7 tips from psychologist and Driven Consultant Maria Ruberto on how to survive and thrive during prolonged periods of uncertainty.
After weeks of extended lockdown, many Australians are starting to feel the impact on their mental health from prolonged anxiety, uncertainty and restrictions on daily life.
Some have been impacted even more significantly, through either ill-health or loss of a friend or loved one associated with COVID-19, or loss of work and closure of businesses and their associated financial and livelihood impacts. Healthcare and essential workers are also doing it tough, and so too their families. New Vision Psychology offers services to support anyone in need of guidance.
Psychologist and Driven Consultant Maria Ruberto sees resilience as the key to strengthening people’s coping mechanisms during these challenging times. She works with Australian-based organisation Driven, which provides global research, training and coaching in resilience.
Ms Ruberto says by building resilience and adopting some simple coping strategies, we can boost our mental health – even in these extremely challenging times.
“Lack of human connection and personal choice are key drivers for mental illness in lockdown,” she says.
“We are social beings, and we’re programmed to connect. Imposed change, rather than voluntary change, can also cause anxiety and panic due to a lack of control,” she says.
“Resilience is about building a set of skills that enable us to make better decisions and raise our capacity to cope and problem solve. Developing resilience is a preventative action to help foster mental health and wellbeing.”
Ms Ruberto says Driven has identified, through global research, six unique aspects to resilience, all of which can be strengthened.
“Think of it as resilience fitness training. The core elements include composure, reasoning, collaboration, tenacity, vision and health. By strengthening these six areas, we’re strengthening our mental resilience and wellbeing.”
“To build resilience, it’s important to get the basics right. You can’t perform at your peak if you’re not looking after basic health needs like sleep, rest and nutrition,” she says.
Here are 7 simple tips to help build resilience and boost mental health during lockdown:
Separate home and work spaces
The pandemic has forced us to redefine our home spaces where our shared living spaces may also now be our work spaces. This blending of spaces makes it difficult to differentiate whether we’re at home or at work and this is not only unhelpful, but also mentally fatiguing. We’re tending to too many relationships and tasks at once, which can reduce our mental capacity. It’s important to create a separate workplace where possible. Allocate work to one area, shut the door, and then come back to the home space when you’re finished or on a break. A door or corridor allows us to separate spaces, switch off our work persona and enjoy home in our down time.
Start some DIY projects
Taking up DIY projects and artistic outlets, such as gardening or painting, can help to shift your attention away from all the negative information surrounding us. These projects allow us to be calm, happy, and improve our relationship with ourselves and others. They allow us to recharge and have our own autonomy outside of work and home life, bringing variety and pleasure to life in lockdown.
Establish COVID-free time
Set aside some time every day to have COVID free time. This is a time where no one talks about COVID, the case numbers, or whether or not they agree with the vaccine. This gives us space to have “conversations of care”, where we can connect beyond the current circumstances, avoiding pandemic fatigue and negativity.
Connect with empathy
As humans, we’re social beings that are programmed to connect. That connection is important for our mental wellbeing and for building resilience. If you’re at home with family or friends, take time to meet in a shared space like the living room, away from work and check in with one another. You could share some of the day’s learning and show interest in each other. If you’re living alone, call a friend or family member and chat with them about how they’re doing, and what new projects they’ve been working on. Nurturing connections with friends and family in this way helps to find strength in one another.
Remember to smile
Check your facial expressions and be more aware of when we’re frowning – and try to smile more. We can become engrossed in daily tasks and forget to smile at each other. Smiling has an enormous impact on signaling to other people that things are okay. Whether you’re living with family, or you’re just checking in with your loved ones via video calls, it’s important to smile and focus on the positives as much as you can.
Use positive language with loved ones
Recognise positive things you see in other people. For example, you might say: “I see you got up early this morning. It looks like you got a fair bit done” or “I see you got a bit of a sleep-in today”. By noticing other people and providing supportive feedback to them, it helps to boost their mood, and can make a difference to you too. Also take the time to be present and don’t feel like a response is always needed. Simply by listening with intent allows another person to feel recognised and appreciated.
Allow yourself to feel all the emotions that arise
Driven defines resilience as “advancing despite adversity”. A lot of people think of resilience as bouncing back, but it’s more than that. Resilience is about pushing forward, so developing resilience means we may momentarily dip when faced with a challenge, but we will rise above it in the end. Don’t be scared when difficult emotions arise, as these are the emotions that help us learn and grow. Next time you feel strong emotions arise, instead of pushing them away, welcome them and ask yourself – what is this telling me? What can I learn from this? How can this help me grow and move forward? Because moving forward is key.
