The past 12 months of lockdown in the UK has been tough for many people and the longer term impacts on people’s physical and mental health are undoubtedly going to transpire over the next 12 to 18 months.
The COVID-19 situation has been one of the most significant events in the past 100 years and with it has brought a great deal of uncertainty. I’ve heard on so many occasions:
When will lockdown end?
When can I see my family?
When can I go on holiday?
When will I get my vaccine?
The problem is, we don’t have the answer and we have no way of controlling the situation. The only thing we can do is deal with the uncontrollable.
So, how do we deal with them?
- Avoid the news – there is hardly ever good news reported and the media likes to stir up speculation. When we are in uncertain times, we crave certainty, which we rarely get from news sources. It just fuels an anxious feeling on what may or may not happen.
- Set short term goals – shorter term goals give you a focus on the here and now, provide a sense of purpose and a welcome distraction from the current circumstances. These goals could be associated with the current circumstance i.e., a health goal or something entirely different.
- Get curious around your feelings – don’t try and bury how you’re feeling; embrace the sadness if you are sad and welcome the anxiety. Pushing our emotions away pushes them deeper and when they re-surface they will be stronger. One of the most important things I have learnt in the past 12 months is that it is ok to have an “off day”.
- Heart Rate Variability Training is an excellent tool to help you recognise when you are in an anxious state and then take yourself out of that state. I use a device called Inner Balance from Heart Math – it’s excellent.
- Worrying about what may or may not happen in the future takes us away from the present moment. A great way to bring yourself back and change your mood is to focus on something that you feel deeply grateful for. Expressing gratitude is an underused and a super powerful tool.
I’m not saying it is easy to control the uncontrollable but by implementing the 5 points above it will help you deal with the uncertainty.
How have you dealt with the past 12 months in such an uncertain time?
If you are interested in having a discussion around anything in my blogs, please do get in touch.
About Nick
Nick Powell is the founder of Stronger Self and he works with entrepreneurs and senior leaders to enable them to take their personal and professional performance to the next level.
Nick’s approach uses cutting edge tools and techniques from the worlds of biohacking, productivity, anti-aging and neuroscience; harnessing the exciting intersection between biology and technology.
Nick has developed his Peak Performance Coaching Programmes to enable his clients to deliver extraordinary results across all aspects of their personal and professional lives.
He runs his Coaching sessions face to face in London & Surrey and across the World via Zoom.
