A few days back I had seen a video by the French government in which they were marketing and propagating vaccination to their citizens. In the video they have shown people getting vaccinated one by one and at the same time they are showing the stadiums, theatres and crowded places opening up. It was an emotional video for me because since almost 1 and a half year I have been conditioning my mind to think that crowded places are dangerous for us and we are going to get infected by covid if we go there.
So, that got me to thinking that once we all have achieved herd immunity in India and once Covid is finally gone and we are told that we can now safely remove our masks, how am I really going to feel?
I won’t say that I am one of those people who is a sterilization Nazi- in which I use my sanitizer every 10 minutes, sanitize every surface I am about to touch or don’t ever remove my mask in front of someone, but I am also the kind of person who avoids going in crowded places without double masking myself, if someone removes their mask to talk to me I immediately notice it and scold them to pull up their mask, and if my colleagues are crowding around me I immediately back away to socially distance myself.
I think as a healthcare worker I have been taking so many precautions since the last 1.5 years, going inside a PPE kit to see even non-covid patients in the wards, that I can't even imagine how I used to do it earlier before covid came. There is surely going to be a lasting effect of the amount of emotional and mental situations that we have faced.
So once the order comes that we can finally remove our mask and roam freely, it is going to be a very emotional moment for me. I am sure that many people feel the same way about it and it is surely going to be difficult for everyone to adjust to.
But this is a situation which will still take time to take place and there is a lot of uncertainty behind it. So what can we do to make our life a bit easier with regards to this?
* Consult a mental health practitioner.
I can't even emphasize this enough. It's not a bad thing if you want to consult a counsellor once in a while, just to get things out of your mind and get some perspective on it. Friends can only help so much.
* Present thinking vs Positive thinking
It's very difficult to accept positivity when we are going through a whirlwind of emotions. And that's just not who we are. We are human beings and we have complex emotions at all times. So instead of focusing on positive thinking, let's focus on the present moment and reflect on what we are feeling JUST NOW. Let's be honest with ourselves.
* Mindfulness
This is the practice of being in the present and sensing and feeling what we are feeling in the present moment. How many of us actually think about the past or the future when we are doing some work? Our stress hormones are elevated at all times in our body. Letting go of the past or the future is sometimes really liberating and peaceful. Try it out.
Quote of the week:
Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.
Cyril Connolly
Recommendations:
* Book: Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41721428-can-t-hurt-me
* Podcast: What’s Essential by Greg Mckeown
Instagram:
I am doing a live session on 13th June, Sunday with Ruchi Goshar- the founder of Artzlling- Mental wellness hub. Do join me at 6 pm to learn more about Mindfulness and how to practice it in your daily life.
https://www.instagram.com/fitfully.yours?r=nametag
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I am attaching the details with this email, please feel free to get back to me if you wish to join this program. Did I mention? If you sign up for this course, you can even get all your family members to attend the course as it will be very beneficial for their health.
