FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2024
Altaf Shah
We are living in extraordinary times — a world which changed overnight from being carefree to being in the grip of a fear of psychosis. We are worrying about how to keep our family and ourselves safe and immune to the invisible virus which is life-threatening and has shattered many families. Negativity is taking its toll and we are left feeling physically and emotionally drained.
It is of paramount importance that we channel our energies towards positive things. A few pointers in this regard:
Limit news media and social media intake as far as possible. If you consider seriously, most newspapers and news channels are circulating the same news from different angles and varying degrees of sensitivity. The question is: Do we need to go on an overdrive of dissecting every news item and thereby disturbing our mental peace? It is important to know what’s happening around us, but the question is how much is enough? We seriously need to draw a line when it comes to getting affected with every news item that passes us by.
We also need to understand the importance of simple remedies like catching up with family and friends (online too), helping in cooking or cleaning the house or other routine things to keep our mental equilibrium in check and remain distracted from all the negativity around us.
At such times, simple techniques like yoga, meditation and prayer sessions also help to clear and eliminate feelings of anxiety, stress and panic. One needs to indulge in them to control negative thoughts.
Extending a helping hand to people around is the need of the hour. It could be as simple as helping your COVID-affected neighbour with groceries or being part of an NGO, which is distributing food to the needy.
Besides the mental aspect, one needs to pay attention to one’s physical aspect too. Spend at least an hour every day doing a physical exercise that you like, be it on the treadmill, doing yoga, playing a game or some such. In addition to this, following a diet plan is important to keep yourself well hydrated, practice a balanced diet and consume multivitamins to boost the immune system.
And of course, keep the cheer on. Spend time to bond with family and friends. Chat up an old friend or cheer up a relative who has seen some low times recently. Spread the positivity by sharing posts, captions and news that is positive and constructive. Remember positivity is the need of the times and will help to fight the fear of illness, if not the illness itself.
As humans, we are forever looking for scapegoats to play the blame game. In this case, many have pointed a finger towards the govt’s inadequacy to handle the situation. May be it is possible the govt failed to understand the severity of the situation and act accordingly. But there’s a lot more that we can do on our part too like maintaining the standards of hygiene around us, maintaining social distance and wearing a mask. After all, self-help is the best help and remaining away from negativity is probably the most important thing as there are very few who spread optimism around and we need to be one of the few.
