Everywhere you look people are spreading doom and gloom and anxiety. Of course we want to be informed and many people are trying to share information that they believe is helpful, but between the media and social media it’s difficult to stay positive.

Even the most optimistic among us are having a hard time staying positive.

It’s true that we need to take this virus seriously. It’s capable of causing severe illness, death, and drastic long-term changes to how we live and work. It is going to have a major toll on the economy.

It’s so easy to stay focused on those calamities as they seem to be the only topics covered on local and national news.

But those thoughts don’t get us anywhere. Obviously, there are things you need to know about the coronavirus outbreak to protect yourself and those around you, but you do not need to become a COVID-19 expert, nor do you need to hear about every unpleasant detail from dusk until dawn.

Instead, we need to focus on the positive so that we have the energy and resolve needed to get through this crisis. Here are nine things you can do to stay positive during these uncertain times:

1. Limit your intake. 

   Sure you could watch the 24-hour news channels, listen to dire warnings on the radio, or visit countless websites and be bombarded with the anxiety of the moment. But what would that really accomplish?

   You can end up driving yourself crazy with worry and anxiety while not accomplishing anything to help you actually get through this time.

   Instead, choose a single news source and set a limit on the amount of time you’ll spend with it each day. Then stick to your plan.

   I limit myself to one news source in the morning unless there is some super urgent press conference of which there has only been a few. I then try to limit my scrolling of social media throughout the day.

2. Look to the past. 

   Use your past experience to bring you hope about the future. You have probably endured other unforeseen crises in the past like 9/11, major hurricanes, or the recession of 2008.

   You made it through! And not only did you survive, but you are stronger because of it. Know that you will get through this. Remind yourself of your resilience on a regular basis.

   It can be helpful to sit down and make a list of all the things you have survived over the years. Things like, college finals, giving birth, or bad breakups. Looking at all the things you’ve survived in the past can help you remember that you can get through this too.

3. Watch a funny video. 

   Thanks to modern technology allowing people to share their life and humor, there are thousands of videos that can help you take your mind off current events, if only for three minutes at a time.

   Head to YouTube and make a playlist of the funniest videos you can find so you can return for a repeat viewing whenever things feel overwhelming.

   I’m currently loving the coronavirus parodies from Chris Mann and the Lockdown adaptation of Les Mis’s One Day More by a UK family.

4. Support your favorite local business. 

   You may be heeding the social distancing advice or restaurants may be shut down in your area and you couldn’t even visit a restaurant if you wanted to.

   The lack of customers isn’t helping restaurant owners pay their staff or keep the restaurant in business. Other businesses like salons, spas, tattoo shops, etc. are also suffering due to closures and lack of customers.

   Buy a gift card to help the business owners now, and prepay for services you can utilize when this pandemic is behind us.

   Many restaurants are offering delivery where if you pay in advance, they will leave the food on your front step. Take a break from cooking and support your favorite restaurant at the same time.

5. Send gifts in the mail. 

   It may not be wise to drop in on your loved ones with a car full of kids and some fresh-baked goodies, so send them a card or gift in the mail.

   Unexpected treats can be a huge pick-me-up-in times of stress. This is especially valuable to the elderly who are living in nursing homes who are no longer allowed to have visitors.

   It can also be a pick me up for people living alone. While we may have homes full of life between work and school and the kids, others may be very lonely.

   Order some treats or an Easter gift and send it over to the people you love. Even something small can let them know you are thinking of them and brighten their spirits.

6. Check on your neighbors. 

   You may be at low risk of severe consequences from the virus, but that may not be the case for your neighbors whose immune systems are compromised.

   Checking in on them (keeping six feet apart, of course) will not only make them feel good, it will make you feel good too. Plus, it’s a great reminder that there are others for whom this predicament is even more stressful.

7. Take advantage of found time. 

   Sure working from home with the kids around can be difficult, but I now have extra time that I would have been commuting. There are also no more kids activities or birthday parties or weekend events taking up our time.

   What can you do with that extra time in your schedule?

   We’ve been doing family game and movie nights, craft projects, catching up on a little TV, and a lot of cleaning and organization. So far the main living spaces are looking a ton better. Up next is the basement!

8. Practice random acts of kindness. 

   Leave an envelope with a little gift for the Instacart delivery person who drops off your groceries outside your door. Or have a coffee delivered to your doorman.

   Your kindness doesn’t require that you spend money though. Write an unsolicited review for a friend of yours who is an entrepreneur. Comment on a friend’s blog post.

   Send a snail-mail note of appreciation to a friend, family member, or colleague. Make masks for healthcare workers or drop off some food at their door. Record a video of your family thanking all of the essential workers who are keeping us safe and share it out.

   Think of those who could benefit from your thoughtfulness and generosity. Then act.

9. Take a daily inventory. 

   Close your day, every day, with a positive acknowledgement of 10 things you accomplished, learned, or are grateful for. They should be the small things like sharing a joke with your kids, or receiving a message from a friend checking in on you.

   This is a great practice year round, but especially at this time, it will help dilute some of the negativity you’ve absorbed and remind you that not everything that’s happening right now is bad or depressing.

In times when everything you hear and see is negative, you need to make a conscious effort to keep your positive attitude and march forward with determination and hope.

Be deliberate in choosing activities that are positive, heartwarming, stress reducing and laughter inducing! Together, we’ll get through this.

Cheers,

Emily