Hello everyone, my name is Kiki and I’m a final year student at UOB. I’m writing this blog to reach out to students during isolation. I am sure that this is a very anxious and stressful time for many of you. Being a final year student, my whole education has been turned upside down and I have no choice but to try and respond to it in the calmest way possible.
I am sure many of you will have heard a lot of advice on ways to stay sane, so I have included general advice at the end for anyone interested. I’m hoping however, that if you’re reading this, you’ll gain an insight into something that may help you during these incredibly challenging times as these are some of the methods that are helping me to remain positive and calm.
Staying as productive as is possible for YOU
The first thing I can recommend to students in to stay as productive as is possible for YOU. Of course, everyone’s individual situation is completely different and you have to evaluate what works for you and what things you feel you can do, and if that means simply staying in bed, relaxing and watching Netflix all day, there is nothing wrong with it!!
Listen to what your body and mind really need right now and don’t compare this to anyone else. Your situation is individual, as are your needs and you need to honour this in a way that is right for you.
That being said, I have found that creating a routine and checking off potential tasks really helps to keep me grounded and it gives a sense of normality and accomplishment that most of us seek in normal daily life. Here are some tips of what I have been trying to do to stop myself from falling into a slump. You have never and probably will never have more time than you do right now, so it’s a great time to get started on tasks/hobbies/goals that you may have otherwise pushed aside and focus on yourself.
TIP: Figure out the tasks you wish to complete and group them in a table:
1. Make a list of all the things you ideally wish to achieve in quarantine
2. Subgroup them e.g Work, Education, Fitness and Health, Hobbies, Helping Others, Self-Care, Chill (any category that works for you).
3. Make a table with the days of the week across the top and on the left-hand side write the different tasks/activities/goals. Upon completion tick off what you have done.
(I personally like to summarise the success of my task with a face or a comment so that when it comes to tracking my progression, I can clearly see how I felt after.)
4. At the end of the week look back on everything you have achieved and feel proud at anything that you may have
completed, even if it’s just one task!!
And Remember: It is ok and normal to feel stressed, demotivated, anxious and worried. You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t. However, putting into practice techniques such as these to measure productivity gives you a sense of purpose during this time when our purpose may feel compromised. You don’t have to spend every second doing something productive, nor every day. Visually seeing your achievements at the end of the week, however big or small, will motivate you to get up every day and keep going.
Do something to calm the mind
If like me, you suffer from anxiety, you will have days where you feel overwhelmed, agitated and distressed. It is difficult managing anxiety on a daily basis let alone amidst a global crisis. Every time I feel myself falling into a pattern of anxiousness or negativity, I remind myself that what is currently happening will pass. Of course, my parents’ obsession with the news is somewhat unhealthy and I do find myself sitting in the living room being sucked in by the negative and distressing impact of this crisis, which we are all very much aware of.
Whilst it is very important to keep up to date with the news and what is going on, it is important that we use the news to inform us and not consume us. Watch and read the necessary but don’t spend hours scrolling through stats or articles because this will not be beneficial to your mental health. This is not helpful to you or those around you. We need to remain positive in our lives, not just for our mental health, but for the sake of others too.
I too have been sceptical of some of these methods in the past. Being very inflexible and not understanding the practice meant that when trying yoga in the past, I was very impatient and quick to rule it out. However, after having a knee injury for a year, I found that the only active thing I could do for a while was yoga and so I decided to give it a second chance. I found myself not forcing myself to go but actually craving the session, because of how it made me feel after. Calm, stable and relaxed. And who doesn’t want to feel like this, especially in times like these.
What I love about yoga is that you really can start from anywhere (take it from me) and once you see progression, it motivates you to continue. It has helped me to learn about and appreciate my body even more and I can definitely see improvements in my body. My knee is strengthening, my posture is improving and my mind is healing.
Yoga itself incorporates meditation into its practice. Meditation is literally about focusing your mind on the body and the present moment and what better way to engage and practice this than connecting your mind and body in yoga. So, if you find it hard to concentrate during a solo meditation practice, then this kills two birds in one stone.
TIP: Another thing I also started recently was journaling. Having so many emotions and being overwhelmed by them, this is a great way to distinguish what you are feeling and why and then being able to separate yourself from this.
It’s a great way to work out what is going on in your head and working through it. From this you can create a mood tracker to work out what your feeling and solutions that helped you overcome this feeling/made you feel better.
So, if I’ve kept your attention this far in the blog, I hope you have found some of these tips helpful. There is no one way of staying sane during this time but it’s about finding what works for you. These activities and methods are definitely a great way of reducing stress and trying to combat it by actively doing something that engages your mind and body in a positive and calm way.
Whatever you’re doing, please don’t be too hard on yourselves if you are not getting up and doing what you normally would or if you’re struggle to find motivation to do anything. This is completely normal. Just try and stay positive, healthy and calm and soon we’ll soon be out of this – appreciating and enjoying a new life – having had the time to reflect on the small things that really do mean a lot to us.
In the meantime, stay safe, stay home, stay mindful and stay smiling.
Kiki xx
Cook proper, healthy balanced meals to fight infection. It’s so tempting to eat badly and believe me, I’ve surrendered to Ben & Jerrys and Pizza. Whilst it is definitely more than acceptable to treat yourself, we need to make sure we are staying health to fight off this virus.
Make sure to cook some nice and tasty recipes as well. Lots of students are big fans of mobkitchen and tasty and I know I like to watch food videos on the daily. Unfortunately, my laziness overtakes me and I am never motivated to get 100 different ingredients out and whip up one of their so seemingly tasty inventions. Now is the time to try new recipes, but with fewer ingredients!
Music is a great way to release stress. It is also a great mood lifter if you are feeling anxious/worried/sad. Evaluate what kind of music you are listening to and the vibe it gives off and if you feel like you are slipping into a place of fear and anxiety, bang on your happiest, most uplifting playlist even if it seems like the last thing you want to do as this definitely helps to keep spirits up.
Getting some fresh air is important. As much as I looooove my bed (which student doesn’t), the more days I spend under the covers the worse I feel. Even sitting on my terrace for 10 minutes when the sun comes out or dragging myself on a dog walk makes me feel better because I am breathing in fresh air that my mind and body needs.