20 MORE Quick COVID Anxiety Tips
COVID Anxiety Tip #21: See Gifts Wrapped in Dirty Paper
The virus is the dirty paper. Inside are so many good things that can come from the changes we are facing. A bigger perspective helps ease the anxiety of all that uncertainty. Gratitude is scientifically proven to reduce stress and anxiety. I challenge you right now to name 5 actual or possible gifts inside this dirty paper of pandemic.
COVID Anxiety Tip #22: Be of Service
It could very well help you more than the other person. Giving and helping create good brain chemicals that counteract stress chemicals that are building up over the prolonged duress of quarantine. Rake your neighbor’s yard, send a greeting card, give toilet paper, make phone calls, ask someone what help they could use.
Whatever it is, being of service is probably the help YOU could use.
COVID Anxiety Tip #23: Develop Mental Immunity
Stress and anxiety from this pandemic affects more people that the virus itself. The Dalai Lama recommends developing mental immunity. My blog post explores the Dalai Lama’s prescription for HOW TO develop it (from his book “The Book of Joy”)
COVID Anxiety Tip #24: Essential Oils
My favorites at this time: Lavender, Bergamot, and Young Living blends: Peace & Calming, and Gentle Baby, and Valor.
COVID Anxiety Tip #25: Reel It In
Uncertainty is perhaps the biggest problem with the uncharted territory of this pandemic. When your thoughts dwell on unknown future scenarios, anxiety is sure to increase. Do your best to reel it in. Reel your thoughts back in to the NOW. The closer your thoughts are to NOW, the less uncertainty there is, and that means less anxiety.
COVID Anxiety Tip #26: Fake It Til You Make It
This is no joke. Neuroscience proves it’s an effective strategy. If you don’t genuinely feel POSITIVE and HOPEFUL, act as if you are. Imagine it… what would you think, feel, say and do? Then fake it. I bet you will feel better.
COVID Anxiety Tip #27: Choose a Thought that Feels Better
Feelings are not random even though it can seem that way. Neuroscience shows us that thoughts create feelings…thoughts create anxiety. So which thought would feel just a little bit better than the one(s) that have been causing you worry and anxiety? Learn MORE.
COVID Anxiety Tip #28: Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR)
I’m now offering my Guided PMR Meditation FREE to support everyone during this crazy time. Research proves it reduces stress and anxiety, especially physical symptoms like muscle tension and reducing heart rate, respiration rate and blood pressure. Easy and effective. Get my FREE MP3 to use online or download to any device.
COVID Anxiety Tip #29: Bergamot
Two of the most common complaints about quarantine: stress and not feeling productive. To help with both, try BERGAMOT essential oil which comes from bergamot orange trees. Studies indicate it is one of the few oils that can actually calm you down and help you focus on productive tasks at the same time.
COVID Anxiety Tip #30: Do this instead of counting sheep
Good sleep is so critical at this time to counteract the stress and anxiety that builds up during the day. If you have a problem falling asleep, or waking in the middle of the night, try THIS (weird but it really works).
COVID Anxiety Tip #31: Love Yourself Now More than Ever
As we all try to accept the extension of our Safer at Home order, YOU deserve kindness, compassion and love right now! Here are some great ways to love yourself, and make it easier to get through all this. I wrote this pre-COVID but I think it applies now more than ever. How will you love yourself today?
COVID Anxiety Tip #32: Don’t Look for Meteors
A meteor COULD come flying into earth’s atmosphere at any time and land on us. In fact, this actually has happened so we know that it COULD happen. But we don’t sit and stare out the window waiting for meteors. When big things are out of our control, the best you can do is trust in your own resilience to handle whatever comes your way – as you’ve done so beautifully dozens of times in your life before this.
COVID Anxiety Tip #33: Know that It’s NOT You
Time to check in on your emotional and mental well-being. Click HERE to find out what’s normal and how to make this next month of lockdown better than the last month.
COVID Anxiety Tip #34: Homeopathy for Better Sleep
Good sleep is one of the best ways to reduce anxiety… but it’s hard get when you’re anxious! Check out my favorite natural sleep remedy.
COVID Anxiety Tip #35: Ground Yourself
I challenge you to hug a tree for at least 30 seconds today. Notice how centering and grounding it is to get energy from trees deeply rooted in Mother Earth. It helps dissipate anxiety – always has and always will.
COVID Anxiety Tip #36: Make a Gratitude Jar
The whole family will love this and gratitude is proven to reduce stress! Cut up some small pieces of paper and every day write 1 thing you are grateful for.
Watch the gratitude build up in the jar between now and May 26.
COVID Anxiety Tip #37: Eliminate the Pain of the 2nd Arrow
There is pain from the impacts of COVID-19. It is like an arrow that has struck us hard. But are you making more pain for yourself? By having high and/or unrealistic expectations for how you “should” be handling this and then feeling bad about yourself? This is like a 2nd arrow. You cannot control the first arrow but YOU CAN control the 2nd one. Please be kind and realistic with yourself. There is pain but suffering is optional!
COVID Anxiety Tip #38: Let go of Perfection
There is no one right way to cope with the emotional challenges that a pandemic presents. It is the time to allow just about everything to be “good enough for now.” Aspiring for perfect now is likely to add more anxiety onto this already challenging situation.
COVID Anxiety Tip #39: Don’t compare your insides with others’ outsides
How we feel on the inside during this pandemic is a day-to-day mix of up and down emotions and fears. Be careful not to compare that with images of other people seemingly coping perfectly. As a counselor, I have the unique view of the “insides” of many people. What shows up on the outside is often not really what is going on inside. This pandemic is a universal experience for everyone’s insides.
COVID Anxiety Tip #40: Recall your own Proof
Prolonged lockdown and so many continued uncertainties are sure to cause your brain to be anxious and worried about the future. You can calm your brain by thinking back to specific times in your past when you persevered and overcame difficult times.
RIGHT NOW: Think of at least 3 specific times and name them in your mind. This gives proof to your brain that you can make it through whatever you’re facing now, or whatever you will face in the future. Calmer thinking will follow.