11 tips to protect mental health and wellness during COVID-19 and Elections in Guyana
 |
| Photo by Meshach Pierre |
Are you excited by the chaos of Covid and the tensions of Elections? Are you feeling the thrill of the Court battles and the daily racial posts on social media ? Are you looking forward to the COVID apocalypse?
Then this blog is not for you.
Instead, this blog is for those of us who feel that the double whammy of a still-ongoing elections crisis and a global pandemic is a bit much to deal with all at once, and being inside all the time is making us go a bit stir-crazy.
Mental health and COVID 19
The below resources provide some tips on protecting mental health during the COVID-19 outbreak:
UNICEF - How teenagers can protect their mental health during COVID 19
Lifeline Australia - Mental Health and well being during the COVID 19 outbreak
CDC (for those of you who do not think the USA is an enemy of Guyana ) Manage anxiety and stress
WHO has lots of advice, including: How to cope with stress, and how to help children cope with stress during COVID-19
We realise that Guyana is a very special and unique place so there are no resources available as to how to protect mental health with COVID 19 AND Elections. Some of us may have been socially distancing before that became a global hashtag. Staying indoors and still being connected to the news and goings-ons of the world around us can be stressful. We came up with these tips which have not been medically confirmed, but have worked for us in some way or the other.
1. Keep your routines
Routine helps us feel grounded. Maybe being at home more than before means that your routines have been broken and that can make you feel out of base and uneasy. It might require some creativity and self-discipline, but it can be possible to keep your routines in these difficult periods.
Wake up when you usually would and have your coffee and/or tea .
Remember to bathe.
Do feel free to take this as seriously as some have:
If you do not have space at home to create the environment of a minibus or other transportation to work, then create a new routine .
Take some time each morning to connect with yourself.
2. Disconnect
Disconnect from social media and other technology which are creating tension and stress in you. If you read a media post or hear a news item and you want to curse, your shoulders raise up, and you feel compelled to share it and say WTF and curse more, then take a deep breath and then decide. Is it better to share, ignore or unfollow?
Resist the urge to create fake profiles to follow the opposition.
Keep following the trustworthy media sources.
Avoid getting into arguments with people about which media sources to trust.
Check the news once or twice a day. Or not at all
Chew garlic if you want to keep others away from you. Resist the urge to spray sanitiser on any stressful people around you in the hope that they will go away. Do not sneeze on people to get them to go away.
Sing all four verses of the National Anthem instead to your favourite Bollywood or Chutney tune. In reverse order.
3. Connect
Use technology to connect with people. Check with your doctors or therapists if they will be available online or on the phone.
Be generous. Help others without expecting anything in return, well from them at least.
Do not post videos of yourself singing the National Anthem in reverse in the hope of making people laugh and happy. COVID-19 will end at some point and you might be looking for employment .
Talk to the neighbours over the fence or from your window or backstep. Maintain 6 feet at least. Do not argue with the neighbours though because shouting will mean more saliva and saliva could transmit the virus.
4. Get outside: Hug a tree, play with the leaves of a plant
Nature is proven to be good for your wellbeing. Don’t be afraid to step outside the house ever so often. Maybe look up and learn the birds in your neighbourhood. Cornell has a good app called Merlin that gives you suggestions for what birds in your local area are.
Hug a tree if you feel the urge to connect with living things and don’t want to connect with people. You might have forgotten that trees and plants are living things. Touch the leaves of plants and feel the texture. Now might be a good time to start or improve your garden.
Be careful with hairy worm or blight though.
If you do not have any trees or plants near you, then now is a good time to plant one or more than one.
5. Exercise
Keep moving, exercise. Do yoga. Check out youtube for videos which can show you some poses.
If your street is not busy, take a walk every day. Resist the urge to walk down the road wearing a white sheet in the night so that your neighbours might think is Death stalking or something like that.
Walk around downstairs or walk around the house. Roll your shoulders as you walk. Walk like the pagally people who you used to laugh at.
