Handling the COVID-19 blues

As you read this, we are more than two weeks into a six-week Level 5 lockdown. This lockdown 2.0 in many ways is even more challenging than the first time, with winter evenings closing in. More people than ever are challenged by their mental health. Not just people with a history of anxiety or depression either. People who have never experienced negative stress issues are now challenged in a new way by COVID-19. I call it the COVID-19 blues and no one is immune.

As a result it has never been more important to have some self-care strategies to boost your emotional bank account of positivity and support your mental wellbeing. As a support in these COVID-19-challenged times, I’m doing a short free video on positive mental health strategies each day for 40 days of lockdown and they are all available on my social channels @drmarkrowe.

Here are some of the first few, which I hope are of value to you. Join the online conversation (@drmarkrowe) if you are interested to watch the rest of the series.

1 Take back control

With COVID-19 lockdown here in Ireland, it’s time to stay in control; to become an active participant in your own wellbeing rather than simply a passive consumer of healthcare. A reminder that you can control what thoughts you pay attention to, and the choices you make each day.

Here’s a question to consider. What’s the one thing you can do today to boost your own wellbeing and what’s one thing you can do to support someone else less fortunate than you?

2 Accept change

As an individual you are constantly changing. Change in your health, careers, relationships -– everything is changing. Change has been so visible and painful for so many this year with COVID-19. Of course you can create a lot of negative stress in your life and consume a lot of energy by resisting change. The fact is your primitive brain doesn’t like change. Change triggers feelings of fear and anxiety, which your primitive brain wants to avoid. You are programmed to instinctively resist change.

However change is the one true constant in life for all of us. Every single day millions of cells in your body change. Your red blood cells change every four months, skin cells change every 10 to 30 days. Even 10% of the cells in your bones change each year.

You can’t stop change, so embrace it for the new possibilities it may bring.

3 Embrace your flaws

“Wabi-sabi” is this zen concept of showing flaws as something beautiful, which enhance rather than detract from an object’s value. For example the asymmetry of the drawing, blemish in the painting or crack in the vase. The inherent beauty in what’s impermanent, incomplete and imperfect, but above all authentic and real. A reminder of the importance of acceptance and non-attachment.

Don’t let your flaws and imperfections weigh you down in a sea of needless negativity. Choose to see them as the opportunity to accept and embrace the fullness of who you are. Focus your energy and attentive awareness on progress, not a destination of perfection.

Consider that being happy and living with vitality doesn’t mean that everything is perfect. Far from it, it simply means that you’ve decided to look beyond the imperfections to become a more genuine and authentic version of you.

Imperfect, flawed and incomplete perhaps, but still a wonderful human being.

4 Slow your breathing

Breathing is essential to life itself and one of the most natural things to do as a human being. Breathing in brings oxygen, life and vitality to every cell in your body while breathing out expunges the body of waste material in the form of carbon dioxide. Normally you breathe about 12-20 times a minute, without any effort or conscious awareness on your part. It’s just something you do.

While this process is under the automatic control of your autonomic brain, you can influence how quickly, deeply and deliberately you breathe. Consciously slowing your breathing down to four or five breaths per minute for even a minute or two can be a real gift for your self-care and sense of overall vitality.

And it’s such an easy thing to do – anywhere, anytime with no special equipment or trip to the gym required!

Intentionally slowing your breathing quietens the stress response from the amygdala (the emotional alarm centre) which is located close to the breathing centre in the brain.

This dampens down and decreases feelings of anxiety or negative stress, enabling you to feel emotionally more calm and present, cool and collected. You build clarity and a stronger sense of control.

Very gently, very simply, by paying attention to your breath as you breathe in and breathe out, you shine the spotlight of awareness on the very process of breathing itself.

The word inspiration comes from the Latin in spira, meaning “in spirit”.

As you inspire, you breathe in and connect with your spirit and purpose. Becoming consciously aware of the power of your breath in this way can become a valuable reminder of who you are and why you matter in the world.

Adding in a short saying or mantra during the out breath can provide additional benefit, perhaps just a single word like peace, the name of a loved one or some word that resonates meaning for you.

Mindful breathing is a wonderful reminder that you are here, not just for yourself, but for those people that matter. As such it is a key element of the energy required for effective self-care.

How can you love yourself if you are not here? How can you care for anyone else if you’re not here?

So overall, harnessing the power of your breath using this method of intentionally slowing your breathing, has numerous potential benefits. Breathing mindfully brings body and mind together as one. In many ways the breath acts like a bridge between mind and body, finely tuning and closely integrating both.

It has to be one of the simplest and most effective habits to enhance your mindful presence and overall vitality. Try it and see for yourself.

Finally as COVID-19 brings so many challenges, I find comfort in the beautiful words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who defined success so well:

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate the beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded!

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