By: Sarah Woodruff
During this pandemic, it can become easy to feel like things are out of control. The switch to online classes and the stay at home orders are just a couple of the things we cannot control. It is natural to feel the need to control something when everything around you seems out of control. But what can we control in these uncertain times? When things are out of control, one of the best things we can do is focus on what we can control in our own little worlds. Here are a few ideas:
- Clean up an area of your living space or complete a project you have been putting off
- Come up with a plan on how you will spend your day and make sure to include time for self-care
- Look for opportunities, maybe it is time to pick up a hobby you once loved again
- Put a limit on how much mental space, focus, and energy that you allow COVID-19 to hold
- Practice small gestures of kindness for others and yourself while practicing social distancing
- Work on broadening your perspective – it can victimize you or empower you. Once you realize that you have a choice of how to perceive and respond to challenges, you can start to focus your mind more on what is possible and build upon it.
The fact is, we as humans have always needed other humans to survive. This situation is no different now, even though we are practicing social distancing. We all need to work together to solve our problems, both big and small. We have the choice to either accept things or problem solve depending on the situation. We can either react to the pandemic with fear, or we can respond with kindness both to ourselves and others. How we respond to the situation, ourselves, and others is where our control lies.
It’s important to recognize that you are doing many productive things in your life while possibly feeling the gamut of emotions such as fear and distress. Work on accepting yourself, your current situation, and your life without judgement or blame. We don’t have a clear path right now on what the future holds, and actually, we never do. We can all find comfort in taking things one day at a time, reaching out to those we hold dear via electronic means, focusing on the things we can control, and most of all be compassionate with yourself. We are all doing the best that we can in a difficult situation.