With the current pandemic isolation, anxiety, and depression are sure to be on the rise for everyone. Stay at home mothers often have times where they’re isolated. Having little adult contact and having limited trips outside the home can be hard on anyone. Now that we are under a global quarantine here are some tips to help you to stay positive and curb the blues.
Get Adult Stimulation
Nobody is meant to go without some adult conversation. Connect with friends, other mothers, family, neighbors, however possible. This could be phone calls, video chats, and virtual games. Make sure you do not stay isolated and that you have someone to talk to.
Enforce Quiet Time
Having multiple kids where some no longer nap can be hard. Often times the only break you may get is during nap time. Enforce a scheduled quiet time. Kids can nap, read, perhaps have screen time and just relax. The quiet will be a good break and relief for you.
Start a Hobby
Hobbies have many great benefits including stress relief, new challenges, explore yourself and your talents, perhaps able to provide an additional income, and can help improve your self-confidence and self-esteem.
Learn Something
Taking the time to learn something new whether about history, people, culture, or a new skill. As you learn your brain chemistry changes and the speed in which you learn increases. People who learn a new skill are less likely to develop dementia and well-rounded individuals have an easier time relating to others.
Give Yourself a Sense of Accomplishment
The feeling of accomplishing something can help us feel motivated. The feeling of accomplishment invigorates us to raise our standards, helps raise our self-esteem and self-confidence.
Get Organized
Clutter can play a huge role in how we feel. When our homes are cluttered and disorganized we can feel anxious, helpless, and overwhelmed. Organizing and keeping things clean daily can help us feel like we are living in an orderly and clean home.
Have Something Special You Do With the Kids
Spend some time playing with your kids. Just having fun, laughing, and playing can bring up your mood and make you feel happier.
Get Outside
Even during social distancing, you do not have to keep from going outside. Go on walks, drives, and play in your own yards.
If you’re feeling depressed, anxious, or suicidal please be sure to reach out to someone around you for help.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255
Sarah
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These are wonderful. We’ve been doing some of them. I’ve been thinking about taking the kids to one of our hiking spots soon. I like how one of the things you suggested is enforcing quiet time, mine always get really rowdy at around 4 pm.
It is good to have some ways to stay prepared and not let depression take over. I have been forcing myself to work out and get outside. Otherwise it is easy to get in a routine of doing nothing..
These are the times we have to think positively. As much as we may not know what the future holds with all this chaos, it’s best to think of things that help us keep going.
Love all these ways! Especially the going outside one. We were really sticking to our home lately.
These tips are great, especially for those of us who suffer from depression already. This situation could only make it worse, but with tips like these we can keep them at bay. Thanks for sharing the knowledge.
I have always loved the walks. It brings fresh air and a lot of clear thoughts.
This is so helpful for this season were all in. It’s a struggle for many people to feel the uncertainty of the future and the isolation of social distancing. Thank you for sharing these tips.
These are all great tips and much needed right about now. Luckily we have access to digital communication so that we have adult conversation still happening. But I’m loving the tip on enforced quiet time. Even in isolation, it gets loud and overstimulating for my kids – and for us adults.
Being outside has really helped us a lot. We are lucky that the weather has been so nice.
I love taking walks and it really helps my family and I in this time and of course I love quiet time LOL
These are great! We are doing all! Thanks for sharing
I would add, keep up with your usual group and/or private therapy sessions as well. I think everywhere in the US has authorized telemedicine now, no? It’s been interesting juggling all the therapy appointments around here (esp since they all seem to go through Mama’s email or cell phone #!), but I’ve managed to coordinate them all around the girls’ other schooling commitments, and the daughter who needs them is DEFINITELY benefiting from the continuity of care with her different counselors she works with!!!
These are really good ideas that are good to remind yourself with in these days of self quarantine.