How is 2021 Treating You?
With COVID-19 still rapidly spreading and the economy still suffering, 2021 might not be treating you well. What if we TREAT ourselves!
It has been a month since we stepped into the New Year! Even with the rollout of vaccines, COVID-19 is still rapidly spreading and the economy is still suffering. We are all experiencing heightened levels of stress as we face extended financial hardship, political stress, and isolation. 2021 might not be as we expected, but we can reduce our stress with a TREAT! It is an acronym referring to five positive thoughts that will help you cope up with the new normal life with COVID-19.
1. TRUST
Trusting yourself is one of the most helpful things you can do for you in your life. It can help build your confidence, allow others to trust you more, and make the process of decision making much easier. To trust yourself, all you need is to make a little effort, create self-love, and find the ability to look inward.
The concept of trust is important in healthcare too. Trust may even have therapeutic value, enhancing the efficacy of prescribed treatment. If you are planning to take the COVID-19 vaccination, have faith in its healing process. Trust the healthcare workers, trust the authority, and above all trust the Creator. Trust that it will all pass and you will survive whatever is coming.
2. REFLECT YOURSELF
Self-reflection is the habit of deliberately paying attention to your own thoughts, emotions, decisions, and behaviors. It is a way of assessing yourself. Self-reflection can help you process your thoughts and feelings.
One of the best and most powerful ways to reflect is through ‘Journaling’. When we keep our thoughts floating around in our heads, we only confuse or frustrate ourselves more. Getting your thoughts on a journal can help you understand why you are feeling a certain way and make those feelings a little easier to navigate.
If you are not interested in taking a pen and writing on a paper, there are plenty of Journaling apps available that promise privacy and security. Daybook is one such app that provides a great writing environment, lets you add photos, and even guides you if you do not know how to start writing.
When writing a reflective journal, you are simply documenting something that has happened in your life that requires you to make a change or consider the impact of your decision. Your journal, in many ways, is a dialogue that you are having with yourself. As you put your thoughts on a journal on a regular basis, you slowly begin to de-clutter your mind and bring things into perspective leading to self-awareness and inner peace.
3. EMBRACE CHANGE
Well, change is inevitable in our life. Everything is constantly changing — the environment, the weather, the economy, technology, society, culture, etc. We are living in a time of great uncertainty. The coronavirus pandemic seems an almost unrealistic crisis affecting the globe and every single solitary soul upon it. In the blink of an eye, everything has changed. The life that we once took for granted seems like a luxury now.
Some of the challenges include digitalized learning, social distancing, isolation from people, and dealing with a new “norm” that acts as a stressor for most people. Being afraid of change does nothing, but learning to accept it will be rewarding. It helps us grow into a person who is stronger and can handle unpredictable adversity. Always keep a positive mind when faced with change.
Maybe this COVID-19 pandemic is just the nature’s way of getting us to assess ourselves and identify what needs to change in our lives. Let us look forward with a positive mindset!
4. AVAIL YOURSELF OF THIS OPPORTUNITY
As of 2021, the COVID‑19 pandemic is an ongoing global pandemic causing devastating economic and social disruption. Around the world, people are getting ill, schools remain closed, the healthcare system is overloaded, many lose their jobs, companies face bankruptcy, and so on goes the list. Nevertheless, let us try to take a positive approach and look at the bright side, mainly the general opportunities that are now available and let us avail ourselves of this opportunity.
Let us try to use all the extra time that we get (Obviously this does not apply to the health-care sector and other crucial sectors) as a possibility to engage in self-fulfilling activities. It is also a great opportunity to spend quality time with our dear ones. It is a time for individual revaluation, an opportunity to rethink one’s life priorities, a new perspective on work, career, social relations, and lifestyle. Challenging times offer a great opportunity for social bonding and other ways of connecting to and helping people. Moreover, let us also consider the environmental benefits like restoring biodiversity, improving water and air quality, less noise pollution, etc.
If we keep on looking at the brighter sides of life, the longer the crisis lasts, the larger the opportunities are and the bigger the chances are of actually making changes to our deeply rooted habits and convictions.
5. THANKFUL
Being thankful during hard times is not a natural response. It should be! When you love what you already have, it fills you with enthusiasm and energy and as a result, you end up creating more abundance with that positive energy. Starting a daily practice of gratitude can help you recognize the positive in your life instead of focusing on the negative. Journaling is a great method to practice gratitude on a daily basis. In addition, being thankful and grateful for all the good things you have can actually make you happier.
“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.” — Eckhart Tolle
“During a difficult time, gratitude is more important than ever,” says Ryan Fehr a world-renowned expert on gratitude. He continues, “Research shows that gratitude can help us cope with traumatic events, regulate our negative emotions, and improve our well-being. More importantly, gratitude can have a positive effect on our friends and family, too. It’s a small way to have a meaningful impact.”
Let us try to find happiness in small things and move forward with the new normal, which may even be a better normal.
Haven’t started journaling yet? Are you confused about what to write? Checkout Daybook, a free journaling app with a lot of features that helps you to open up.
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