Confinement, lack of activity, stress … Confinement is difficult for everyone. But another element is sometimes added to this anxiety-provoking reality: loneliness. As we know, man is a social animal. Being confined to family, couples or friends, allows you to exchange ideas, limit the feeling of isolation and make this period more bearable. Being alone with yourself can make this moment even more difficult. So how do you deal with feeling lonely and avoid depression?
To say that we all live the same thing
It’s a short-lived comfort, but it can lift your spirits for a moment: everyone is affected by this confinement, and many are left alone. In any case, this period is new and difficult for each of us. This thought can help those confined to solo to put into perspective and dispel the feeling of loneliness that can sometimes assail them.
Establish a routine
Structuring your days is important to keep morale high. The idea is not to stick to a military timetable or to add injunctions, but simply to try to have a certain regularity, all with tact and moderation. It is for example possible to determine a time to get up, go to bed, but also meal, and leisure times.
The daily realization of "to-do list" is also a good way to set daily goals and to furnish your day. A tip that also allows you to think about original ways of looking after yourself. Reading, film, puzzle and other manual or artistic activities can be included: the whole thing is to let your creativity and your desires speak!
Plan for social interactions
Maintaining social places from a distance is essential during confinement, especially when you are alone at home. But the best is still to plan for these interactions, by setting up meetings with those close to you. This allows you to fill your schedule, and keep pleasant goals in mind to be positive. For even more pleasure, these meetings can take the form of videoconferences: a particularly comforting means of communication, since it allows you to see your loved ones in addition to hearing them.
During these times of discussion, single people should not hesitate to verbalize their emotions, and to tell their loved ones that their loneliness is difficult to live with, because this reality is sometimes difficult to understand for people confined to family or couples .
These social interactions can also be done with a healthcare professional. People who are already receiving psychological counseling must maintain this link via teleconsultation during confinement. And those who feel the need to call in a professional should not hesitate to take the plunge.
Protect yourself from continuous information
It is not uncommon for negative thoughts to loop in the heads of those who are alone. This is all the more true in the current context, which is particularly burdensome. To regain positivity, it is essential to protect yourself from the anxiety-provoking information that is looped on television and on social networks. Stay informed yes, but not constantly and not just anyhow!
Engage in physical activity
It’s no secret that physical activity is a great way to maintain good mental health. While it can be complicated to find the right balance between the need to move and compliance with government instructions, there are several options available to those who feel the need to let off steam: playing sports at home, or going out for a jog equipped of his certificate of derogatory displacement and within a radius of 1 kilometer around his home. If the outings must be limited to the maximum, airing a few minutes a day in his garden, on his balcony, or in his street can help keep morale high.
To be useful
Calling isolated elderly people, shopping for their neighbors, distributing meals to the most underprivileged … These solidarity initiatives proposed by the government in this context of health crisis are a good way to create links while being useful. And we know that the feeling of altruism can improve the way in which confinement is experienced. So many good deeds which people saddened by their loneliness would be wrong to deprive themselves of, if their state of health allows them to do so.
Thanks to Dr Jean-Victor Blanc, psychiatrist at the Saint-Antoine hospital in Paris.
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