Top 10 Ways to Cope with Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Photo by Logan Fisher on Unsplash

You’re fed up with the isolation. Fed up with the pandemic. You don’t know how much more of this you can take.

Feeling sad, out-of-sorts, anxious, disconnected, angry, frustrated. Depressed. Feeling like screaming.

You’re not used to having the kids and/or partner home ALL day.

You’re used to having more ‘you’ time.

Yet, you haven’t been with a good group of friends in a while, either.

And you haven’t felt connected, not really connected, to anyone in a while.

You’re enveloped by this sense of isolation and loneliness…

Rest assured, this is quite normal under the present circumstances. You’re definitely not alone.

Heightened levels of stress is becoming the new normal, and knowing how to cope with that stress and take care of your mental health and well-being is more important, now, than ever.

Declining mental health is an issue affecting everyone in this COVID-era, not just those who may be predisposed to it.

Fortunately, a lot of good information and resources are already available on mental health hygiene and dealing with stress, in particular.

The following is a list of the top 10 suggestions for coping with stress during the pandemic.

1. Understand the warning signs

Sometimes it can be difficult to distinguish between normal levels of angst and those that indicate you’re headed for trouble: declining mental health.

Have you noticed any of these warning signs lasting more than a week?

• Increasing fear and worry about your health, health of your loved ones, your financial situation/job stability, etc.
• Changes in sleep or eating patterns
• Trouble concentrating
• Increased irritability
• Not finding joy or enjoyment in the things that normally provide it
• Changing patterns of medication, recreational drug, or alcohol use
• Physical symptoms such as: headache, dizziness, pain, indigestion, etc.
• Worsening of health problems you already have

These are some signs that indicate you may need new coping strategies to support your mental health and well-being.

2. Develop awareness, acceptance, purpose, and insight

Awareness

The first thing you need for managing stress is simply knowing that you’re struggling with stress in the first place

Without that awareness, it’s not likely you’ll be seeking out the help and support you need.

Acceptance

Next is acknowledging and accepting that feeling the way you do is okay. It’s okay to feel fear. It’s okay to feel the hurt. It’s okay to feel sad. It’s okay to feel worried and anxious. It’s okay to feel the frustration and anger.

It’s okay to feel.

In fact, more than okay. Heightened levels of stress is the new normal. The entire globe is feeling it.

Purpose

Then, with the awareness and acceptance of what you’re feeling, you’ll naturally want to ask, “What now? So what can I do about this?”

You can start, first, by setting some short-term +/– long-term goals. This will help you develop a sense of purpose in the midst of the mayhem.

Definitely start with a short-term goal.

Starting with a short-term goal will get you focused on the ‘now’ and help you get started on doing something about how you’re feeling right now.

So think of one little thing that you can do right now, however small or insignificant, that’ll get you feeling at least a tiny bit better. Tell yourself that you won’t need to do anything else afterwards unless you want to. Then, go ahead and do that one little thing.

Rinse and repeat.

Eventually, self-awareness, acceptance and goal-setting will become easier, and you’ll feel ready to take on bigger short-term goals and/or long-term goals. You’ll also be able to establish a stronger sense of purpose for yourself.

Insight

All of this work regarding awareness, acceptance, and purpose will help you to gain a deeper insight into yourself and your emotional needs, so that the more you continue on the path, the better you’re able to manage and cope with stress.

3. Isolate physically, not socially: Find ways to connect with kindness

Understand the dangers of loneliness.

Loneliness is the feeling that no one really cares about you.

Taking Tony Hsieh as an example, he was a brilliant and successful entrepreneur, surrounded by people, whose life ended tragically from smoke inhalation in November 2020. It’s reported, he either intentionally or accidentally locked himself in a supply closet during a fire in his building. People who knew him say he always struggled with feelings of loneliness.

So loneliness has less to do with the number of people in your life.

Rather, it has to do with the number of people in your life who matter.

And overcoming loneliness requires developing connections with people that matter.

And this takes effort.

Kindness is the key

You can’t expect people to care about you, if you don’t care about them.

So show the people who matter to you that you care about them by reaching out with kindness.

Because kindness is the price we all pay for the relationships that matter.

And you don’t necessarily have to be in close physical proximity to show someone kindness. You can show kindness while connecting with them virtually, or just doing something for them that they would appreciate.

Like remembering birthdays.

