Containment: 7 tips to help us hold on: Current Woman Le MAG

"By inviting us to ask ourselves regularly:" How do I regain power in the current context? "This period has the advantage of restoring us in our power", says author and coach Christie Vanbremeersch *. For that, providing a framework can really help us. "It feels good to know that, in uncertainty, we can count on practices that will anchor us. The question to ask yourself: what frame do I need?"offers the coach. Here are some ways to help us contain ourselves, our behavior at least and, at the same time, free up new resources or fallow the rest of the time.

Get up and go to bed early

Time division has the same utility as punctuation in a text: it is made to breathe by giving rhythm and meaning. By setting schedules, we more easily fight against the repetition of time. Paradoxically, it is in a routine of activities that have a beginning and an end that we advance and that the hours are enriched. At night we rest. In the morning, we get up. Thus, we avoid that the day / night spaces merge in an undifferentiated, identical, therefore depressing time.

Wash daily and get dressed

The temptation to hang out in bed and then in your pajamas on the sofa is formidable to hold on. It's the same idea: creating a feeling of renewal by washing and preparing (getting a makeover) allows us to take things in hand every day, therefore to keep our freedom, when, for current reasons, they elude us .

Put your house in order

"Right now, we only have our House as the horizon. We therefore want to protect it, make it beautiful, and maybe even, be more orderly than usual"continues Christie Vanbremeersch. Spontaneously, we understand the usefulness of making a bed, washing his cup immediately after use, or vacuuming. Indeed, our house, there is nothing better for the So we "potentiate" it to feel good.

Take the time to listen to yourself

"Inow what is the time to do what?"This is the question that Christie Vanbremeersch regularly asks herself. What I love to do and to which I don't usually spend time: cooking, drawing, taking care of her plants …? We can also write, listen music and reading. Give yourself the chance to get away from it all, which brings real joy. "Except that of confinement, there are paradoxically less constraints than usual, observe the coach. Thus, we can respect each other more, by being attentive to what we need, there, now. Asking yourself the question requires a little solitude to let the answer emerge. And let yourself be surprised by it". If you are confined to a couple or a family, isolating yourself in your room for a few minutes is regularly necessary to enter yourself.

Dreaming about what we will do … after

"When I have unfulfillable desires that arise, for example strolling in a bookstore or losing myself in a garage sale, I rock my dream with tenderness. When I can realize it, the pleasure will be greater because it will have been the fruit of a real desire", continues the coach. Already, when I go out once or twice a day, respecting the instruction which is not to meet anyone, I take full advantage of it: I breathe, I watch life transformed… " Yes, things take a lot of intensity when they are strongly desired. Indeed, projecting oneself beyond the present is as important as seeking to invest and embellish it day by day. This is also why, each evening, Christie writes a list of what she will do the next day. "Which doesn't mean I'm going to do all the items, but when I'm in my bed in the morning, I know things are calling to me. I make sure I have reasons to get up in the morning. What is relevant is not the list per se, it is to make it."

Staying in touch with loved ones by keeping anxiety at bay

The need to stay in touch with others, on the phone or on social networks, is obvious. But, like Christie, it is better not to be polluted by the anxieties and worries of others because this period weakens us. "Except with my children and my husband, who talk to me about what they want, I don't feel so solid right now and I can't afford to bear the negative moods and comments of others too much. I refrain from inflicting on my loved ones my own negative emotions and my annoyances (emotional continence). emotions, it's contagious. What makes me feel good I take it and give it, not the rest."

Being united to give meaning to this parenthesis

Symbolic actions are particularly useful in times of crisis. They remind us of the primary sense of community when we get out of our navel: take ownership of the rules to limit contagion without waiting to be called to order, applaud the nursing staff from their window, share aperitifs on the networks social, in our own way, we all play the game of solidarity. And it is essential not to take yourself for a victim. "I keep seeing cooking recipes and all kinds of tips shared, everyone helps to do good, to be generous, there is an abundance of donations " rejoices Christie Vanbremeersch. "We are stimulated, helped. Since the beginning of containment, I ask myself the following question every day: "How can I be useful?" This is my guiding question and it is rarely by giving unsolicited advice or by telling my husband that he inflates me that I feel useful ! Rather by posting a post every day on my blog, as I usually do. "Without forgetting the possibility of helping those who really need it: very isolated people, hungry animals in zoos … By making donations if you can afford it.

Thanks to Christie Vanbremeersch, coach and author of Find your ikigai and Change with the kaïzen, at First editions. You can also find her on the blog that she keeps every day, maviesansmoi.com

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