Anxious thoughts : it has been a year

It has been a year since we cocoon ourselves in our homes. 

    When the first MCO started in March 2020, it was just after Chinese New Year. We have been hearing news of what was happening in Wuhan, China. We never imagined then that it would come to the Malaysian shores and affect all our lives. It has since been a year. A year where many have set aside their plans and turned to huddling up in their homes. We turned to donning masks when we leave our home for necessities, and sanitize when we return for fear of getting infected with the coronavirus or of infecting our loved ones. 

    Working from home became the norm. Those who could work from home continued to work though the work settings at home were not ideal. We dash back to the office to get documents to continue the work. At home, we contend with children who could not go to school and who need help in their studies. If their schools were equipped, they got lessons brought to them over the internet. In the close quarters at home, everyone bumps into each other trying to do their regular work or study. Tempers are short and arguments occur between adults, between adults and children, between couples and between friends. When this got too much for them, they turned away from each other. They isolate themselves from others in their own rooms, preferring to be alone with their own thoughts. To cope with the drastic changes, many turn to their mobile devices for relief; as a distraction from difficult relations at home. 

    As the months roll by, some experience anxious thoughts and began to feel their affects in their sleep.  There may be less work when working from home, but they worry if they will still have their  jobs as they hear news of businesses suffering due to lack of business and cashflow. They hear of people who could not work from home and were not paid their wages and are suffering.  Excessive worrying turn to anxiety affecting their sleep. Difficulty sleeping cause them to be lethargic and restless. They experience fatigue throughout the day, tire easily but are unable to have restful sleep. This condition soon affect their moods as they become irritable and tense during the day, unable to concentrate on work, and easily losing patience with those around them. They become sad and unhappy. More severe effects of excessive worrying can cause heart palpitation, higher blood pressure, feeling warmer and sweating more. At times, uncontrollable trembling or shaking can occur with chest pains and shortness of breath bringing more worry for their health. 

Worry is a focus of the thoughts on what might happen. We are powerless to control an imagined situation. It is a misuse of our imagination.

Yet we persist with worrying about the future. Will I catch the virus someday? What will happen it this happens? What if I lose my job? My career has stalled, how can I make money? 

How can we overcome such worrying thoughts? How can we prevent such anxiety? 

Firstly, if we are experiencing physical problems, we need to visit the doctor to check if this is a health problem. If it is not, it may be a psychological problem of excessive worrying, leading to anxiety and restless sleep.

Next we can ask ourselves the following questions:

- what changed in our lives?

- were we once leading an active lifestyle and now confine ourselves to the home? What can we do to be more active?

- were our relationships supportive before the MCO? How are our relationships at home now?

- if our relationships were not supportive before the MCO, and they have become worse as everyone is at home, where can we go for some respite?

- can we seek help to work through these difficult relationships? Relationship coaching or counselling may help.

 

We can work through these initial questions and take definitive actions. Taking definitive action will help with the anxiety as there is a sense of control that we take leading to less anxious thoughts.