TWO TRICKS TO MAINTAIN MENTAL BALANCE IN THIS PANDEMIC
In the recent few months, I have been through a lot of stress due to the unprecedented spread of COVID-19. As far as I remember, January 2020 was the month when the news about this highly contagious virus started to touch my ears and eyes subsequently seeping into my big rather enlarged heart (as the doctors call it). Yes, I am suffering from a heart disease called dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). As I am part of the developing, not the developed world so the news for me was even worse as they talked about lacking health resources and even frail capacity of the people to understand the problem itself. Anyways, I still started with some precautionary activities like shopping for masks, sanitizers, soaps, and stocking a few days ration, etc. Gossip of lockdown was in the air and stress built up. What all I knew was that for the people like me the only chance of survival was to escape this tiny invisible Grim Reaper as long as possible. I tried to caution my family as well. They did understand my point but initially since the virus had not checked into our community as a real pandemic so the acceptance and the whole precautionary routine did not get absorbed as such.
But then I just got it on my nerves. The cases started to increase and the numbers are still going up at a ferocious speed with even very little testing capability and poor resolve of the government. Very rarely I went outside but then I stopped it altogether. One or two nights I could not sleep. I have a three years old kid and my father is in his seventies. It was horrifying to fathom the misery we could face if I or anyone carried the virus and the guilt of gifting it to the rest of the family. The next day it seemed that I had no energy to even stand. I just stayed in bed and did not feel like seeing anyone. I could not make out whether it was my heart troubling me again or something else. I spent a few days like that and then the change occurred.
My family, especially my father read my mind and started putting on a mask and using sanitizer for prayers (the only task he performs outside the house). And I just realized that no doubt life has to be taken care of, but the existence of death is nothing new. It will reach you at a certain time for a certain reason. The foremost thing should be some peace of mind, something contributing to mental health. That can be the only way we can survive this crisis and also take care of others. Therefore, I reviewed my overdosed thought process. I figured out that the following three things were missing and consequently I was losing sanity and health both:
✔ I was giving no space to ‘hope’ or a life with a future.
✔ I had blocked my dreams or even short term future plans.
✔ ‘Gratitude’, had just evaporated.
So, here are the two tricks that I adapted in my routine to get out of that depression and so far I am holding onto them while peacefully taking care of myself, my family, and people surrounding me. And right now I am focusing on the dear readers who may read these few lines that I have structured in this written endeavor and pass on to others the useful parts of these heartfelt suggestions.
Dreamers can craft the Future
The future is definitely uncertain as ever. The disease seems to be following you or you or your friends are following it at various places. But it’s a fact that you are alive and life itself is a blessing. Rather this COVID thing has made it even more precious to be lived at its full. People have survived it. Even if it accidentally touches you, you can survive too. What if you are already more vulnerable due to an existing health condition like mine? You have taken the careful steps, you have done your part well, you are taking your meds, you are trying to strengthen your immune system and even helping others to be careful about their healths. This all is enough to continue the enjoyment of life. Your body will now guard the stitch with your soul. And even if it fails, you can slip away from it as a soul satisfied with its mindfulness of others and itself. Cut down the unwanted chores and worries that may not bring any satisfaction. Put some trust in the precautions and promote these as well. This will not only bring satisfaction to you but it will also kindle hope for a future that may or may not be filled with high-end luxury but with care, love, and a little sense of achievement. Once some hope flickers inside you then you can have your dreams; small or big. As big as you want but personally I prefer smaller ones. Because I believe it is not bad to have smaller dreams that can give birth to the feeling of the real jewel of life i.e. ‘contentment’.
Now you have dreams so you can have goals and a future. Make short term goals. Start with routine landmarks to be reached in a day or a week and so on. Your hope and dream will keep you focused and disciplined. This will not let many disturbances to seep in. Remember, the goals must not burden your mind. If you have chosen any such heavy goal or milestone then drop it. Make a new one or divide it further into pieces so it doesn’t become a new pressure blockade in your mind. Keep adapting to this changed lifestyle with the all possible healthcare stuff but continue pursuing your old or well-tailored new dreams. It depends upon you, the dreams can be the same as old ones with new pathways carved by you or you can paint a new one.
In daily routine incorporate these tiny milestones like reading some pages of a book or attending an online class for something you want to achieve or for a skill that you want to master. The future dream keeps playing at the back of your head like music and your activities get in the same rhythm so you can create a perfect dancing sequence with a peaceful mind. In the end, the realization of the dreams may not be that important than dancing to the right tunes.
Finding ‘Gratitude’
“Whoever among you wakes up in the morning and is safe in his home, in good health, and has enough provision for the day, it is as if he has all good things of this world.”
Prophet Muhammad (May peace be upon him), Jami At-Tirmidhi №2346
Those of us who have any less of these blessings can relate well to the things we still have. And it’s not that we have done much to get these as compared to the level of their importance in our lives. These serene and noble thoughts lead to another gift called ‘Gratitude’. Gratitude is something that experts have recognized to be an ingredient of great health and successful life. As in the words of John Henry Jowett;
“Gratitude is a vaccine, an antitoxin, and an antiseptic.”
There is way a long list of gifts that you have received and you are receiving each day. Starting from the movement of your eyelids to the food, shelter, family, and a lot more. All of us may not have all of these but all of us do have quite a number of these.
I have recently learned that gratitude multiplies the blessings bestowed upon you by Providence. Here is what you need to do. You fix a time of the day preferably before going to bed and just contemplate that another day has passed successfully. Recall all teeny tiny steps you took to inch forward to your dreams. Include any daily routine chores you completed or a job you attended and the people you helped, maybe just through some advice or suggestion on your phone or on any type of social media. Any new dreams you sketched in your mind or maybe sketched or wrote anything on a piece of paper or electronic media. Anything and then you try to be thankful for that. The contentment will slowly drive-in. The air of some relief with a sense of purpose and achievement along with an unknown trust that the universe is conspiring in your favor will take over your negative energies. The universe is really conspiring in your favor, you just need to see it. If it’s still blurred just keep looking, you will finally get cognizant of that fact.
“You think it’s just another day. It’s not just another day. It’s the one day that’s given to you today. It’s given to you; it’s a gift”
Louis Schwartzberg Gratitude
Hope, dreams, purpose, efforts to fulfill these, basic provision for life, and a habit of continual gratitude; all can sum up to bless you with a mind and heart that is healthy enough to be contentedly aspiring for a great life no matter how bad is the weather today or any other day.
Stay useful, stay healthy, and stay blessed.
