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You Are Not Alone

It’s okay to be afraid.  It’s okay to be scared.  It’s okay to be worried.  It’s okay when you come home to wonder whether you will be carrying the virus on you to cause you or a family member to fall ill.  These and many other concerns are all legitimate.  You are not alone.  We all think about these things.

In time of crisis, the best thing that you can do is to manage your own mind.  It’s up to you to choose how you will respond to the situation.  Are you going to respond in fear or are you going to respond in faith?  You can still have fear and be in faith at the same time.

The reptilian brain in our mind gives us the option to respond with fight, flight or freeze.  As nurses, we are conditioned to react in times of crisis.  With this reptilian brain, it causes us fear which is real and puts our body into the stress response which lowers our immune system.

So, here are some suggestions to help you with managing your mind.

  1. We’re all fascinated with the news. We get engrossed in it and can’t stop watching.  But the news can be emotionally draining.  I would suggest watching the news for only a short period of time and just to get the facts of what is happening so you can get to be in the know.  However, being on the frontlines, you see everything firsthand.
  2. Put yourself first. If you don’t put yourself first, you have nothing to offer to assist anyone else.
  3. It is important in times of fear to calm your mind so that you can think rationally. When you’re in fear, you can’t think rationally and may make decisions that can hurt you.
  4. Get plenty of sleep. Getting rest increases our immune system.  This is particularly important at a time like this.
  5. Don’t forget to exercise even after you are working and staying busy. Exercise allows you to let off some steam while helping to improve your immune system.
  6. Be in gratitude. Think of all the good things that are happening like how nurses are working as a team even better than before.
  7. To win this war, we have to be on top of our A game which can be done by managing our mind and not pushing the panic button by the things I mentioned above.

 

 

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