3 Things to Keep Top of Mind for Your Mental Health During Coronavirus

Right now the world is a scary place for ALL of us. But some more than others. The uncertainty of what’s to happen in the coming days and weeks has many of us in sheer panic. It’s written on our minds, hearts and faces; the inability to see the end and a lingering fear that it will get worse before it gets better.

We’ve never lived through anything like this. The closest thing would be the early 1900s when the Spanish Flu infected 500 million people around the world. I’m not even sure the Coronavirus can be compared, but we won’t know for a while. 

I’ll be honest though, I feel like I was made for Coronatimes. I’ve been saying that as a joke these past few days. Something to lighten the mood as everyone’s eyes glaze over from the 5th video call of the day before 3pm. But the more I think about it, the more I’m starting to believe it’s true. 

If you don’t already know my story, I’ll keep it brief. In October of 2018 I had my first manic episode, resulting in hospitalization. I was transferred to a mental health hospital where I lived for 6 days before being discharged to outpatient treatment. I went through 11 weeks of intensive therapy where I learned about the brain and the way that I think. I learned about my moods, what sets me into a certain mindset or headspace and what control I have over those things. 

Much of what I learned helped me to take ownership and control over my diagnosis. I was building confidence in myself as this ‘new person’. At the same time, much of what I learned is helpful and relevant information for anyone - diagnosis or not. We all deal with stress, anxiety, a challenging day at the office, or a life event you never saw coming. Now we’re all facing one together. 

Much of what has helped me find balance and maintain positivity in these times is a reminder of 3 key principles I now live by. 

Your brain is not always a reliable narrator 

That sound you hear inside your head telling you to be scared, or alarmed is not always right. But sometimes it is! This one was tough for me. Maybe the toughest. We all have our version of reality. Our version of the truth, right? But how often in your life have you taken a step back and asked yourself if what you believe is … capital t - True? The most memorable times in my life when I did this well are instances where I took the time to see things from someone else’s perspective. Rather than spending my energy simply defending my position, I try to direct my energy at understanding where the disconnect is and identifying my role in creating it. 

It’s hard to acknowledge that your brain may be playing tricks on you. Or worse yet, that you have innate bias. We all do! But we don’t want to openly address it. That would be exposing our faults. But ask yourself, when you’re all alone, and there’s no one to judge: 

What do I believe to be true? What facts do I have to support that theory? Is there anything I can do to challenge this truth and put it in question? 

These simple questions have helped me to calm the whiplash that comes from running away with an emotion and getting yourself down a rabbit hole of assumptions. As humans we have a fight or flight response, but sometimes our ability to gauge what deserves a fight or flight is slightly off. Take a step back and ask yourself what do you know to be true, and what evidence do you have to support that. 

Multi-tasking is only hurting you, not helping

Up until October of 2018 I was the QUEEN of multi-tasking. I could reply to emails, text messages, and google hangouts pings, all while being fully engaged in a team meeting with important updates and information being shared. 

NO. I. COULD. NOT. and you can’t either.

You know that feeling you get when you remember something last minute or at the strangest time and you’re so grateful that you’re sharp enough to have remembered? That’s a negative side effect of too much multitasking. Not a positive one. 

When we’re multitasking our brain does not have the ability to close the loop or feel completed on projects and tasks because we’re doing too many things at once. The incredible ability to remember something last minute is actually the unfortunate event of not having it top of mind in the first place. It happens when we do too much at once.

You may not believe me, but you waste time when you multitask. I could never really put this to the test until my health depended on it. I knew that multitasking wasn’t the best before I was diagnosed, but I didn’t think I could get as much done in a day if I stopped. After learning how much it was impacting my anxiety and racing thoughts I had to stop. When I returned to work after 3 months off I challenged myself not to multitask. I set alarms for the end of meetings so I couldn’t check my phone during. I would pop my screen into an expanded view so I didn’t notice the email count going up while I work on an important project. Through all of this I still managed to get everything done by the end of the day or week - even without multitasking. On top of that, the anxious rapid thoughts at night as I prepared for the next day were almost completely gone. 

Try not multitasking. Especially during these trying times where you’re working on figuring out how to adjust to your new normal, and work from home. 

Sometimes you have to just acknowledge you’re feeling something and let your body feel it

If you’ve ever had an anxiety attack, you know what I mean. Trying to stop the attack often only makes it worse. If you focus your mind on taking deep breaths and walk yourself through 5-4-3-2-1 your body will begin to calm, and physically ‘pass’ the attack.  

• 5 things you can see

• 4 things you can touch

• 3 things you can hear

• 2 things you can smell

• 1 thing you can taste 

In treatment, they talked alot about the emotion train and our choice to hop on it and ride away, or step off and watch it pass by. You may think that’s a crappy metaphor, but I happen to like it. There are still days I hop on the emotion train and ride it all the way to anger town. We all do. But once I identified that there will always be a train in my life and the control I have is whether or not I hop on, I started to step off and watch it go by a lot more than before. 

We will all have some intense emotions over the course of the next few weeks. We can’t control that, but we can control how much power we give them.

Whether these learnings seem earth shattering, or they’re things you already operate with knowledge of, none of us have ever dealt with Coronavirus before. Reminding myself of these learnings and being diligent about acknowledging them is helping me stay positive and balanced during these uncertain times. I hope you all know that the people around you are just as scared. Just as uncertain of what’s to come. If we can take these next few weeks to be kind and considerate of each other we will make it through. 

Stay tuned - I’ll be sharing my 11 Daily Steps to Survive Coronavirus in the coming weeks. If you have questions, want to talk or have a suggestion for a future blog topic - never hesitate to reach out : emily@bipolarbroughtbalance.com.

Wash those hands!