HOW TO BUILD MENTAL RESILIENCE IN THE CURRENT PANDEMIC ERA

If scrolling through your social media feed or watching the news about the ongoing pandemic

triggers a racing heart or sweaty palms out of panic and stress, don’t worry- you are not the

only one. If you thought 2021 was going to be your year, but the new wave of COVID-19

cases have just rained on your parade, again- you are not the only one. While maintaining our

health is a primary concern, worrying about financial fallouts, job losses, grief, and

uncertainty about the future- all add to the stress that the pandemic has brought on.

COVID-19 came into existence in November 2019. By 2020, it was declared a pandemic by

World Health Organization (WHO). With more than 150 million people affected worldwide

and more than 3 million deaths, the modern world had not seen anything like this. Words like

lockdown, quarantine, isolation, and more, soon became the norm. Common physical

ailments like cough, fever, loss of breath, etc. – which we used to consider to be trivial- were

now key symptoms of the virus.

From the moment lockdown was imposed, people are stuck in their homes. It started as a

chance to catch up on family time, but soon it overwhelmed people. To stay distracted and

positive, people set high goals for themselves. When they couldn’t achieve them, it had the

opposite effect on them. They started losing hope, panicking, getting anxious, and slipping

into mental exhaustion. Their mental health and resilience took a hard hit.

How to build resilience

Having to face the brunt of the pandemic has led to a steep dip in most of our mental health.

While our mental resilience may have decreased, there are always methods and ways to get it

back up. While there is no universal playbook on how to maintain your mental health that can

be applied to all, there are a few common ways that can be tried out. They are listed

as follows-

1. Physical Activities

During the lockdown period, streaming platforms became famous amongst all age groups.

People spent hours every day streaming their favorite TV shows and movies. It has become

a source of distraction. What a lot of us forgot during this time is our physical health.

Watching shows all the time can harm your body and mind. Physical

activities, on the other hand, destress your mind. It rejuvenates your body and helps declutter

a tensed mind. Physical activities are the best way to work on your resilience, both physical

and mental.

2. Positive distractions

For most of us, our social media feed is filled with posts and news related to pandemics. Every

channel and media will spread news, which can unknowingly also spread panic. What is needed is a

step back from all this. Distancing yourself from such things and distracting yourself is one

thing that can put your mind at ease. You can spend time trying to learn new and

fascinating things. Want to learn a new language? Great. Want to try your hand at baking?

Try it. If you’ve got time, use it wisely.

 

3. Coping mechanisms

On a broader scale, this pandemic is nothing but a difficult time. We all have our coping

mechanisms, which we use to cope with all the other bad times we face in life. Meditation,

writing, exercise, reading, are just some of the many coping mechanisms that people use. You

can find your coping mechanism to deal with this tough time as well. The coping

mechanism allows you to process any unwanted information that comes to you in your way.

Developing a coping mechanism helps your mental resilience in the long run.

4. Positivity vs Toxic Positivity

Knowing the difference between positivity and toxic positivity is needed. Positivity means

keeping yourself and others happy, supporting them, helping them, and keeping in touch with

your emotions. Toxic positivity forces you to stay positive, no matter how dire the situation

is; it does not let you understand your feelings. It is like saying, if you stay happy and

physically active, you will never feel dejected; which is incorrect. There will be times when

‘being positive’ is not an option, as it is hard to deal with problems that come your way. It is

okay to feel dispirited sometimes, it is not possible for anyone to be constantly happy.

It is healthy for you to feel and know your emotions because it strengthens your mind.

Practice positivity, not toxic positivity.

 

2020 was all in all a bad year for everyone. Wildfires, pandemic, civil unrest, calamities;

everything came pouring down at once. At such time, there is a need to train your mind to

stay focused. Take baby steps every day to work on building some resilience muscles, and this

will help you get through not just this pandemic- but also any future crises.

Practice them, help others and yourself, and we will beat this pandemic together.