Instead of birthday messages on social media, how about connecting with them in video chat so that you can deliver the message in face-time, and do a little catching up, as well?

That’s just one example. There are other ways to show kindness: You can show your friends support through texting in ways that would resonate them. You can send over a low-cost, funny gift ordered online that you can talk about in video chat. Just put your imagination to a little work.

Kindness is the key.

Show your friends and family that you care through kindness, and they’ll surprise you with how much they care about you, too.

4. Take care of the physical you

Simply put: just feeling well physically helps you handle stress better.

On the other hand, if you’re not feeling well physically, it can add to your stress burden and make it more difficult to manage.

So eat healthy, get enough rest and sleep, stay active, and stay well hydrated.

More specifically:

• Follow a good diet, like the Mediterranean diet.
• Correct vitamin deficiencies, if present, especially those of vitamins C and D, to keep your immune system in high gear during this pandemic. Make sure there’s enough zinc and other nutrients normally found in a healthy, well-balanced diet, as well.
• If there’s any doubt about whether your diet is providing you with the nutrients needed to maintain optimal health, consider taking a multivitamin daily.
• Cut back or cut out the smoking, if your smoker. Easier said than done, to be sure. And for some, smoking itself may be a stress-reliever. But the declining health that smoking contributes to can produce a downward spiral: stress leading to smoking, which leads to declining health, which leads to more stress, which leads to more smoking, etc. If this is a challenging area for you, consider talking to your health professional.
• Avoid using drugs or alcohol to deal with stress. Again this can create that downward spiral, where stress leads to substance use, which leads to substance-use-related problems, which leads to more stress, which leads to more substance use, etc. Why would you want to engage in an activity that makes you feel progressively worse?
• Try to get your 6–8 hrs of Zzzz’s per day. You need to recharge your batteries. And your brain needs that time to do its housekeeping.
• Try to take in, on average, 8 glasses (2L) of water/fluids per day if you’re a woman, or 12 glasses (3L) if you’re a man. Our bodies thrive on water.
• Finally, and yes, you’ve heard it 1000 times, but exercise. There’s no panacea like exercise. Just 15 minutes a day of some form of exercise that you enjoy can make all the difference.

5. Focus on and plan what you can control

Sometimes, the stress comes from sensing that life is getting out of control, or you’re losing control in areas of your life where you use to feel in control.

For example, you used to feel absolute control over what you do, when you do it, and with whom, but that sense of control might not quite be there anymore.

How do you cope with that?

Control what you can

You can start by controlling what you can and planning around those things that you can control.

For example, control what you can in your own environment, such as your home. Is that clutter you see lying around really what you want for your environment? Or that fridge you haven’t cleaned in a while —is that really what you want?

What’s in your own environment, perfectly within your control, that isn’t quite the way you want it to be?

Focus on these things, do something about it, and exert your control over them. You’ll definitely feel a whole lot better.

And regarding how uncontrollable COVID-19 seems to be, there’s one thing you definitely can control, and that’s how easy COVID-19 can get to you. So do your due diligence on COVID-19 prevention and take some of that control back from the virus.

Plan what you can control

Is there an event, birthday, or holiday coming up? Make some concrete plans in advance to handle what you can control, so that it’ll go as smoothly as possible.

Plan and maintain your routines. There’s nothing that speaks control like routines. Adjust them, if necessary, but stick to them as much as possible. Don’t let the virus mess with your routines.

Plan activities to pass the time. Having a lot of unplanned time at home can itself be stressful, especially if you’re used to having a more structured day. So reclaim control over the extra time by planning specific activities to pass it.

6. Get outside, get creative — Get a daily dose of joy

Look for ways to get outside and into nature (respecting physical distancing guidelines). Few things rejuvenate the spirit so well as time spent in natural surroundings, away from the concrete jungle of urban centers. A nice suburban setting or even a backyard will do.

This is about breathing in some fresh air, feeling the sun and/or wind (even rain) on your face, getting close to trees and shrubs, or greenery of any kind, hearing the birds, the dogs, or better yet, the silence.

All of this is good for the soul, as you probably already know.

And numerous studies have shown that spending time in nature has positive effects on mental health.

Also, get creative about enjoyable ways to spend time outdoors and indoors. If the weather is nice, try some of these games with your family in your backyard. Or some of these games for groups of two. For the solitary you, try some of these ideas.

Search for other ideas on the Internet. There are so many out there. Or develop your own.

