Monday, April 27, 2020

10 Easy Ways You Can Cope With Loneliness During COVID-19 Lockdown


Are you feeling lonely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic?
Do you feel cut off emotionally from family and friends because of the lockdown?
Do you know the feelings of loneliness can adversely affect your health?

The Dangers Of Loneliness

Loneliness can impact on your mental health and your overall well-being if you don’t deal with it. It can adversely affect your cardiovascular and immune systems.
So what can you do to cope? Here are some tips to help you deal with loneliness during this period of COVID-19.

Accept Reality
Most human beings thrive on routine and predictability. We want to spend time with the same friends. We want to feel that we’re loved always. We want those we love to give us attention when we need it. When there is a disruption of our routines and our expectations are not met, we start to feel lonely.
No doubt you’d like to spend time with people or feel loved or feel that others give you attention, but that is simply not possible now. So just choose to enjoy life’s process. Just accept the reality of the coronavirus and avoid thinking, “No one has time for me.”


Plan In Advance How To Deal With Loneliness
Do you have a plan to deal with your loneliness? If you don’t, consider the times when you may feel lonely. Then write out a detailed action plan in which you specify at least 10 things you’ll do immediately you start to feel lonely.
Having a predetermined plan can significantly increase your ability to cope—when you anticipate those times in advance, you will have mentally and emotionally prepared to deal with it since you’ve already contemplated it arising. When the feeling of loneliness kicks in, you’d just be encountering what was part of the original plan and so managing it will be easy.


Use Lonely Moments To Help You Discover Yourself
Some of us are so busy trying to win the approval of others and trying to meet what others expect of us that we don’t have time to consider who we are. We’re happy to live the life of “who people want us to be”. 
Each time you feel lonely, you are presented with an opportunity to discover your true self.  Take advantage of this period of COVID-19 and just stop and look within.
Ask yourself soul-searching questions, “Who am I? What are my values? How can I use my talents to develop myself? How can I inspire myself and fulfill my dreams? What lessons can I learn from the COVID-19 pandemic? How must I change my perspective about myself and how I view life?”
When you consider your loneliness as a source of refreshment and enlightenment rather than an enemy, you will open the door to your unexplored potential.


Focus On The Positive
Sometimes we feel lonely because we refuse to see that we can make something meaningful out of even bad situations such as COVID-19 and its fallouts.
However, changing your perspective and viewing loneliness not as something negative, but as an opportunity to grow, can help you feel less lonely.
Growth requires change. Growth chooses to see possibilities in uncomfortable situations. So start to see possibilities—think about the fact that you can do things during this lockdown that you couldn’t do hitherto, such as spending time with family. Start seeing online business possibilities.  Start seeing possibilities for new friendships.

Nostalgize About Happy Moments
I suffer from a disease that makes it impossible for me to socialize. I spend day after day in the house away from friends and most family members.
Furthermore, it is impossible for me to communicate with people for long periods because of the disease. As a result, I experience loneliness often—I suffer frequent bouts of loneliness which tears to the core of my heart and makes me feel as though I’m not part of the world.
However, when I’m feeling lonely, I recall great moments I’ve spent with friends or schoolmates, and it fills me with positive emotions and I feel this sense of contentment that drives away feelings of loneliness.

Create Humor In Your Head
I have discovered an unexpected benefit to reminiscing on jokes I’ve read or heard, and funny scenes I’ve encountered, as I deal with an embarrassing disease that prevents me from socializing.
However, as a defense mechanism, especially when I start ruminating about my plight, I think about funny occurrences and that makes me laugh. That habit helps to distract me and help me focus on being alive instead of focusing on my isolation. I feel that whether I can socialize or not, life is a gift that must be enjoyed and not allowed to waste.
Yes, the desire re to connect face-to-face with others still lurks on the edges of my thoughts, but this habit makes living more tolerable.

Practice Gratitude
Thank the LORD that you’re still alive. Thank God that you have not been infected with the coronavirus.
Even if you have been infected with the coronavirus, thank God that you are not dead. Thank your family for their support. Appreciate your spouse for his love and care. Write gratitude letters to yourself.
Expressing your gratitude can increase feelings of happiness, promote feelings of contentment and satisfaction, and make you feel connected to others, that’s according to research published in 2015 by the National Institutes of Health.1  


Make It A Habit to Commit Yourself To Others Constantly
There is happiness in giving rather than in waiting to receive. You will never feel truly happy and connected in life if you choose to live life for yourself alone.
So choose a cause bigger than yourself and work at it in the spirit of excellence. Believe in others and nurture their dreams. Build into the lives of strangers by providing nutrients of gratitude and encouragement.
When you do something for someone else, you become aware that other people have problems, often much greater than your own. And as you continue doing charitable acts, it will become a vital part of you as you see your goals through to the end and as the positive change you are bringing into the lives of others bears fruit.  
This can help you feel better about yourself and at least help you to keep things in the right perspective. Such unselfish love will give meaning to your life and make it easier for you to think less about yourself.


Remind Yourself Of God’s Constant Presence
Who are we really as humans? No, it’s not a no-brainer. Many people have lost sight of this fact. We are spiritual beings, living souls, clothed in a physical body. And our souls need to be reminded constantly that we were created by Someone, otherwise, we feel lonely when our fellow humans don't give us time and attention.
One of the unfortunate effects of loneliness, especially chronic loneliness, is that it makes us feel that if no human being has time for us, then we’re really all alone. That feeling in turn reinforces feelings of unworthiness and makes us feel unloved and miserable.
However, when you expand your vision and tune into spiritual vision, and you remind yourself that God is with you always (as He promised in Matthew 28:20), and especially now that COVID-19 is spreading across nations, it’ll help reduce feelings of emptiness.


Offer Up Prayer To The LORD   
I was brought up in a Christian home and taught to pray whenever I find myself in challenging circumstances. Daily prayer has become an inextricable part of my life.
Prayer has really helped me battle the loneliness I’ve experienced these past 10 years. And during the COVID-19 pandemic, prayer helps me to feel that I’m still connected to my Maker, even if I can’t spend time with people. The habit reminds me that no matter how lonely I feel, I have a Creator who sees me as an individual He created and who gives me undivided attention whenever I need Him.   


Footnote:
Caputo, Andrea. (May 29, 2015). The relationship between gratitude and loneliness: the potential benefits of gratitude for promoting social bonds. Published online 2015 May 29. doi: 10.5964/ejop.v11i2.826.  Eur J Psychol. 2015 May; 11(2): 323–334.



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