Introduction
Health is very important, and in fact, it should be our number one priority, especially that we’re still in a pandemic. These global disaster and health issues have degraded our health, even our health care system, so much to the point that losing lives everyday has become a usual scenario. We feel overburdened, so to speak. We crave for rest, to reset, and to revitalize.
It is unfortunate that when we scroll on our social media accounts, we often see people changing their profile photos with a plain black photo or a photo of a candle. This has become so normal that expressing someone’s sincerest condolences has been as frequent as saying hi or hello.
This has contributed also to the experience of being burned out and overwhelmed. Nonetheless, we still need to stay healthy in all aspects of our lives to still have that arsenal in combatting these stressors.
Our health is interconnected
We have to understand that our health is not only confined within the physical aspect. The same has various compartments which work together and are interconnected, in order for us to be considered fully optimal.
This “health” comprises our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. We cannot say that one is more important than the other, for these are distinct things and play different parts and roles in our lives.
They are not similarly situated, yet, should work in unison. Thus, there is no basis for comparison and in saying that one of them should be given more attention and importance than the other.
There can be no overall health without any one of these aspects being taken care of. A person cannot be considered fully healthy if he lacks nutrition on any of these facets.
Aside from our physical fitness, the most affected during this pandemic is our mental health. This pandemic has really taken its toll on our mindset to the point that people get easily triggered and are likely to breakdown.
It is really important to take care of ourselves during these trying times because it is the only thing we can do to survive this battle. We have to keep ourselves sane as much as possible since once we lose our sanity, that’s the time where things will fall one after the other, until there will be nothing left of us.
Knowing these, we can now evaluate the ways to rejuvenate ourselves and find methods to abundantly rest.
Find your stressors
Mental health has always been an issue and a lot of efforts are being exerted to educate people about this paradigm and its importance. Studies are conducted to actually break the stigma about it.
If people are not mentally healthy, they will not be productive and will always have that weight on their chest which they can never point out or understand why such burden is there.
When our psyche is at its best, it allows us to perform our daily activities efficiently and with grace. When a person gets exhausted [psychologically], even though he loves what he’s doing or his job, he begins to hate it. He easily gets angry because he’s tired and irritated.
Thus, rest and reset are important to maintain that sanity while we continue to fight this seemingly endless battle or even life’s challenges for that matter.
Overwhelmed | Overburdened
Things can become overwhelming especially when you lack rest, hence, the need also to reset. When a person gets overwhelmed, the tendency is that such person would no longer function properly and his productivity would eventually decrease, or even worse, he might actually lose that productivity.
We don’t want to reach the point that we will drop everything we have worked so hard mainly for the reason that we are tired at that moment, when we could have prevented it by just allowing ourselves to rest and recharge.
The reason why most people give up is really not because they’re tired. It may be more than that. It’s actually due to the fact that they have deprived themselves with needed rest, foremost, psychological.
They feel guilty when they do nothing at all; ergo, they tend to overwork. In the long run, this frame of mind will prove prejudicial rather than beneficial.
To address these pressing concerns and to achieve the rest and traquility of mind that we need, it is important to determine the factors which have caused, and have been causing, us stress and anxiety. We should be able to pinpoint what these causes are so we can provide the necessary solution.
Determining what triggers and causes us stress is the first step we need to undertake to understand ourselves. So that, we will know the necessary steps we have to embark on, in order to give a solution or answer to our burnout and the experience of becoming overwhelmed.
There are lots of things which make a person worried and pressured. This can be studies, social media, work, bosses, parents, siblings, and neighbors. Likewise, the environment they are in, and so many more, may contribute to tensions.
Non-conducive Set-up | For Work and Study
Everything shifted online because of the current situation. People are working from their homes and students are studying at home. Classes have been conducted in online platforms.
The boundary between the variety of aspects in our lives have been removed and everything has been placed in a single spot–our houses.
Since we do everything now at our homes and since we’re experiencing quarantine, whether mandated or self-imposed, we tend to be more stressed because our environment in our space is sometimes not conducive to working or studying.
Thus, people have a hard time focusing on their work and studies because their settings hinder them from being productive. It becomes another burden for them. It results to even more pressures, which, as a consequence, becoming unfocused.
It important to acknowledge the fact that not all people are blessed with a healthy home environment. Poor people are always at a disadvantage during this set up.
The lack of space in their houses affects their performance. Oftentimes, there are so many distractions and unnecessary noise since all of them are in a single space.
You Should Take a Break from Work if You Can
In this agonizing period, people should learn to value rest. We should take breaks once in a while. We should promote rejuvenation, as much as we love to work.
It is important to give ourselves a time off from everything and just concentrate on ourselves and our well-being. We should allow ourselves to relax, breathe, and just exist.
The world can be very stressful during these times. However, we should not forget to look out for ourselves even more. Everything we’re doing and working hard for right now will all be useless if we get sick or our bodies give up.
We should never feel guilty for not being at our best at work or in our studies because we’re all human beings after all. What we can to is to always move on and accept and face the challenges.
We’re human beings who will eventually feel tired and exhausted, as well. It is but normal to take breaks once in a while and just sit down and do nothing, to keep our sanity.
Working while at the same time you feel tired is downright counter-productive. Since you will not be able to give your best, you are not in your best condition to perform.
We all know that people have this penchant to fulfill everyone’s expectations. Sometimes, we put too much pressure on ourselves because we want to meet people’s anticipations in us. We, most of the time, don’t want to disappoint them.
We give so much of ourselves even at the expense of our own health and happiness. We should always be reminded that it’s okay to say no to people. It’s okay to choose ourselves before anyone or anything else.
In fact, we should always prefer this. Choosing oneself is not being selfish, it’s actually self-appreciation and self-care.
Learn How to Say No
We should not try so hard to impress people or to meet everyone’s expectations. If they truly care for us, they will still be the same despite the fact that we fail to oblige or, even, do not attempt to meet them.
It’s okay to do stuff for people especially if it is made out of initiative and volition. However, it should not be at our own expense. If doing these things for people will destroy us, then, it should be stopped as soon as possible.
Our topmost priority is to bring always ourselves to sanity. We are at our own; we cannot rely on someone to do the things for us. We shouldn’t depend on people for emotional stability.
Yes, we need people; no man is an island. Nevertheless, there are things that we should learn and have to do on our own because the people we need will not always be available, even if they want to.
Find Ways to Practice Daily Self-Care
The bottom line is, self-care is very important especially during these uncertain times. The present scenarios have made people realize that there are things we need to do on our own. Isolation teaches us that it not all the time that there will be someone who can help, and who will be there for, us.
Self-care is not just about going to the mall, going to expensive resorts or hotel to relax, eating in fancy restaurants, and even buying all the branded stuff available. Self-care is more than these things.
Self-care can be as simple as going for a walk, talking to your friends, family, and other loved ones, eating your favorite meal, doing nothing all day, watching your favorite cartoon, playing your favorite video game, and so many more.
Technically, self-care is about doing the things you love and the things that makes you happy. Self-care is allowing yourself to recharge, waste time, and just do nothing at all.
Everything right now is so uncertain. So, we might as well live as if it will be the last day. Hence, we will not regret the time we spent working so hard to the point that we actually forgot to live. There’s more to life than our jobs and studies.
These things are important. Yet, rest, reset, and recharge are as equally important as the objects, persons, and moments that we momentarily think as significant.
People should always try to give themselves a break because no one can give that to them except their own. Life is really absurd and uncertain. It likes to play games. Thus, we should be good players and learn its every move.
