How to maintain and improve mental well-being

COVID-19 made me focus much more on the personal well-being as well as the well-being of my teams and colleagues. I heard dozen of stories from colleagues about feeling lonely, depressed, unproductive, many of them, as well as me, stuck abroad without the possibility to visit family and friends, constantly working from home, lucking basic social life.
So what can you do to minimize the impact of the “lock-down” on your mental well-being? - Sharing some books that helped me with this

Purpose

Victor Frankle “Man’s Search for Meaning”. I trully believe in ideas he put as a base of the Logotherapy and existential analysis. In short - you cannot survive without an goal in the life. It is very crucial to maintain clear objective during the period of crisise in perrsonal and professional life (with an end in mind).

Mechanics of your brain

I wanted to better understand the mechanics of depression, anxiety, stress - how it impacts our brain. I found two interesting books that tell about how depression occurs and tips on how to fight it back. These books are “The Upward Spiral” and “Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers”

Some tips from books

• Boos happiness
  • Express gratitude;
  • Making decisions helping to deal with stress
    • Anxiety and worrying are caused by uncertainty.
    • A good solution now is better than a perfect solution later
  • Feeling in control reduces anxiety
    • Do things that you can control
  • When you think of worst-case - remind of better possibilities
  • Consciously recognize your emotions
  • Focus on things that happen now
  • Look for a root cause
    • (Red lights worry you only when you are late)
  • Remind your selfe of good times
  • Smiling can make you happy
    • bio-feedback: fake laugh is still laugh to your brain
  • Do physical interaction with other people: hugs, cuddles or even massage
• Good sleep
  • Avoid bright light before bedtime
  • Go to bed at the same time not to impact the circadian clock
    • Brain release melatonin 30 mins before the time he expects you to go to sleep - best time to go to bed
  • If you cannot stop thinking about something, write down your thoughts to get them off your head
• Eat healthy food
• Do sports
  • Better impact on brain when you exercise with a good view: (park > gym)
• Social interactions
  • Go out with friends, meet new people
  • Join the sports team for social interactions
• Repeating “rituals”
  • Repeating routine at the same time are an anchors for your brain
• And much more…

Personal thought: happiness is something that starts from yourself. Our world is so fragile and unstable that it is so easy to be disappointed, frustrated, and miserable all the time. And unless you believe that you are happy despite anything and start acting like one, nothing will change.