Dealing with down moments is never easy, with the coronavirus hitting the whole world and went rapidly from an endemic to a pandemic and leading to worldwide restrictions and lockdown in several parts of the world. It has left lots of people with few options of doing what they enjoy doing daily and listening to this everyday negative news of thousands and millions of people dying due to COVID-19 leaves not much but therefore leading to lock down depression, anxiety, or lockdown blues.
I will be sharing here with you few tips on how to deal with this lockdown depression and lifting yourself from the shackles of it.
According to the Department of Psychology,AU, during this lockdown period more women suffered from mental health issues during lockdown than men. Married participants had more mental health problems compared to those unmarried. People in their 30-44 age group suffered more mental health issues. Anxiety, depression, social dysfunction are more common. Note that the below tips may not work for clinical depression.
I will be sharing here with you few tips on how to deal with this lockdown depression and lifting yourself from the shackles of it.
Find A New Hobby
This might be more difficult than you thought but at the same time easier goal to reach than trying to travel around the world right now in face of the pandemic. Hobbies like reading, cooking, listening to music, fitness, yoga, garden walks could be therapeutic at this time and help keep your mind occupied.
Detach Yourself From The Media News World
With the media going frenzy and broadcasting daily about this COVID-19 pandemic and how millions of people are losing their lives daily might add more anxiety and panic to your life. Taking a break from the media and focusing on yourself, reading motivational or positive books, focusing on your new hobby, and taking a break from feeding your mind with this news might help with your coping.
Take A Virtual Drive
Taking a drive and watching the road appear and disappears has always been therapeutic for me if it has always been for you, or you want to try it out but can’t do it now. The virtual drive might be the ideal alternative. You can sit or lay behind your phone or laptop while you enjoy a road trip down the lane and indulge in the effects of the disappearing and appearance of the road slops that come with actual driving
From Amsterdam to Beijing to London, down to New York and Buenos Aires even adding more than 40 cities, you can virtually drive down and listen to your driving radio while at it, hearing normal road noises and horns, if you may, you can increase your driving speed as you wish. This virtual driving site ‘Drive and Listen‘ allows you to experience that.
Explore The Virtual Museum Tours
If you are a museum lover and can’t get to go to visit due to the lock down then this is for you. The list below compiled by nomadicmatt.com is packed with virtual tours of museums around the globe.
This virtual tours are so technologically advanced that it looks like you are there in person. Enjoy.
- Anne Frank Museum (Amsterdam)
- Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam)
- Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam)
- Picasso Museum (Barcelona)
- Guggenheim (Bilbao)
- Faroe Islands Virtual Tour (Denmark)
- Salvatore Dali Museum (Figueres)
- Uffizi Gallery (Florence)
- The Giants Causeway (Ireland)
- British Museum (London)
- Buckingham Palace (London)
- National Gallery (London)
- Natural History Museum (London)
- Tate Britain (London)
- Metropolitan Museum (New York)
- Coliseum (Rome)
- Catacombs (Paris)
- Louvre (Paris)
- Musée d’Orsay (Paris)
- Machu Picchu (Peru)
- Ruins of Pompeii (Pompeii)
- Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg)
- Sweden Virtual Tour (Sweden)
- National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC)
- US Holocaust Memorial Museum (Washington, DC
Find Virtual Friends
Meeting your friends may not be ideal now, but with the use of technology, you can communicate with anyone from your phone using voice or video communication. You can also make new friends from social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. Facebook has lots of supportive groups where you can join and meet people and discuss virtually.
Talk To Someone
Confide in someone close to you, a friend, a neighbour, a family member. You would be surprised how many other people around you are going through the same blues, and looking for someone to talk through about it with. Lockdown depression should not be neglected.
Binge Watch Your Favourites
I am not sure what your favourite TV shows are. But some good comedy series can turn a bad day into a fantastic one. Netflix has some good series and thousands of selections to choose from. If you do not have a Netflix subscription you can ask a friend who has for their log-in details alternatively you do surprise how many good shows you can find freely on other sites like Youtube, Dailymotion, and Vimeo, just find your favourite and get indulged.
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