When you have done all you can possibly do to keep yourself and your family safe during this coronavirus pandemic,
worrying about it solves nothing. You and I both know this. So how do we step out of fear from obvious threats that surround us?
Here are some mental health tools that work 100 percent of the time.
They will not work if you mentally argue against them. In this post I am asking you to put aside any negative thoughts such as, “This doesn’t (can’t, won’t) work,” and “I’ve tried this before,” and “My situation is different,” and “I have been diagnosed with depression (trauma, Autism, any other mental health label).” As long as we hang our hat on our special reason for why we are the way we are, we seldom seek to apply the mental health tools that alleviate stress, anxiety, panic and panic attacks.
Stop hanging on to the reason you are the way you are. Instead, cling to the time-tested words that have helped so many people rise above the crippling drama that can shut you down.
Let me repeat that these mental health tools work 100 percent of the time. Try them out for 21 days. It takes 21 days to change a habit. It is sad to see in today’s society how we more readily grab onto labels of dysfunction as opposed to labels that help us move out of dysfunction. It does help to have a starting point, as long as that starting point does not become the reason you do not decide to move forward to improve your mental health. Yes, we have to deal with the mental health challenges, just know they are not insurmountable.
MENTALLY
“Remember, only your beliefs about yourself can affect the way you feel … only your thoughts can affect your emotions.” Dr. Dolores Seymour
People who did not listen to the labels that were put on them include Walt Disney and Albert Einstein. Disney was told by a newspaper owner to pursue a line of work other than drawing because he didn’t have any creative ideas. Einstein’s schoolmaster told him he would never amount to much. Neither one of them stopped their dreams because of labels that were imposed upon them. They heard the labels with all their limitations, and went ahead to create their own life.
If you have a diagnosis or label others or you give yourself, know that you are not limited mentally, physically or spiritually by these labels. They are not a justification for the way you are. What you have is a unique set of circumstances that you work with, not that define you, even if you are in a wheelchair.
It helps to realize that you decide for yourself what is right or wrong. Others can tell you what is right or wrong for them, but they cannot tell you what is right or wrong for you because they are not in your shoes. It all depends on your perspective to determine what is right or wrong.
“The choice is yours. Today, every day, can be an adventure as you turn crises into opportunities.” Dr. Dolores Seymour
Change your daily goals based on today’s circumstances. Perhaps you had set goals to diet, exercise, go to work, plant a garden, do project with the kids, and paint the house last month. This month you are faced with a global pandemic, social distancing and quarantine and not knowing whether or not to go out in public as businesses open and your inner self is revolting from staying inside. What do you do?
Mental health is important no matter which course of action you take, stay inside or go outside. Whatever you decide, even if it is to stay inside because you just learned that children do in fact get COVID-19, but show it with different symptoms, you still come to ground point zero. How are you going to mentally handle this? It was not in your original plan.
Change is the only constant in life. Go with the flow. Fighting change is a no win battle, like attempting to stop an avalanche careening down a mountain while valiantly using a snowboard to resist it. Stop fighting change and figure out the best way for you to snowboard down that mountain. Staying stuck will immobilize you.
Try this plan instead:
1. Stop all negative thoughts that come into your mind. Stop the blame. Stop the guilt. Any time a negative or anxious thought comes to mind say CANCEL.
2. Know your limitations and work with them. If you have triggers that send you spiraling out of control, learn to recognize them. The sooner you see them manifesting in your day, the better you will be able to deal with them. You are in control of you, not your limitations. You are in control of your feelings and emotions, no matter how strong and scary they feel. Your feelings and emotions are not in control of you. You are very powerful. Whatever you tell yourself, you will be. When you learn to validate and know yourself better, you will be able to decide how you want to feel. The choice is yours. Feelings, emotions and moods follow thoughts ALWAYS. It is never the other way around.
IF YOU DO NOT LIKE HOW YOU ARE FEELING, CHANGE HOW YOU ARE THINKING.
3. Say a positive statement, also known as a mantra, that will help you stay focused on your new mental health plan. This works, unless you use your free will not do do it. Say this positive statement often throughout the day, on the hour each hour, or use triggers like, each time you touch a door knob. Say this simple statement of affirmation in the positive, such as, “I am a positive person,” not “I am not a negative person.” Say this mantra even if it is not how you are feeling. If you concentrate on how you are feeling (what I call belly-button gazing), you will keep feeling how you are feeling. Feelings are not right or wrong, they just are. But only focusing on how you are feeling at the moment is like walking round with your feet stuck in buckets of cement, expecting to magically feel better. Drop the negativity. Choose a mantra of how you WANT to feel. Start the statement with the words “I am …”
Positive mantras to choose from if you can’t think of any are:
- I am happy
- I am content
- I am at peace
- I am whole
- I am able to do this
- I am confident
- I am in control of me
- I am in control of my thoughts
PHYSICAL
You and I have choices and decisions to make. If you and I do not make our own choices, others will fill in the void and make them for us. Do you want to be more fully in control of you? You can be, no matter your past history. Your previous history is not your destiny.
It is interesting to know that any positive changes you decide to make in your life do not have to be done with over-the-top drama. You can peacefully make the changes you wish to make. Once you decide to act rather than to react to life, peace will flood your life, even in the midst of this pandemic and other people’s drama. You become the captain of your life ship. You no longer are the shipmate of ship-wrecked emotions and meltdowns.
Sometimes, many people around you will not know exactly how to respond to the new you. People do not like change, most like the status quo. You might find people trying to put you back into the box you just got yourself out of. Others are not in charge of you. This also does not have to be confrontational. You do not need to match their emotion, frustration nor outrage. You can remain emotionally level and simply be the new you.
Decide on how you wish to improve your physical health, even if it is just to go for a walk or a less populated park, go for a ride in the car for a sight-seeing adventure, or do stretches inside your living room.
Maybe you are an introvert and would like to improve your diet or physical health independently. There’s nothing wrong with that. Validate where you are, set goals, improve your oxygen intake and go at your own pace. Setting goals for each day and week will get you to where you want to be. Go at your own pace.
Your body is supported by the tripod of life, mind, body, spirit. You need all three to be healthy for a whole and productive life. Without one of these healthy legs to support you, you fall down. Make sure to take good care of each one of them.
SPIRITUALLY
You and I each have our own walk of faith and beliefs that have gotten us this far in life. We need faith to feed
our soul. People who live life without attention to their spirit/soul will gravitate to the materialistic and consumeristic things in life in a misguided attempt to fill the void in life that only God can fill. Some of us have deep spiritual lives. God is the only one that can fill this part of us. We can have interests in painting, music, sports, friends, but all of these interests, as fulfilling as they are, are no match for how God can fill a soul who is ready to embark on that spiritual journey.
Find a good book on prayer and meditation. At this time of social distancing, online prayer meetings and social gatherings for meditations or spiritual community outreach are recommended.
As good as social settings are for friendship, individual prayer feeds the soul the best. After all, it is an individual journey we are all taking here on earth. We are born alone, thanks to the grace of God. In the end of our life, we go back to God. Now is the time to foster growth in getting to know the Creator of all love, faith and hope. If there ever was a time for faith hope and love, it is now.
All of these mental health tools are drugless therapies. You can do this.
Because You Deserve To Feel Better