Community Positivity During Stressful Times

During times of uncertainty, something that we can do for others that could be really beneficial for them, as well as ourselves, would be to check in on our neighbors, family and friends. Maybe it's elderly neighbor who may not have a lot of visitors, maybe their family lives out of town, or maybe it's a family member or friend. Call or text that person to reach out and check on them.

Technology Allows Us to Still Communicate With Each other

We can use our smartphones and smart technology to reach out to somebody; having eye contact is very important, it helps us to connect with other people. During these times we might know some people who need a little extra tender loving care since they might feel pretty isolated.

Reach Out to Family and Friends

Other things we can do include saying a prayer for our neighbors, family members and friends. When we do something nice for others, they love it, and it makes us feel better.

Avoid Negative Substances to Alter Your Mood

Activities that we advise people to avoid during these uncertain times include over using alcohol and drugs of any kind. We don't want to mellow ourselves out right now, we actually have to feel our feelings and know that we can move beyond those feelings. I talk to a lot of my patients about managing our feelings instead of letting our feelings managing us. So we have to be real careful about using substances to manage how we're feeling. It's okay to feel those feelings, it's okay to recognize those feelings, we just want to make sure we know how to manage those feeling. Managing them by numbing out does not help us to work through anything. In fact, ultimately it will have the reverse effect for us and we won't feel as good anymore.

See latest updates around COVID-19 from CHI Health.

For additional questions, reach out to a CHI Health Behavioral Health provider.