Stay safe, stay well – How I’m coping with self-isolation anxiety

We are a few weeks into lockdown, and although I have found it a challenge, it has enabled me to discover new ways of coping with life stressors.

Usually, I live in London and work as part of the lovely SANE team. However, I have moved back to my small hometown for lockdown. For someone with anxiety, a drastic change of routine can be detrimental to mental health.

When I first moved back, I was agonising over the lack of structure, colossal change, and the fear that we are under this pandemic. I would continuously lose sleep on the awful consequences of the Coronavirus, in which every single channel on my TV would repeatedly remind me.

With all this never-ending time given to us, I would also stress about not doing enough with it. On my social media feed, people appeared to be uploading masses of content during this free time – creating Tik Toks, baking cakes, producing Youtube videos, and the list goes on. I thought all these people have their lives on track, and then there was me who was struggling with this massive change.

A couple of weeks after the lockdown began, I decided to ditch the news and constant social media scrolling, and have a new positive focus – I decided to purchase a skipping rope. It was the best decision I made; I try to complete 30 minutes of skipping a day. I would be deep in my thoughts and enjoying seeing the sunset transforming into the night sky – a very calming 30 minutes to myself.

I have come to the conclusion that it’s okay not to be 100% productive. We are amid a pandemic, and if my body doesn’t want to do 30 billion things a day and achieve five years’ worth of goals in the space of 6 weeks, it is okay. We can use this time to reflect and relax and meditate. In our usually hectic life, we don’t get time like this. So, I’ve used this time to binge-watch all the shows and films I never had time to, as well as catching up with friends and family, via zoom calls and social media .

We have our own timelines, and we are our own person and should work around our bodies rather than what we believe society wants us to do.