How to look after your mental health during lockdown

By Steph Williams

The current COVID-19 pandemic has led us to face many changes and cope with different challenges. It can be very common to experience symptoms of low mood and worry during these uncertain times. Here are some ideas of how to cope and manage our mental wellbeing during these difficult times.

If you are currently off work, the days may seem longer and boredom may strike. It's common to feel quite down and experience a lack of motivation. However, it may be a good opportunity to focus on the things that you usually don’t have time for. This can vary from doing jobs around the home, or engaging in a hobby or interest.

If you struggle to think of things, try to explore activities that you enjoyed doing as a child. It may be riding a bike, colouring or drawing, or playing puzzle games. Perhaps it's simply being outdoors, in the garden, or baking cakes!

On the other hand, if you are still working, or have children and find your days are quite stressful, it's really important to schedule some time for yourself. Many of us create lists of things we need to get done but we often miss out things to do for ourselves - so it can be a good idea to write it down.

This doesn't have to be anything huge, it could be ten minutes or half an hour in the evening when you could take some well deserved me time. This can entail a variety of things; it may be reading a new book, watching your favourite film or having a relaxing bath.

Attempt to start off with something small and achievable and gradually build upon this each week. If you have a particular interest, perhaps you could try something new; for example try online yoga classes, meditation or exercise classes.

During this change comes lots of uncertainties and it can be common to experience a great deal of worry.

It may be helpful throughout the day to make a list of your worries, no matter how big or small they seem. At the end of each day review your list. You may find some of these worries have practical solutions to them. There's often things we can do to address our worries but when we have lots of them build up we tend to feel overwhelmed and avoid facing them head on. Begin to write a plan involving small steps to address each problem.

Other worries may be much more out of your control and you may find you have a lot of 'what if' thoughts. For example, "what if my children have to stay off school longer", "what if I loose my job", "what if things never go back to normal". If you find you're having many of these worries, notice them and attempt to think of an alternative thought as well; for example, "what if things do work out okay", “what if my children are learning fine and do go back to school soon." This helps to contain your worries and stop them from spiralling out of control. It also helps your mind to have a balanced opinion instead of only holding on to worst case scenarios.

For help and support email Steph at becomeyourbestself19@gmail.com

Steph Williams is a qualified psychological wellbeing Practitioner based in Peterborough. She provides private one to ones, supporting anyone with mental health and wellbeing difficulties.