How to make it through a normal day during the most crucial pandemic in human history

The ‘doing enough’ complex syndrome during this pandemic, has, unfortunately, grasped most millennials. “Have I utilised my day properly?” “Have I completed all my tasks?” “Shit, I haven’t worked out today!” “I have to take time out to cook better” “Am I doing as much as others are getting done?, Maybe not”

Sadly the reality of today is being heavily underestimated and ignored.

The reality is that some of us have had to shut down our companies, and others are struggling to keep theirs afloat while making ends meet; some of us are struggling to manage children without any help while doing household chores and doing all of this while being extra precautious about COVID.

Imagine waking up daily to hear the news of the loss of lives of so many people around us; that itself is quite a lot to deal with mentally. In addition to that, with the stress of the business environment being slower than ever, employees burning out, and the lack of opportunities & regular news of heavily seasoned layoffs expecting anyone’s mental state to be normal is quite an expectation!

Mostly when I hear people speak about their days, it brings me to an interesting observation. People are constantly procrastinating about everything that they couldn’t achieve during the day. It made me realize how easily have people forgotten to give themselves the credit they deserve. And that lack of knowledge, leaves most people feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. What you should know is,

If there’s anything, getting by a normal day during this time, without feeling distressed or frustrated is in itself a huge accomplishment!

But what I find is that most people, despite the disturbing circumstances, are perturbed about their daily performance on utilising the day. But performance in today’s normal day, must be measured with newer tools rather than older paramters that don’t or shouldn’t apply!

Here are some ways to keep real track of your day!

Journaling

The best way to keep track of all that you’ve done and thought about. During a pandemic, when we are spending so much time with ourselves, chances are that we might be spending too much time inside our brains. And hence, we may lose track of how the day went by.

Acknowledgement

Along with daily affirmations, it’s important to acknowledge the growth & change that you have gone through, so far. Acknowledging all that has changed and evolved within is a healthy way to remind yourself of your strengths.

Acceptance

Accepting that this is a very stressful time makes the day easier to flow by as your expectations subconsciously are in check. Accepting small things like: House hold chores do take a lot of time; It is difficult for families to live together under one roof when no one is going out of the house unless its for urgent/daily chores;

help you get through the day without condemning yourself about how less you have done.

Not creating too many to-do’s

Fix lesser number of calls in the day. Because understand that it’s not that you have that extra time to work extra. The general environment around you is tense and you need personal time to process everything that is happening around you and feel that everything is ok.

Try to understand deeper; what is it that you’re really looking for and how is it that you want your day to look like. Automatically tasks that you have just added on that list to just make yourself feel superficially productive will erode.

Stop putting your goals only on your desk or vision board. try putting self love exercises also in there. this constant need to do something all the time, to achieve something all the time, will exhaust you and you will actually not end up doing much.

Don’t Be That Self Critic

Remind yourself again and again not to criticise yourself for eating that extra scoop of ice cream or dessert, or not exercising for that long, or just binge watching something mindlessly.

This is probably the time that the mind is in a fight, flight or freeze mode. And allowing it to just observe without making any judgements, will take care of your mental health.

Digital Detox

Have digital detox days; or if that’s something that your job doesn't allow, have digital detox time slots during the day. Know that screen-time leaves you uninspired and exhausted. Those instant bouts of inspiration from instagram and what not; if needed to be converted into ideas and plans; need to sink and settle when your mind is not busy with anything new.

Take Rest

Understand that the prefrontal cortex consumes maximum amount of calories. So just thinking and processing heavy thoughts and incidents is consuming a massive chunk of your energy. And hence it’s absolutely okay to feel like resting more often. This is the best time to take mulitple power naps during the day. They are the best self nourishment techniques for a working day.

Resolve

Try resolving or settling unresolved issues with the ones who are physically around you. This is the best time to give time at home, to your family, pet, roommates, or yourself if you’re living alone. And you can do it guilt free! If people around you are happy and joyous, it will trickle into your system too,.

Reflect

Getting in touch with the ‘usually out of touch friends / relatives’ ; thinking and muddling over decisions and the pros and cons of those; after all it is a great time to self reflect (while being aware not to self criticise) because criticism is the last thing one needs during such a time

Check Your Breath

Check your breath; atleast ten times a day. The more you’re in touch with your breath, the calmer your mind. You will be in a better position to deal with stressful situations.

What a calm mind can do; a restless one can’t

Get To Know Yourself

Seeing this time positively, will help. Spend time thinking about perspectives that are completely different from your own, {studies show that being in touch with oneself always raises empathy levels}; and maybe this is a great time to understand all those conflicts within, that you never had the time to delve into.

Getting to know yourself is probably one of the best advantages of a pandemic. and it is a hard process because it requires us to slow down. And to much of everybody’s dislike, this time has slowed most of us down.

Time Is Man Made

There is no better time to realise that actually time is the most manmade thing ever. There is no fixed time to complete a healing process. Time taken to heal is never ‘overdone’; the mind is trained to just send you signals of alarm. Hence you will constantly keep getting reminders of all the alarming things; the calls that you missed, the things that you didn’t complete and the dreams & ideas that are pending to be executed. But to deal with the chattering mind is a win over everything; And it is possible with small steps such as winning over your day.