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If you’re feeling anxious, worried or stressed, you’re not alone. The extreme measures put in place to limit the spread of coronavirus have impacted on every element of our lives. So whether you’re struggling to juggle work while looking after young children, anxious about your finances or simply feeling the effects of the lockdown, it’s all too easy to feel overwhelmed at times.
Fortunately, research into what enables us to stay mentally healthy, when confronted with stressful situations, shows there are four practical things you can do to boost your emotional resilience and ability to cope with pressure.
Known as the 4Cs, these are sustaining positive interaction with others (community), allowing yourself to feel part of something important (commitment), giving yourself a sense of control over your daily life (control) and making sure you’re being stretched, but not overwhelmed (challenge).
With the usual ways of getting these needs met now being compromised, here are four ways you can continue to use the 4Cs to boost your emotional resilience and reduce your stress levels.
How to use the ‘4Cs’ to boost your emotional resilience:
1. Community: sustaining positive interaction with others
It would be better if ‘social distancing’ had been called ‘physical distancing’ because, although the opportunities for meeting up with others in person have been restricted to prevent the spread of the virus, there are still many ways you can stay socially connected. Instead of just liking people’s posts on social media, pick up the phone and give them a call, invite a colleague for a virtual coffee, set up some Zoom drinks with a friend, get involved with a local charity, join an online class or meet someone outdoors at a safe distance.
2. Commitment: allowing yourself to feel part of something important
Auschwitz survivor Viktor Frankl was able to survive the most dehumanizing of experiences because of his observation that the main difference between those who survived and those who didn’t was a sense of purpose. The school of psychotherapy he went on to found highlights the importance of meaning for sustaining good mental health. It’s why clapping for carers and the NHS felt so good. It connected to us to something bigger than ourselves. Think about how you can continue to connect yourself to something bigger than yourself, be it through your work, helping your local community or society, home schooling or staying home to reduce the spread of the virus.
3. Control: give yourself a sense of control over your day-to-day life
Although most aspects of our lives feel very uncertain right now, it’s important for our mental health that we continue to feel like masters of our own destiny. Make the most of any opportunities to work flexibly to allow yourself to shift your hours to work around other commitments, such as teaching young children, and take control over how you structure your day and deadlines to boost your emotional wellbeing. Also make sure you schedule in time each day to do some of the things that have been proven to boost mental health, such as connecting with nature, talking to friends, eating healthy food and getting enough rest.
4. Challenge: making sure you’re being stretched, but not overwhelmed
To avoid feeling overwhelmed, break down your day or work into manageable chunks you have to complete and work in ‘sprints’ to complete a task in a 1.5 - 2 hour burst, then reward yourself with a movement break, healthy snack or virtual coffee conversation, before starting the next task. Rather than hours worked, focus on quality outputs and problem-solving to stay productive and positive. If you’re on furlough, or not being stretched enough, challenge yourself to get fit, take part in a community project or learn a new language or skill that might benefit your career in future.
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