Being a young adult has never been easy. After all, we find ourselves in the anxious step between childhood and proper adulthood. Suddenly we’re expected to shed our teen skin and make significant decisions about our futures, none of which are particularly easy. Add a raging pandemic, increasing socio-economic and political instability, and increased isolation into the mix, and you get an even more anxiety-inducing time to be alive. More and more studies have been suggesting that Covid-19, like any major disaster, is causing an increase in mental-health disorders and their accompanying stressors. The heightened anxiety levels associated with Covid-19, especially among young adults, has even been labelled a psycho-social crisis by the World Health Organization, making a global impact on today’s youth. With this in mind, we are in incredibly stressful times. While professional help is always best if you’re capable of acquiring it, below are a couple steps that I find helpful when coping with the heightened anxiety
of these isolated times.
1) Validate yourself: You are NOT making it up
First thing’s first: what you are feeling is completely valid! You are not overreacting, you are not making it up, you have every right to feel the way you feel, and you should most definitely do everything you can to feel better! Mental health isn’t a competition, so don’t compare yours to anyone else’s. Also, poor mental health can show itself in many different ways, so don’t disregard your own mental health just cause it doesn’t seem as bad as what you’ve seen on TV.
2) Put a limit on news/information you consume daily
Most of us have an increased abundance of free time now that school is out/postponed/virtual. Given the tense state of the world right now, a lot of us have been spending more of this free time hooked on the news cycle, or at least some aspect of it. Knowing more about what’s happening around and to you is absolutely necessary. That being said, you should give yourself a break. Or like, a lot of breaks. The news is very accessible now that it’s all online, and so we have a tendency to overwhelm ourselves with it. Make reminders for yourself to get off of your preferred social media device and just be throughout your day (and yes, I should definitely take my own advice).
3) Practice loads of self care
Self-care is usually pretty low on our to-do lists, especially as young adults with lots of important decisions to make. That is pretty unfortunate, super harmful, and definitely should not be the case. Find ways to sprinkle self-care into your daily routine. Start big with a decent sleep schedule, healthy diet that you are actually happy with, and a LOT of water. Then make room in your schedule for things that make you happy or help you relieve stress; listening to music, playing soccer, talking with your friends, spending time with your family,
4) Free online self-help options
While mental health resources are usually disgustingly unaffordable, there are a couple free online resources that you can check out. Some of the most highly regarded mental health apps are listed below:
- What’s Up: uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) methods to help you cope with Depression, Anxiety, Stress, and more. The app includes a bad habit breaker and a “Thinking Patterns” page, which teaches you how to stop negative internal monologues.
- Mind Shift: One of the best mental health apps designed specifically for teens and young adults with anxiety. Rather than trying to avoid anxious feelings, Mind Shift stresses the importance of changing how you think about anxiety. This app has been described as a cheerleader in your pocket, encouraging you to take charge of your life, ride out intense emotions, and face challenging situations.
- Self-Help for Anxiety Management (SAM): users are prompted to build their own
24-hour anxiety toolkit that allows you to track anxious thoughts and behavior over time and learn 25 different self-help techniques. You can also use SAM’s “Social Cloud” feature to confidentially connect with other users in an online community for additional support.
- Shine: self-care app that aims to help users "rest, heal and grow through difficulty." Its focus is self-improvement, and it delivers motivational messages through text and audio. And, Shine also offers an inclusive community so you can connect with other members at any time. Topics addressed include stress, anxiety, burnout, acceptance, creativity, productivity, mindfulness, forgiveness, and work frustrations.
5) Ground yourself; put things into perspective
Given how negative everything seems now, from your front door to the media, it’s important to constantly reframe the narrative. Sure, most of us are stuck inside for fear that our parents will get Covid and not recover nearly as easily as we would. But we also have the ability to utilize this time indoors for things we used to never have time for, including self-care. Every generation has gone through periods of upheaval; that;’s kind of the nature of the unstable world we live in. That doesn’t make it easier to get through, but it does help ground us. This, too, will pass. Find whatever it is that helps ground you (I find that my religion, family, friends, and favorite fictional characters help to do that) and allow yourself to rely on it to get you through the worst of this physical isolation.
All of the above is certainly easier said than done and you should really seek professional help if you feel that your anxiety is hindering your ability to go about everyday activities. That being said, these tips are relatively simple and have helped young adults around the world get through
some of the worst bouts of anxiety that have developed in the face of Covid-19. The most important tip of all, cliche as it may seem, is to BE KIND to yourself!! Be so freaking kind, like wholesome-girls-who-hype-each-other-up-on-their-insta-photos kind to yourself. Let’s take care of ourselves while we’re taking care of each other.
Egypt’s sucicide prevention and mental health emergency hotline: 0220816831
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