Make the effort to get your daily dose of joy.

Go outside, get creative, have some fun.

7. Take analog breaks and relax

In our digital age, it’s easy to get bombarded by all the buzzing, beeping and flashing of digital media. And sometimes, the best thing we can do for our nerves is just to turn it all off and go analog.

Social media, for example, can raise our levels of anxiety rather than reduce it, so step away from it when relaxation is your goal.

Setting limits on the amount of news that you consume about COVID-19 will also help to lower anxiety. Turn off push notifications from news apps, check COVID-19 news only at set times during the day, and get your news from trusted sources, such as, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Instead of reading on a glaring computer screen, read on an eye-friendly e-ink device, or better yet, print.

Learn self-calming techniques. Take deep breaths when you feel nervous or anxious. Even better, develop the habit of deep breathing throughout the day on a regular basis. The rush of fresh air filling your lungs at its deepest levels will immediately release a calming sensation.

Take time to meditate

Here’s how to do it:

• Find a quiet place.
• Sit comfortably and close your eyes.
• Breathe in deeply through your nose and out your mouth. And keep on it.
• Relax your mind. Let your thoughts wander.
• Try to relax the muscles of your body.
• Continue letting your thoughts go where they want to.
• Continue breathing deeply. Just relax.
• Do this for as long as you like.

8. Use your pain to develop empathy and help others

You’ve heard the adage, “It’s better to give than to receive”?

Well, one way to look at the pain you’re experiencing now is that it’s enlarging your capacity to give. And if you use it, it can help you gain something greater than you could gain otherwise.

The pain you’re experiencing now uniquely qualifies you to help other people better, which translates into something that’s even better for you.

So look for ways to harness that pain, and look for ways to help other people experiencing similar pain.

I’d like to add to the adage: “It’s better to give than to receive, because what you receive for giving is better than the thing that you gave.”

For ideas on how you can give to others, check out this article at helpguide.org: Coronavirus: How to Help and Give Back

9. Build your resilience to cope with job stress

You can cope with job stress by building resilience.

And building resilience circles back to some of the things already discussed in this post:

1. First, come to an awareness and acceptance of the stress you’re feeling on the job. Most importantly, that it’s okay.
2. Next, try to identify exactly what’s causing the stress, and set some short-term goals for managing or minimizing the source. Think of one thing that you could do right now that can address the source, or at least help you feel better. This will help you develop a sense of purpose to move you forward, which can both empower you and give you hope.
3. Then, seek connection and communicate your thoughts and feelings with a trusted coworker or supervisor. You may also inquire about the mental health resources that are available at your workplace.
4. Take care of the physical you. Don’t neglect your physical health, because without it, your ability to build resilience at the workplace only gets that much harder.
5. Increase your sense of control by focusing on and planning for the things that you can control in your work environment, like your desk space, for example.
6. Try to get outside and take in some fresh air during the day. Look for creative ways to give yourself some joy, as well.
7. Give yourself a break from digital exposure from time-to-time. Incorporate mini-meditation moments, when you can.
8. And look for ways to show kindness to your coworkers. Use your pain to understand their pain. Look for ways to be a support for them in their time of need.

10. Soft shoulders: Seek help and support when you need it

When the stress gets to be too much, and you’re finding it difficult to cope on your own, you owe it to yourself to seek out a soft shoulder for extra help and support.

Don’t let the stress get out of hand, so that it leads to a depressive or anxiety disorder. Or worsen of the underlying disorder you’re already suffering.

If you’re in the US or Canada, you may find the following resources helpful:

• Coping with Stress (CDC)
• Taking care of your mental and physical health during the COVID-19 pandemic (Canada.ca)

You’re gonna get through this

You’re feeling down and frustrated as the pandemic is taking a huge toll on your mental wellbeing.

Remember that you’re not alone in this. We’re all going through it.

But the good news is that there are positive steps you can take to feel better and cope with the accumulated stress.

Start with one of the suggestions on this list that you may not have tried or thought of before. Then, one by one, try to follow all or as many of the suggestions that you can.

Soon, you will start to feel better.

What seemed like a never-ending, dark and foreboding tunnel or abyss will start to look a little brighter.

And you’ll find your joyless mood beginning to lift. You’ll start to regain some of that long-departed sensation, hope, and the world won’t feel so much like it’s crashing down on you anymore.

And you’ll be able to say, “I’m going to get through this!”