These days the strongest among us are waking up anxious, stressed, depressed, overwhelmed, and sometimes asking "Wait...what day is it today?" Or saying, "If I hear the terms unprecedented, uncertain times one more time my head will explode!"

At Freedom Institute, we use a variety of mental health skills to help our clients achieve sobriety, and manage and maintain their recovery.  These mental health skills used in recovery can be easily adopted by all of us to help navigate the stress and anxiety during this period of social distancing, isolation, quarantine, whichever term makes most sense to you.  

To start with, here are the first five of our top mental health tips to surviving being stuck at home. These are compiled from a variety of mental health sources with more to come over the next few weeks.

#1
Follow a schedule and keep as normal a routine as possible.  Go to sleep and wake up at a reasonable time. Ideally the schedule is varied and includes time for work as well as recreation and self-care. This is pretty much everyone's number one tip, most notably Scott Kelly, the astronaut who spent a year, alone in space - talk about social isolation - has it at the top of his list as well. 

#2
Dress for the work and the social life you want, not the social life you have.  This seems like an obvious one, but hanging out in our sweats and PJs gets us down after a while. Get showered and dressed in comfortable clothes, wash your face, brush your teeth. Take the time to do a bath or a facial.  Put on some bright colors. Dress up for a fancy dinner with your family or a virtual date with friends. It's amazing how our dress can impact our mood. 

#3 
Get outside at least once a day. If you are concerned of contact, try first thing in the morning, or later in the evening, and try less traveled streets and avenues.  If you are high risk or living with those who are high risk, open the windows and blast the fan.  If you have roof or terrace, access it when possible. Fresh air and high spirits go hand in hand.

#4
If you don’t feel comfortable going outside, find other ways to move each day. There are YouTube videos offering free movement classes. If all else fails, turn on the music and have a dance party!

#5 
Reach out to others at least once daily.  Zoom Get Togethers are all the rage! FaceTime, Skype, phone calls, texting—connect with other people to seek and provide support or simply to maintain regular social connections and friendships.  Children can do this as well. There is a huge upside to technology. Virtual playdates or movies with friends are positive connecting moments for kids.

Bonus tip for the day:
Drink water! This is ALWAYS good advice: Stay hydrated and eat well. This one may seem obvious, but stress and eating often don’t mix well, and we find ourselves over-indulging, forgetting to eat, and avoiding food.  Drink plenty of water, eat some good and nutritious foods, and challenge yourself to learn how to cook something new!