Post Lockdown Anxiety
In this video, I talk about coronavirus (covid-19) post-lockdown anxiety. Many of you may be worried about the ongoing easing of lockdown and have anxiety about life under the ‘new normal’ of social distancing and coronavirus. Here I talk about some of the things you can do for your mental health, why your anxious predictions may be wrong and why I think you’ll cope with the challenges. Click on the image and have a watch now:
Hello, it’s Dan here. I hope you’re doing well today. and that you’re keeping safe. It’s been a very strange period with lockdown and the virus and everything associated with that and certainly all the evidence suggests that a lot of you might be struggling with stress, anxieties, fears, worries, that have been ongoing through this time with the uncertainty and the change to our patterns, not being able to see our usual social networks, having to socially distance, a lot more stuff to be thinking about, as well as concerns around finances, jobs, dealing with stuff, home schooling, what happens when the kids go back.
All those kinds of things have been affecting us, and there’s a lot of uncertainty, a lot of unknowns and certainly a lot of unfortunate illness, suffering and death that’s gone with it all. So it’s quite unsurprising that a lot of people are struggling with stress, anxiety and worry. Certainly it’s something that I’ve been helping people with, and certainly it’s something I’ve been writing about a lot on my website with ideas, suggestions, ways of thinking about things and there are a number of free hypnosis downloads at the moment on my website, so do go and grab those.
And now obviously a lot of fear, worry and anxiety is turning towards easing of lockdown further, so already things have gone through the strictest lockdown is going to get here and it’s already starting to ease with people being able to do more stuff, in terms of work and exercising more but, of course, there’s a lot of fear, worry and anxiety around what happens next. So getting back to normality, being out and about a lot more, interacting with people at a socially distanced level, keeping that in mind, schools potentially going back and a whole range of other things which takes us out of our place of safety at home and can cause a lot of worry and stress as well as things around finances, and education and jobs and all the things again that go with the current situation and the uncertainty around the future.
So thinking about what happens next and that anxiety around the easing of lockdown and getting back to normality, like I say, a lot of anxiety and stress around and those kind of things, particularly anxiety, tend to mean that we think of the worst case scenario, things going badly, not being able to cope with stuff. If you’re finding yourself doing that I just want to mention a few things today. First of all, doing normal good stuff for your mental health is clearly very important, things like exercise, gratitude, hypnosis, downloads, we know those kind of things help. Fixing on more positive stuff, focusing on what you can focus on, things within your control, being very mindful of how much news and stuff you’re paying attention to, and how much you’re getting drawn down that path, getting enough sleep, getting enough rest, eating healthily.
All those kind of foundations of good mental health, the more you’re doing those kind of things, the better you’re likely to feel and mentally calm and stronger to deal with this next phase as the lockdown eases. The other thing to keep in mind is all the research shows that us humans are pretty rubbish at predicting how we’re going to feel in the future. Anxiety is a classic example – we predict that things are going to go badly in some way, the worst case scenarios, it’s going to go wrong, you’re not going to be able to deal with it, it’s going to be a disaster, we are going to catastrophise in some way, and a lot of things don’t actually manifest. You find a way to get through stuff, or afterwards you think that wasn’t as bad, or a lot of worries never happen albeit that our thoughts and our feelings beforehand are very strong and very real. That’s typically what anxiety will do to you and it causes a lot of unnecessary suffering with it. So some of those things I’ve already mentioned are going to helping and the stuff over on my website.
But, like I say, we are particularly rubbish at planning and thinking ahead about how we’ll feel and how we’ll deal with stuff. The fact is you are more resilient than you think you are. If you think back on your life, the challenges you’ve dealt with, things you’ve overcome, you’ve found a way through, you’ve dealt with those things, you’ve come through them, you’ve reached this point. Whatever those things were, death, suffering, illness, losing jobs, redundancies, not getting the things you wanted, relationship break-ups. You find a way to get through them because you are more resilient than you even realise. So, that’s the first thing to point out. You’re more resilient than you realise, you’ve dealt with challenges through your life, you’ve managed to find a way and you will as lockdown eases and as we turn to, or move to, a kind of new normality.
And there’s a ton of research around how pretty rubbish we are at predicting how we’ll feel if things don’t go as well as we planned. We know that if we don’t get the job you wanted, if your relationship breaks up, even if you get diagnosed with a serious illness, you will predict that you’re going to feel a lot worse than actually turns out in fact, because you are resilient, because you can deal with that stuff, because you’ll find a way to get through it, because you have those kind of resources. It doesn’t mean it’s going to be a pleasant journey the whole time but yet you will get through it, things will ease off, probably won’t even be as bad as you expect them to be and if you’re being mindful, and washing your hands and keeping socially distanced, and managing things that way, that’s certainly going to help.
But mentally, exercising, moving, staying connected with people, managing what you’re paying attention to, managing your time, your energy, paying attention to what is going right, what’s within your control, savouring time that you can spend with people in your household, or doing things you enjoy, gratefulness, kindness, all those things will really help to strengthen that resilience. Yet, like I said, all the research shows that things aren’t going to be as bad as you think they’re going to be, however bad you think they’re going to be.
You will find a way to deal with it, you will have the strength, you will find the capability and the resources, so really do keep that in mind. By taking the right kinds of actions to keep yourself safe and healthy, if you’re looking after your mental health and taking the right actions there, you just have the resilience, it’s within you. I believe it’s within you, the research shows it’s within you so please do just know in your mind that whatever you’re thinking is going to happen in easing of lockdown you will find a way to deal with it, to get through it, to be OK, you will be OK. You are resilient, you can handle these challenges, however bumpy it is or however smooth it is, all the stuff shows that your thinking now is probably a bit different to what will actually manifest.
So really do trust in yourself, believe in yourself, look after yourself, do keep yourself safe and healthy, and I will speak to you very soon.
Dan Regan
27th May 2020
Hypnotherapy in Ely & Newmarket
Struggling with anxiety, stress, worry and fear and need some help? Find out how I can help with a Complimentary Hypnotherapy Strategy Session. Learn more here: Appointments
Find out what dozens of other people have said after their hypnotherapy sessions with Dan: Hypnotherapy Testimonials
And check out these powerful hypnosis downloads that can start helping you right away with anxiety, confidence and more: Hypnosis Downloads
0 Comments