Mental health issues are becoming increasingly prevalent, especially with how the pandemic worsens them and makes it more difficult for victims to seek help. It can be difficult to maintain your mental well-being when you’re faced with social isolation, a lack of motivation, and the chaos shown in the news. As such, you should prioritize your mental health, and here are some ways to do so:
1. Keep some sort of structure in your life. Make a daily schedule. Tidy up your room when it starts becoming messy. Go to sleep and wake up at a consistent time. It’s easy to lose all semblance of structure when the school day is less regimented and many extracurricular activities have been canceled. However, structure can help establish normalcy and act as a source of stability when other events might feel out of your control.
2. Prioritize physical self-care. Since mental and physical health are correlated, it’s important to take care of your diet, sleep schedule, and fitness. Exercise can release endorphins and act as a stress reliever, and staying in good shape often makes you feel better and improves your mindset. Options for exercise include going on socially distanced walks and following workout videos from fitness YouTubers like Emi Wong.
3. Take time off. You might feel pressured to keep busy; however, you shouldn’t feel guilty for taking time off. In fact, it might be helpful to intentionally carve out time to recharge. You can use this time to hang out with friends, play games, watch movies, or do any other activities that you find energizing. If you cram your schedule with productive yet draining activities, you will likely find yourself exhausted and burnt out, and your self-care habits might suffer.
4. On the flip side, you might also want to find ways to stay productive. You can join a club, learn a new skill, or search for remote extracurricular activities. There are many online resources, such as YouTube and Coursera, that you can use to learn. Although it’s important to have downtime, you might find that too much downtime becomes a little restricting or monotonous after a while. Stimulating activities are often fulfilling and can be outlets for negative emotions.
5. Get enough social interaction. You will likely need to put in effort to sustain an active social life during the pandemic. This might mean initiating conversations or hangouts, using texting or video calling platforms more frequently, or joining organizations (like clubs) that allow you to talk to others. Friends can help support you, and social interactions can prevent loneliness and improve your mental health as a whole.
6. Limit screen time. Whenever you’re not engaged in commitments that require you to look at a screen, you should do offline activities. Some suggestions are to draw, spend time with your family, write stories, or bake. Limiting your screen time can help with following a few of the other points on this list, such as physical self-care—your phone might distract you from exercising or sleeping early. Excessive usage of social media might also lead to self-esteem issues from comparing yourself to others and obsessing over how people react to your posts.
Furthermore, studies show that there is a negative correlation between screen time and mental health. From the results of the Middle Years Development Instrument, participants who regularly spent over two hours online reported lower feelings of optimism, along with higher levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms.
7. Be kind to yourself. Don’t berate yourself for struggling with your mental health or compare yourself to people who seem more put-together. People have different stressors, and comparison or harsh self-criticism can lead to a dark mindset, making it even more difficult to overcome mental roadblocks. Keep in mind that it’s normal to struggle during the pandemic—or life in general.