Mental Health, Outdoors, & COVID-19

While it may feel like you’re hiding out from the apocalypse, in reality, no matter what happens, we’re not all going to die. Take a deep breath, follow the advice of public health officials, keep calm and give yourself some credit.

While it doesn’t always seem like it, what you’re doing is participating in the biggest mass mobilization of human cooperation and good will of any of our lifetimes. In the vast majority of cases, we’re collectively deciding to take a significant hit to prevent a crisis that wouldn’t be that bad for most of us, but would be terrible for a few of us. The reason millions of vulnerable people around the world will survive the next few months is because billions of the rest of us are doing what we can to prevent disease spread and keep society moving at the same time. I hope you can take pride in being a part of it. 

Having said that, now let’s acknowledge that for a lot of us life SUUUUUUUCKS right now. Most of us are sitting at home quietly stewing away wondering how long this all will last and how much we can take of this. I’m a crisis mental health worker - I know for lots of people this goes beyond a simple annoyance. For some, breaks in routine, increases in stress, and too much time alone with our uncertainties all adds up to a genuine crisis beyond what the disease itself hath wrought. 

That’s why this week we wanted to slip out of our adventure cardigans and into our health professional slippers to take a quick second and remind folks of the kinds of things you can do to keep yourself sane in the midst of self-isolation and uncertainty.

 In the short term, none of us need that much to survive - food, water, shelter, safety, warmth. That’s about it. But to hold it together in the long term, we all need the kind of things that we talked about in the last chapter of The Dirtbag’s Guide to Life - purpose, connection, a sense of your story, and a sense of transcendence.

All of that might sound kind of woo woo in a situation like this, but the point is (and you’ve probably already realized this yourself) you can’t just sit there all day. It’ll drive you bonkers and bring out the worst in you. Which is why we wanted to encourage you in the midst of this to do the types of things that will keep you sane while you’re self-isolating:

1. Take a minute to think about something you can do every day to help in a way that feels fulfilling. Whether that means using your professional skills in a new way to assist with the crisis, providing some material support for someone who’s out of a job, helping get food to people who are shut in, homeschooling your kids, or donating blood. Our context has changed for a bit, so it might take a bit to figure out what this means, but the world still needs your contributions. 
   
2. Take the opportunity to reach out every day. Some of you all are social media butterflies and keeping connections alive is no big deal. But some of us are terrible at texting and returning calls at baseline, and hate the mess that is social media. But now is the time to use electronic tools to their full potential. Don’t (just) argue about politics, get in touch with those people you like who you haven’t heard from in awhile.
   
3. Think about how all of this fits in to the bigger picture. Think about what positive changes this period of life might bring - what strengths you’re realizing you have that you might not have before, what things it’s helping you realize you value, and how it’s providing you perspective on what you need to be satisfied with life.
   
4. Find ways to make progress on goals that you care about. One of the biggest challenges for a lot of people right now is losing the sense that they’re doing something productive. But you can also take the opportunity to set some new pushup goals, or enroll in an intensive online course, plan a big adventure, get a new job certification, or break some time records on that neglected treadmill. Lock down is temporary - use the time to prepare yourself for what’s going to come after.
   

And, of course, stay active, and keep doing fun stuff, like listening to this week’s podcast.

Air Fives! (No touching!)

Some helpful links: 

1: Mental Health America’s resource links on managing during this pandemic: https://mhanational.org/covid19 

2: The phone numbers are NZ specific but New Zealand has put out some of the most helpful online resources for coping with Covid-19 related stress we’ve come across: https://www.mentalhealth.org.nz/get-help/covid-19/

3: For teens, from Unicef: https://www.unicef.org/coronavirus/how-teenagers-can-protect-their-mental-health-during-coronavirus-covid-19

4: Helping Children and Teens Cope with Anxiety about Covid-19 https://pulse.seattlechildrens.org/helping-children-and-teens-cope-with-anxiety-covid-19/