We have been keeping social distancing for several days now in order to prevent the Coronavirus (COVID-19) from spreading. This leads us to have moments of anxiety, depression and lots of stress. Thus, I share these tips to help you cope with this situation the best way possible.

Online chat with friends: helps to cope with social distancing, especially to people who lead a fairly active social life. The topics do not necessarily have to be Coronavirus- related, since the idea is to clear the mind as much as possible. We can use technology such as video calls and WhatsApp for this purpose.

Avoid information overload: staying connected all day to social networks leads us to recharge ourselves with information that induces us to panic, and; therefore, generates anxiety. We should focus on different activities, such as watching a movie, listening to music, painting, reading a book, taking free online courses, cooking, etc. These actions will clear our minds and help us to be more calm, it is also an opportunity to get to know ourselves better.

Have an optimistic attitude: if we constantly think negative, we attract the negative, that’s why we must assume reality positively and do things well. There are options that can help us in these cases, such as self-help books, practicing meditation at home or listening to podcasts that we can find online (Youtube or Spotify).

Assume the reality: we have to be aware of the reality being faced by all right now, in order to balance our emotions at this point, we must give importance only to the official information sources, in the case of Paraguay, to the National Government. By assuming reality, we can measure the positive and negative things in them and take a stand on them.

Healthy eating, physical activity and excesses without guilt: it is important that we try to balance our diet these days and, if possible, do some physical activity at home. But, we should not feel guilt for the excesses that may occur, since the situation itself leads us to be in moments of anxiety and this has a great impact when choosing the things we are going to eat. We have to be aware that we must take great care of our health and that this storm at some point will pass, and we will go back to living our normal lives.

Being aware that we cannot save the world alone: our individual struggle is to follow the necessary sanitary rules, respect social distancing and do all of them in an excellent way. Let’s not despair wanting to do thousands of other things, let’s do what we should from our homes and try to do it in the best way possible.