4 Strategies to help you thrive during lockdown. Part 23
This is the Third and final part of a three part blog written by Dr Lize Wolfaardt
11. Worry-time – allocate a time everyday for you to worry. Let’s say for instance between 11h00 and 12h00. This means that you are not allowed to worry outside of this hour. Should you catch yourself worrying at any other time, stop it immediately, tell yourself that you will worry during the allocated time, and distract yourself with something else. Also, decide on how far ahead in the future you will allow yourself to worry. Will it be a day, a week or a month into the future. Reminds me of the saying: “How do you eat an elephant – one bite at a time”.
12. This too shall pass. With lockdown having been extended for 2 weeks, many of us may be feeling disappointed and even disillusioned. It may feel as if the current situation is just going to continue forever, with the goalposts having been moved. We need to however remind ourselves that lockdown is temporary, that the effect of Covid -19 on the economy is temporary, that the pendulum will swing in the opposite direction, and that we will all settle again into normal, although it may be a slightly different normal. Chin up… this too shall pass….
13. Gratitude – has the power to dissolve negativity. Feeling gratitude, will also attract more things into our life to feel grateful for. In the same manner, feeling anxious and negative will attract more things into our life to feel anxious or negative about. So, with this in mind, it is a very good idea to make a list of those things inherent in the lockdown situation that you are grateful for.
14. Finding meaning – When we are able to find a sense of meaning in our suffering, we can overcome it. One of the ways of finding meaning in suffering is by accomplishing a task. So, lockdown has given us the opportunity to do that online course we have always wanted to do, or the opportunity to declutter our house, Another way of finding meaning is by loving someone. Lockdown has perhaps given us the opportunity, to reconnect with our partner, to re-establish and re-invent the romance, to feel the love…And by realizing the above, we can choose to have a positive attitude towards lockdown. All of this will help us to find meaning within lockdown, and therefore ease our suffering.
Written by:
Dr Lize Wolfaardt
Counselling Psychologist
MA (Counselling Psychology)
D. Litt et Phil (Psychology)
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