Covid Depression: What can you do about it? (10 tips)

The Corona (Covid-19) crisis dramatically increases the feelings of depression, as it reduces your sense of freedom. In fact, feelings of insecurity, tension, fear and gloom increase enormously. And not only that: the Corona virus also makes many people feel lonelier than ever.

The result of  Covid 19 depression?

More stress, sleeping problems, an unhealthy lifestyle, little or no connection with family, colleagues and friends.

So, what now? How can you cope with depressive feelings and complaints due to the Corona pandemic? Unfortunately, the answers to this question are not obvious to everyone. The Covid 19 virus obviously doesn’t strike everyone. But how do you not let it affect your state of mind, It would be a shame if you continued to suffer from feelings of uncertainty, tension, anxiety, gloom and stress. Therefore, in this article I lovingly share 10 tips to get a grip on your Corona depression!

Depressed by Corona? How to cope with Corona depression!

No matter what changes take place in your environment, anxiety and restless feelings are always natural responses to any challenging situation, including the Corona virus. Fortunately, there is hope. You can learn to cope with the Covid 19 virus. Find out below what can help you:

• Focus on what is in your control
• Become aware of your thoughts, beliefs and emotions
• Connect with your own body
• Live mindfully in the here and now
• Do not suppress your emotions and do some sport
• Be kind to yourself
• Stop following the Corona news
• Create a morning routine to start your day energetically
• Pick yourself up and start working on good habits
• Pay attention to your sleep rhythm

Tip #1: Focus on what is in your control

Just realising that you cannot influence what happens to the Corona virus in the future can give you peace of mind. The only thing you can influence is how you deal with the Corona measures. As soon as you start to resist and stay resisting, you will experience less stress symptoms faster. Then you will not live in a constant state of fear and anxiety. You will always see: what you fear the most will come true. You attract a worse mood because of your negative and obstructive thoughts. The result is a nasty Corona Depression.

Tip #2: Become aware of your thoughts, beliefs and emotions

By slowing down and becoming still, you will be more aware of what is going on during your Corona depression. Then you can also better identify your thoughts, beliefs and emotions. For example, you may feel that you are lonely because of the restrictive Corona measures. Or you may have thoughts that you will become ill because there are people in your immediate surroundings who have been diagnosed with Corona. It is certainly not fun, because Covid-19 lasts longer and longer.

What is an additional advantage of the Corona virus is that you have more time for yourself. Time to get to know yourself better on a deeper level. And as soon as you become aware of negative and limiting thoughts, convictions and emotions, know that you always have a choice. You can always choose to focus on the positive. By focusing on what you can do instead of what you cannot is more mindful.  So pay attention to what you say to yourself.

“If you stop for a moment, take a step back, take a deep breath and bring some silence into your life, you will gain a clear overview.”

In order to develop yourself further, your inner dialogue is a powerful tool to create a right attitude to life. Ideally, your inner dialogue should be consistent. You become what you say to yourself about yourself. You achieve what you say you can achieve. And you believe what you tell yourself about yourself.

So positive and encouraging things you say to yourself will help you enormously before you do something that will make you feel anxious and restless. It is important that you do not allow any other thoughts to enter your mind. Let the phrases that give you the right feeling run through your mind.

Tip #3: Connect with your own body.

Corona depression can make you more irritable or easily disappointed. This leads to a cramping in your body and a stiffness in your actions. Suppressing emotions causes physical tension. What are you probably doing unconsciously?

You tense your body when you want to stop emotions: you clamp your jaws together, you hold your breath or you tighten your neck and shoulders. Step by step this can become automatic. Realise that this is a resistance against feelings that want to be expressed.

These kinds of body signals indicate that you should relax more in order to unwind. Fortunately, de-stressing is easier than you think. Yoga, meditations, mindfulness and breathing exercises contribute to a relaxed feeling, because you connect more with your body through a moderate intensity of movement.

Tip #4: Live mindfully in the here and now

Stillness is essential. You need silence, just as we need air and plants need light. With a mind crammed with words and thoughts, there is no room for ourselves. And it is good to realise that silence is more than not talking. The noise you hear is usually the chattering in your own head. That you keep thinking and pondering, your thoughts keep going round in circles.

