Four months after the quarantine for COVID-19 began, our province is finally starting to get a glimpse of normality as people begin returning to work, heading outdoors, and resuming their extracurricular activities. After being in quarantine for so long, and with the future of COVID still uncertain, there’s no doubt that most people will have strong feelings of anxiety and stress about resuming their usual routines.
We’ve put together a list of ways to help make your return to pre-covid life much easier:
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- Continue with the hobbies you picked up during quarantine. By continuing your hobbies, you can continue making progress and further grow and develop your skills. Keeping these hobbies also helps in maintaining a sense of structure, rather than moving on to drastic changes too rapidly. The progress and achievements you’ve made can also lead to positive feelings, which will allow you to better equipped in handling other aspects of life.
- Learn about how best to transition back to work. Have a meaningful conversation with your employer regarding the plan to return to work. Discuss your concerns, feelings, and any suggestions or ideas on how you can make this transition back as smoothly as possible. Flexible hours, adjusted schedules, and work from home opportunities may be available. Make sure you aren’t forced into a situation that you’re not yet ready for.
- Continue practicing good hygiene. Just because places are opening up and resuming operations, it doesn’t mean that COVID is completely eradicated. Continue to exercise caution when it comes to cleaning and sanitation, and always be weary of your surroundings. Washing your hands often, cleaning high-touch surfaces, and wearing masks are all great ways to protect yourself and others.
- Enforce a healthy and active lifestyle. Eating, sleeping, and exercising right has a multitude of benefits for both your physical and mental health. By staying active and exercising self care, you’ll be able to handle COVID and the stresses that come with it better.
- Stay informed, but don’t overdo it. Continue to keep up to date with COVID related news, but make sure that it’s from a trusted and credible source. Misinformation can lead to fear mongering, which leads to a lot of extra and unnecessary added stress. However, be sure that you day isn’t consumed by reading up on and thinking about COVID as this becomes counterproductive.
- Talk to others and don’t be afraid to ask for help. Always remember that at the end of the day, we’re all in this together. Don’t feel awkward or weird about to sharing your thoughts and feelings with your friends and family. Chances are that they’ve thought about the same things or felt the same way as you. By talking it out, we can all check in on each other and help support each other through these times.
- Continue with the hobbies you picked up during quarantine. By continuing your hobbies, you can continue making progress and further grow and develop your skills. Keeping these hobbies also helps in maintaining a sense of structure, rather than moving on to drastic changes too rapidly. The progress and achievements you’ve made can also lead to positive feelings, which will allow you to better equipped in handling other aspects of life.
