April 7, 2020
By Stacey Spata, LCSW
Executive Director, YMCA Family Services
1. Routine, routine, routine: Routine helps us in more ways than just to get things done. Routines grounds us and makes us feel better. Routines help all ages, not just children, not just adults. It gives us purpose and helps structure us, which releases good feelings.
2. Calendar: Create a calendar and cross off a day, it helps bring normalcy and know what day it is, it provides a physical release and makes us think of tomorrow and uplift or mood.
3. Hydrate: Drinking cold water helps with anxiety type feelings.
4. Grieving: We are grieving as a society. It is okay to feel the feelings. We are grieving events, holidays, big life moments, Release of tears has healing powers. Tears being excreted has a relaxing effect on the body.
5. Take time and space: It is good to tell your loved one that you love them but right now you need an hour of space to take care of yourself. In that time and space take care of yourself. (read, meditate, journal)
6. Sleep: Make sure that you are going to bed and waking up at appropriate times. We need to be awake during light hours, if we sleep until noon then we miss out on several good hours of day light. Even on a gloomy day it is lighter than at night. Our bodies need light.
7. Physical activity: Use the Ymca@Home, walk, hold a dance party, physical activity helps release happy chemicals in the brain and energetic hormones.
8. Be creative: speak it out, draw it out, color it out, write it out, build it out, move it out
9. Judge/Shame: Don’t engage in area’s like social media where there are comments that hold judgement and create feelings of shame.
10. TIME: Things I Must Endure to Thankfulness Intention Meditation Exercise
11. Do for others: Being helpful, or kind by doing for others, not only put things into perspective but also creates a flood of good/happy chemicals in our brain. Create a sign and put it in a neighbors yard, collect rocks and paint them put them in places in your neighborhood for others to find, donate to the Y funds, call an elderly person you know and see how they are doing, make a card for a local nursing home, be creative.
12. BREATH: Everything connects to our breath. Breath is connected to our feelings, breath is connected to our energy, breath is connected to our life, make sure you take time out of your day and be aware of your breath.
13. Easy Meditation: Left hand on stomach Right hand on heart. Breath in for count of four (through your nose), Breath out for as long as you count (4, 5, 6, 7) (through your mouth) repeat. When you are breathing in, breath in peace, calm, happiness. When you breath out, breath out and let it go, negativity, anxiety.
14. Laughter: When we laugh we release negativity, anxiety and relaxes us. Watch your favorite comedian, American’s Funniest Home Video, Funny animal video,
15. Limit our exposure to all forms of media: Children pick up on our moods and builds upon their worries, it is overwhelming to adults and makes us focus on the negativity.
16. Music: Remember that music can sooth the wild beast in us, in our children. There is a time for quiet and there is a time to have up beat music. Have a dance party and get up and move.
17. Reach out to our people: We are not looking to socially distance we are looking to physically distance ourselves. Call, video chat, zoom, however you can reach out. Staying physically distant is what we need to do right now but we NEED each other. Together we are BETTER
18. Do something new each day: It creates something to look forward to. There are museums where you can virtually tour the museum. Skydiving videos, Eifel tower virtual tours, Seewinter.com is where you can look at dolphin in Florida. When we have something to look forward to for the next day creates an excitement, makes us focus on positivity and use our brains.