How To Deal With COVID Anxiety

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been finding the past few weeks to be a lot.

COVID-19 has been dominating every, single aspect of our lives for over a year now and it’s just been exhausting. I’ve found myself constantly feeling anxious and stressed because it just feels like this is never-ending. Although we are starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel with vaccines starting to take affect, Lockdown 3 has been hard.

Monday marks the return to school for all students. Some of you may have been back in school before the Easter Holidays and the rest of you haven’t seen school since before Christmas. Although I’m sure there’s a little bit of excitement about getting back to some sort of a normal routine, leaving Zoom classes behind and getting to see friends IRL, it still can feel really daunting about going back to school when the situation with COVID-19 is still quite precarious.

So, here’s some ways to deal with COVID anxiety and stress, which I 100% am going to try do myself.

Focus On Your Actions

One of the things I’ve been finding the hardest over the past few weeks is the feeling of helplessness. COVID cases in Ireland having been staying stubbornly high and it’s so easy to be overwhelmed by that number climbing everyday at 6pm.

It’s so easy to feel like nothing is working and that nothing is changing, but the actions we take do have a positive (or negative) effect on the spread of the coronavirus. Each of us has the power to try stop it in its tracks.

Instead of focusing on all the things you can’t do or control, focus on what you can do.

Sanitise, wash your hands, wear a mask, wash your hands again and stop socialising for the next few weeks. Make a bigger effort with social distance. I know that it’s really hard and everyone wants to see their friends, but just keep making the effort to put as much instance between you and others as much as you can.

Don’t worry about what others are doing and just focus on the small actions you can take. Those small actions make a huge difference in the end.

Switch Off

It’s so hard to switch off in this digital age anyway, but I think this has been taken to a whole new level over the past few months.

I personally find it so hard to not go more than a few minutes before my phone is back in my hand and I’m searching news sites or looking for journalist tweeting to see what the latest breaking news is. This hasn’t been made easier by the fact that the government have regularly been making announcements late in the evening.

Although I do like to be up on the latest news, I do think it’s time to pull back from the constant consumption of media and then breaking all that down in Whatsapp groups. This week I’m making an effort to leave my phone in my room while I watch a bit of TV in the evening.

Even better, I’m going to make a big effort when it comes to reading over the next few weeks, because getting lost in a book is the best way to switch off!

Realise That This Will Pass

Do you remember when the schools and shops closed last March and we thought it would be for like 2 weeks and COVID would be gone? Good times…

I don’t think many of us really anticipated just how much COVID was going to impact our lives when this started.

The whole thing really sucks, but ignoring it doesn’t mean it will go away. Stick to the guidelines, mind yourself, get out for as much walking as you can and focus on keeping those around you safe.

I do think that the next few months will be challenging, but the end of this will come eventually. Just think of all the amazing times ahead. In the meantime do what you can to get by and try not let things you can’t control overwhelm you.

How are you feeling about everything? Let us know over on our Instagram.