It is July and we continue to be in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic; that is increasing in intensity in some parts of the country. Information about Covid-19 continues to come about rapidly and is ever changing. This continues to promote a sense of instability and not knowing what to expect in the future as we are faced with uncertainty on a daily basis. This uncertainty is contributing to a loss of control or beliefs that we cannot make choices or plan for our future.
Helplessness, hopelessness, and a lack of control has a negative impact on our mood and our ability to engage in our lives.
Helplessness, hopelessness, and a lack of control has a negative impact on our mood and our ability to engage in our lives. When we believe that we have nothing to look forward to, that life is happening to us rather than us choosing what happens in our life, we begin to withdraw and turn inwards. This in turn contributes to our world becoming smaller and we become disconnected, thus becoming more entrenched in the helplessness, hopelessness, and lack of control. This creates a cycle that we need to break in order to move towards mental wellness.
Take moments during the day to pause, clear your mind, and focus on your breathing.
One step to breaking the cycle is making a conscious choice to engage in an activity or connection with another person, even if you don't really feel like it. By making this conscious choice over and over you will start to notice the positive impact of engaging in activities or connecting with others. You will start noticing that you are moving towards mental wellness.
Once you have started making conscious choices for yourself you can continue to identify what is in your control and what is not. The only person you are in control of is you. Once you pause and identify what is in your control (e.g., how you choose to respond to a situation) vs. what is not in your control (e.g., wanting others to respond in a certain way to a situation) you can then focus on yourself. By focusing on yourself you will identify what is right for you - what makes you feel balanced, what makes you feel calm and clear headed.
Take moments during the day to pause, clear your mind, and focus on your breathing. This will decrease the frenetic energy and allow you to refocus. From here you get to make the choice of what you will do next instead of being pulled in millions of directions by thoughts and feelings.
Take everything moment by moment and day by day. Focus on doing what helps you feel grounded, stable, connected, and balanced. What is right for you is not right for everyone.
