COE Self-Care Activities Spring 2020 - Week 15

Dear MDECOE community,

Many of us are feeling worn down by the challenges of the situation we are in. There are so many unknowns, and we have been socially isolated for so long. So how can we get through this time? Reliance and coping. WittKiefer recently offered a free webinar entitled “Managing Self Through a Crisis” and provided the following recommendations:

1. Exercise 3X a week. Examples available during isolation include: A stationary bike. Dancing in your living room to your favorite music. Playing ball with you dog in the backyard.
2. Allot 5 minutes of worry time each day. The rest of the day when a worrisome thought arises try to replace the emotional thought with a moderating, rational thought: This crisis is finite. It will end in a matter of weeks or months.
   I am not in this alone. I can reach out to colleagues for personal and professional support.
3. People appreciate the intangible. Send “thank you” emails. Offer supportive words. Appreciate the efforts, not just the outputs. Acknowledge the difficulty. People are not always looking just for solutions. Listen deeply. Acknowledge their fear. And yours.
4. Go outside for 30 minutes in the direct sun each day.
5. Helping prohibit insomnia -- Do not work one hour before sleep time.
6. Information overload might impact memory. Acknowledge that the constant strain might make you forgetful during this time of isolation. Manage the amount of information you imbibe (i.e., limit the gathering of information from the news to once in morning and once in evening).
7. Acknowledge that home life is stressful right now since humans are social by nature and not used to isolating.
8. People are experiencing the stages of grief with a new wrinkle -- they are grieving an unknown future: What will the new normal be?
9. How to make Zoom or Skype  “more personal” – virtual happy hours at 4:30 PM “depersonalize the isolation,” are great because they are “not task focused,” and “replace the water cooler talk in the office.” And use fun backgrounds
10. An “Authentic Happiness Strategy” is each day listing three good things that occurred that day https://happyproject.in/three-good-things/

Here are two other great articles about resilience and coping:

Klotz Health Promotion website offers these wellness strategies
8 Dimensions of Wellness (COVID-19 resources) website. 

The LA Times recently published the “complete guide on how to stay sane: A 13-step process”
The complete guide on how to stay sane: A 13-step process

And for a laugh, and if nothing else is working, there is the stress diet:

For other resources to support you during the coronavirus, please continue to look at our self-care website at

https://www.csun.edu/eisner-education/self-care/articles-information-self-care

Here is hoping we all find ways to cope and stay resilient. And keep our sense of humor.

Warmly,

Shari and Josh