Your home might not be a studio or gym. So move around furniture temporarily. Make that part of the exercise routine daily. Shift furniture, sweep out the dust from underneath, exercise, relax, put back furniture.
Dance. Put on some music and dance. Of course, don’t play the music so loud that your neighbours would wish COVID 19 on you.
6. Meditation, mindfulness, breathe
Breathe deeply. Well of course not in a crowded space where people might be sneezing. There are youtube videos and online courses about meditation and mindfulness.
Mindfulness is about how you pay attention to the moment and know how you are feeling. Taking your time and slowing down. Breathing deeply as you do the tasks and get through each day.
Do not breathe the alcohol santiser.
This is especially needed if you work at GECOM and the recount is ordered, so that there can be no mistakes or so.
7. Be creative, try new things
Be creative. Try out the things you wanted to try out, but never did. Try cooking things you have not cooked before. Drawing, writing, anything. It is not the outcome, or the number of likes you will get on social media when you are done, it is the process of trying new things.
If you are feeling like taking risks, be careful. Do safe risky things.. Instead of going to a political party event wearing another party’s tee shirt, reach out instead to someone who has voted differently from you. And talk about how you are managing COVID and mental health and so.
Do not create fake social media profiles though to go and check up on ex-lovers and people who you had to let go of to protect your mental health.
8. Eat Healthily
Stress and tension make us eat more. We might be watching a lot of TV and eating more junk.
Watch the food and eat healthily. Make sure you have good nutrition. Say no to buying fast food , say no to like.. I could dead tomorrow so leh me enjoy de lil fry chicken wid fries and pepsi and KFC and Churches might get ban, so leh me enjoy now.
Cook the food you need to eat. And if you are a good cook, don’t make the food so tasty that you will over eat.
9. Seek out memes which make you laugh
Laughter brings joy to our lives. Search for memes that make you roar with laughter. And the laughter can make you feel relieved. During this corona time, feeling a sense of relief can really improve your day.
10. Monitor what is in your control
A lot of the nasty racist things have made some of us cry. But when we realised we are not in control of people’s tongue, and that we can control our interaction with friends and colleagues. The internet is a strange place, showing nastiness which is not visible in real life. The nastiness that those persons possessed is their problem. If a friend of yours chooses to express themselves like this, then it is up to you to seek them out and ask why.
But know that it is not your duty to address any nastiness if it is not good for your own mental health.
Celebrate goodness and kindness.
11. Avoid depressing art
We now have a bulk of time home and persons might seek out films or books that are tragic. Even if we are avoiding news.
Based on our individual traits, emotions from these art can mimic our real life and lead to depression. Depression can have physiological effects on our bodies. We need our bodies to be upbeat and ready to fight infections. So unless your mind is strong to avoid the psychological impact of this type of art, do not watch it.
Be well.
If you need to talk to someone contact the Suicide Prevention Hotline at
Telephone numbers (+592) 223-0001, 223-0009, 600-7896, 623-4444,
WhatsApp: +592-600-7896, 592- 623-4444
If you think a child is in need of protective intervention, call the CPA hotline at 227-0979
The contact numbers for the undermentioned NGOs and agencies and the services they offer are as follows:
Help;; Shelter
Psycho social counselling, Shelter Services for abused women their children and for women and girls who have been trafficked
(Update 26 March, 2020 - Help & Shelter has 3 new 24 hour hotline counselling numbers: 613 1758, 613 1811 & 698 2572 )
Tel 225 4731, 227 3454, 227 8353
Red Thread
Peer counselling & referral support for abused women and children
227 0909, 227 2575, 641 7326, 646 5075
Blossom Inc
Child protection support for children & families affected by sexual abuse
Emergency contact 680 6700
ChildLink Inc
Counselling for children & families experiencing any form of violence
223, 3500, 227 2023, 623 8496
United Bricklayers
Psycho social counselling and support for sexual and gender based violence, child abuse, suicide, substance abuse
696 9803, 683 0283
Comments
Post a Comment