeling that their future is at stake, it is to be taken into consideration that the government and the authorities of educational institutions are taking every step possible so that the students don’t have to suffer in their education.
Since we are all under lockdown and having difficulty in managing the time and feel boredom we can follow a few tips and manage the time very well.
These pointers are as follows-
- In order to make a proper schedule and make full utilization of our day it very important for us to be aware of the hours where we are active and when we feel lethargic.
- Refrain from watching the news for long hours, too much exposure to the same news might trigger anxiety, stress, and feeling of uncertainty might increase. It is advised to stick a limited viewing time for news.
- Since there have a lot of complaints from people that they have difficulty sleeping early, it is advised to maintain proper sleep hygiene, avoiding afternoon naps, and waking up early so that we can sleep on time.
- Cutting down the caffeine and nicotine intake as it can trigger stress and might cause difficulty in sleep.
- Sense of boredom also prevails when we binge-watch movies or series and finish the entire season within a few hours. A movie in a day or 2 episode of a series is an ideal way to go forward and making room for other activities is beneficial.
- Practicing breathing and mindfulness activities. Taking a few minutes of our time to introspect every day.
- Working on our communication and expressing our thoughts, feelings by writing it down or talking about it to friends or family.
- Taking the help of activities like drawing, painting, writing, reading, cooking is good way of improving ourselves and managing our time.
- Lastly, we all need a little bit of physical exercise, a 30 minutes high intensity work out can be a stress buster and can help us deal with our emotions and uncertainty. Exercise will also help us maintain our physical health.
- Since we have a lot of time we can think and contemplate a lot about our past incidents. It is advised that we should put much importance on things which might cause discomfort and only channel our energy on things which can help us in growing and learning new things.
