be kind to yourself- ANXIETY IN TIMES OF COVID'19

Feeling anxious around the COVID-19 spread is a normal reaction. Anxiety is rooted in worrying about the unknown and uncertainty. 

Anxiety is associated with one of our most primal instincts to avoid threats and protect us from harm. Fear is a basic emotion. Pushing it away or using distraction works some times, and it may be necessary for short-term relief. However, those strategies are not always the best solution to manage fear in the long-term. We all need to set time aside to connect with this emotion and allow ourselves to feel it so it gets processed. Talking about it, writing about it, making art, dancing, expressing it with the body... By accompanying this with self-care, we are giving us the space to make sense of the current situation.

We are living a unique moment

You need to know that you are doing the best you can

There is no better or worse way of processing / managing this situation

Now more than ever

BE KIND TO YOURSELF

Forget about the ' I should' ' I have to'

Try not to compare yourself to others

Do whatever you can

Remember: you are doing the best you can with what you know and have today, not yesterday, not tomorrow.

We can find this narrative everywhere on social media: “be productive”, “use your time to pick a new hobby, finish that book you were reading, learn how to cook new recipes, do more exercise, learn how to dance”. I believe this has good intentions and it may be working for some people. .

However, this can also produce more anxiety and make you feel that you are not doing what other are doing, or what you ‘should’ be doing. This trend of ‘doing’ can guide us to keep running down the ‘fast lane’ and could be turning us away from something that we may need more than ever: ‘self-reflection’ (if you can make time for it). .

You can treat this quarantine as a break from ‘doing’ and the ‘fast lane’. Do what you have to do. You don’t need to “make something out of this”. .

🧘‍♀️ JUST BE & BREATHE

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