Therefore, I invite you to consciously choose to focus your full attention on the food at the beginning of each meal today. Without distractions. Completely in silence. To really connect with the here and now. Because if you want to be free of anxious and restless thoughts, you will have to create enough space and silence for yourself. In this way, you will more quickly prevent a more severe Corona depression and all kinds of stress and burnout complaints.

Tip #5: Don’t suppress your emotions or exercise

Fear, anger, sadness and unprocessed emotions are not lost by just sitting still. A Corona depression is no small thing. Fortunately, exercise helps you shift your focus to something other than what you are worried about. And therefore you can let go of your depression sooner and process it with less stress as a result. Plus, exercise releases endorphins, leaving you with a happier feeling afterwards.

Exercise makes you more self-confident and also makes mental progress. This makes you feel better in your own skin. Especially if you exercise consistently. What do you bet, that you will be bursting with energy afterwards? When you go to the extreme for example, during running, swimming or a fitness work-out, your blood circulation is maximally stimulated and more oxygen reaches your brain.

Tip #6: Be kind to yourself

The little voices in your head undoubtedly have certain expectations about how you should deal with Corona depression. And yet you want to be extra gentle with yourself right now. Why?

Your expectations are the source of your suffering.

Therefore, how would it be if you said to yourself, “It is bad enough that I have Corona depression now and that I am being extra hard on myself. I am not good enough and I’m not meeting my expectations.” What would it be like if you could let go of those expectations?

Tip #7: Stop following the Corona news

From childhood, you may have been taught that watching TV is the norm. You watch the news at 20:00 to stay informed about what is going on in the world and also about the Corona virus. The same goes for the news you watch on your smartphone on the World Wide Web and other apps. And not only that: also on social media like Facebook and Instagram, you are inundated with updates about Corona. This can be quite tiring and draining on your energy. It therefore helps to take a break every now and then and be less online if you are suffering with Corona depression. You can choose not to follow the news about the Corona virus for a while, so that you no longer let yourself be influenced by all that negativity.

Tip #8: Create a morning routine to start your day energetically

A good morning routine makes the difference between living and just existing. You want to start the day off fresh and well. Especially if you’re dealing with a Corona Depression. However, before you know it, you might start on autopilot as soon as you wake up. The temptation to get distracted by your smartphone is lurking on the horizon. Recognisable?

Fortunately, with a good morning routine, you can change this to take control and keep it that way! What does it show? Planning is useful, but the real difference will come when you get into the doing mode. So feel what makes you happy, plan what you are going to do and take action. But be careful: don’t plan too perfectly. It’s super tempting to sit at the kitchen table and write down your ideal morning routine. In the end, change is about the only constant thing in life. And change is not always desired and never planned for. So be flexible and open to experimenting with what works for you in the mornings.

These are some morning routine ideas:

• Reading
• Exercise
• Meditation
• Visualising
• Writing
• Walking
• Cold shower
• Having a healthy breakfast

Tip #9: Repackage yourself and get into good habits

When you stop allowing healthy lifestyle habits to be part of your day, you pay the price. It’s like pushing a ball underwater: the Corona Depression costs you a tremendous amount of energy and the irritations keep rising, because the suppressed emotions keep surfacing.

This leads to mounting tensions, ignoring of body signals, worrying, sleeping problems, regularly taking antidepressants, increased alcohol consumption, unhealthy snack binges, unnecessary fights and complaining about everything that is wrong.

Tip #10: Pay attention to your sleep rhythm

Corona depression can disrupt your sleep rhythm, causing you to experience sleep deprivation. You are more exhausted and irritable, but you still can’t manage to fall asleep. How can this happen? And what can you do to take control of the quality of your sleep? Whatever the case, take sleep problems caused by depression seriously, because you need quality rest.

Resting for quality means gaining strength and energy, recharging and repairing your battery. Rest makes you more creative, you learn faster, you build up reserves, you get a better overview and perspective, and you can act more efficiently and decisively. You cannot function well without it. It is an important condition for a good mood, reducing stress and preventing burnout.

Training and coaching

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