Dealing with isolation and the mental side of this situation

General
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Hi Just want to have a bit of a positive post on this forum with some tips for dealing with this horrific situation. Unfortunately i can’t offer anything for people who this will financially hurt and those who are most at risk. It’s absolutely awful and I hope you get through it.

But mentally, this is an incredibly trying time for everyone. We are all in some stage of the 5 stages of grief, denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. We won’t all go there in order, and we won’t stay in acceptance, I’ve definitely hit every one at some point, I feel I’ve got acceptance to a point and have some a few things that may help me and others stay there.

1/ don’t spend your day consuming information about the coronavirus. This just leads to fear and depression, keep up to date with what the latest advice is, follow it, and move on.

2/ delete social media apps. Hence why I’m posting this here and not there. They can be all-consuming, toxic, and ill informed. They are the best way to fall into the trap of 1/

3/ exercise. A really good one for keeping spirits up, releases endorphins, blah blah blah. But seriously there’s plenty of exercise routines you can do for all levels, even 5 minutes in the morning. I was a gym instructor for a while so I’m happy to help if anyone needs advice.

4/ set a routine. This is particularly important if you have to self-isolate. A routine really helps to keep focused and not get cabin fever. I work with vulnerable people, so I’m pretty much already doing that when I’m not at work and there’s a fair to good chance I may have to do it at work. So I’ve got my goals and routine up and running.

.read for at least an hour a day.
.at least 20’000 steps a day.
.exercise routine.
. Box set I want to rewatch, 1 episode a day.
Etc. Etc. One of my goals is not to shave till all this is over. Pointless. But it’s a focus.

This is awful, and I know it’s so much worse for so many other people. But if you can, try and take whatever positives you can from this period.

Take care folks.

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This is great advice

For me with young kids my days off are a ch ace for some family time. We set a schedule and do some math, play outside, watch a movie and try to unplug from the outside world and tech as best we can

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Timely post. I’d also recommend to ask friends to do some video calls on facetime or skype. Not being at work I do miss the face to face interaction with colleagues and friends. So I can get a bit depressed without that outlet for being social.

I’m off work for three weeks cause I work for a school which is closed.

I’m going to set a few reminders on my phone (which I deleted social apps) and get some long walks in, and hopefully get some baking done. Since I always complain I never have time =)

Stay safe everyone!

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Great advice, regarding the routine I’d also add make sure you keep good practices around getting dressed, shaving, making your bed, keeping tidy.

The difference in attitude after getting dressed and keeping a comfortable living space can have a a pretty significant positive impact on your mind.

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I’ve been trying to get a game in every other night with my friends on Google Hangout or boardgame arena.

I also try to do the following every day

Read
Clean and organize one room
Exercise
Hour of yardwork when the weather is nice
Check in with family and neighbors
New hobby (I have a 2000 piece jigsaw puzzle of the world that might defeat me)

I’m kinda not interested in watching any tv at this point but I assume that will change.

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Maybe its just the bubble I am in on twitter but I am stunned already by the lack of stories or analysis for how millions of parents are dealing with kids and working from home.

Both my wife and I work and we had a toddler at daycare who is now at home with us. He’s too young to need a curriculum set up to replace school. But still needs almost constant supervision and attention. We are both doing our best to almost take-shifts and switch off watching the kid depending on who is on a conference call. And try to make-up any work during late nights. But I don’t see how we can keep this up for months. This isn’t just a long break for us to rewatch breaking bad.

It’s tough. But I also appreciate that its necessary and 100% believe in the importance of social distancing to limit our little germ spreader from touching everything. And know that I am still in a better position than many who are having their livelihoods shut down by the quarantine restrictions.

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Forget doing this in response to Covid 19. Do it because they are fn pointless and add zero value to life!

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Yeah, I need to stop waiting until 7pm to have a shower. :joy:

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Which board games? I’ve been playing marvel champions lately

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Thanks Alex. That means a lot.

Switching off must be so tough.

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I’ve been bingeing the MCU movies. Winter Solider next.

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Absolutely. Our best contact with friends just now is going to be like that. I’d recommend finding something else to talk about rather than the coronavirus. For instance my friend in a similar situation to myself is going to start watching game of thrones whereas I’ve seen it a million times. Gives us a wee outlet to discuss something else.

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Jigsaw! I’m adding jigsaw to my list. Genuinely one of the great stress relievers. Thanks.

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It’s absolutely rotten mate.

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Yeah I am lucky that my Wife works from home normally in hours that are not the standard timeframe (online college teacher). I can’t imagine trying to watch my 2 toddlers if we both had regular jobs working from home.

As I’m working from home full time now my schedule honestly isn’t that different minus commuting. I run in the morning, work, eat lunch with my family, then after work is normal evening stuff, dinner, bath, bed. Honestly weekends will be the big change as we cannot take the children to activities so it will be more time in our yard or hiking in the woods.

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I’m in the same boat. Four days in and it’s been… interesting.

But I’m actually just really happy they closed schools. We were going to keep them home anyway and it was strangely stressing ne out that they hadn’t cancelled.

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This sucks! I appreciate the media wanting to keep people informed, but it almost seems like some of the coverage is exploiting people’s fears and paranoia.

Most of the coverage I’m seeing is about the empty streets, isolation, death toll, and desolate retail shelves.

It would be nice to have more interviewers with those currently infected who have mild symptoms but are taking the proper social distancing measures and people who have survived the virus.

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Diplomacy but that might be worse than the actual virus. It’s very interesting but get ready to see different sides of six if your friends.

We’ve also been playing coup. Very fun.

And somehow I’ve been tricked into playing the transformers tcg. I hate game that you have to collect but this one has been fun as hell and luckily plays very well over Google Hangout.

It’s funny you mentioned the marvel game. I was looking at it today.

How do you like it?

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I know what you mean but so many people don’t give a shit.

Part of me wants the media to make it look as serious as possible

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It’s okay. It can be played solo which is nice but it’s very easy. Easy to table not much deck building. You don’t lose much. Good theme and it can be fun.

I’m an LOTR LCG player and that’s way harder than this but much more serio and deck building time.

I for a few packs of transformers TCG for me and my son but didn’t really get into it.

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