The global coronavirus pandemic and the imposed lockdown have impacted all aspects of our lives. We were forced to completely change our daily habits, regular activities and to reduce all contact. All these abrupt changes affect both our mental and physical health. In these moments of global crisis, it’s so easy to lose motivation and will for living. Also, starting to feel anxious, sad and depressed is quite normal. However, we shouldn’t let this interfere with our life, and we should take matters into our hands. First, you should change your way of thinking. Instead of thinking that you’re stuck inside, you should be thinking that you now finally have the time to focus on your home and yourself. For some people that’s meditation, and for others, yoga – there are so many ways yoga can improve our mental health, while for some it’s reading, cooking and spending time with children.
1.  Try to maintain your regular daily routine
Lockdown indeed imposes certain rules and limitations when it comes to where we can go and when. However, that doesn’t mean that we can’t maintain a somewhat regular daily routine. So, you’d better do what you always do: get up on time, get ready, have breakfast and a coffee and start working – the usual things in the way you do them. Remember to have some breaks and get up from time to time to stretch a bit. It’s more demanding to keep your regular daily routine in motion, as when we’re at home, it’s so easy to become lazy, lethargic and procrastinate. It is certainly not advisable, as when you have more free, unproductive time, negative thoughts are more likely to get into your head. So, for starters, the crucial way for fighting depression is to maintain a regular daily routine.
2.  Get active
The next thing you can do is to get active. There are numerous ways to get energetic during a pandemic. Taught by recent unpleasant happenings in supermarkets, such as the queues and the lack of certain products, many people have decided to start their garden and grow their fresh produce. It is surely a good idea, as it can be beneficial for you and your family in several ways. For starters, it’s a practical way of using your time because you’re doing something productive, which is outside. And secondly, the results are fresh and healthy fruits and veggies that you can enjoy. Nowadays, growing produce by hydroponic tower garden is quite a popular, accessible and easy way to fresh fruits and vegetables on our tables.
3.  Do some exercises
Doing some physical exercises and staying fit is quintessential in lockdown. Even though we’re limited, and perhaps gyms aren’t working, so we can’t go through our regular routines, there are other ways we can stay fit. If there’s a place you can go outside to jog or ride a bike, use it definitely – it can be a park or a riverbank. You can also work out inside with some simple equipment such as a yoga mat and a set of dumbbells.
4.  Keep your social connections alive
Yes, they advise us to reduce our contacts and keep a social distance, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t keep our social connections alive. We can, but in some other ways, through social networking sites and all kinds of apps. It’s crucial to be in touch with our friends and family, as we’re social beings and cutting ourselves off can be devastating for our health. Good and healthy relationships have the power to boost our mood and to make us feel positive. That is what keeps us going.
5.  Improve yourself
Being in lockdown is a perfect way to work on ourselves. Also, it is good to learn some new skills or to enjoy some hobby. Now is the time to do whatever you’ve always wanted to, but never had the time for. It can be some class online, cooking, painting, or making something. You should channel your time to doing something creative and meaningful – it will keep you feeling positive.
6.  Log off from time to time
In the period of pandemics and lockdown, we’re overwhelmed by all kinds of news – some truthful, some overdramatic and exaggerated, whereas some false. You should take a break from the news from time to time and log off social media for a while. It will help your brain relax.
Living a somewhat normal life during a global pandemic is not an easy thing to do, but being aware of this is the first step. The next step is taking advantage of it and using it to our benefit.
