Are you freakin’ exhausted from doing nothing?

We often have moments in our lives, where circumstance baffles us, we are faced with questions that – try hard as we might, we simply cannot find an answer to.

A fairly common such question is how -as we sit at home with no visible or tangible things to do or distract us, worry or stress us – we’re all so unbelievably exhausted.

Everyone is wondering why this is happening to them, why as you are seemingly “free”, you feel overwhelming burdened.

We are forced to question whether we can survive our lack of hyper-productivity the world once demanded of us.

It is paramount that we understand that these feelings are completely normal, it is okay to not be okay. And most importantly, you are not alone in how you feel. All of us, collectively as a society seem to feel this weight upon us.

Some of the reasons I believe we might be feeling this way are have been detailed below.

Earlier, walking up and taking a stroll to the store and buying a pack of bread was a simple automated task for us, we would manage this while we were catching up over phone call or as we texted our friends about our breakfast plans.

My point is, it was a mundane activity nobody gave much thought to.

Today, however, the same task has become a herculean one, we need to gear up with a mask, pack some sanitized wipes, pay attention to the things we touch, and how close we’re walking to the people around us.

Our thoughts run a marathon while we are in the store, “Has this bread been packed and completely sealed from contaminants”, “Is the lady in front of me at the checkout queue in good health?”, “Are the people shopping alongside me at an adequate distance?”, “Should I have worn gloves at the store?”, “Is it safer to pay in cash or by card or with my phone to avoid contact altogether?”. Our thoughts run amok with the motive of self-preservation. Psychologist calls this “Decision fatigue”.

Add to this our unfamiliarity with breathing through the mask and the suddenly reduced levels of oxygen in each breath – it’s a wonder we aren’t all constantly hyperventilating.

We seem to live sunshine lives on social media, conveniently cropping out the dark cloud of apprehension and fear of uncertainty that looms over us. We worry about job security, the economic conditions, the health of our loved ones, and our compassion as human beings for those struggling through these times due to their lack of resources of unfortunate circumstances.

Every news article and WhatsApp forward messages that some paranoid relative insisted on sending to your family group simply make your fears go deeper and deeper draining your mental energy.

Exhaustion is as much a mental state as it is a physical one, and mental health to this day is unfortunately treated as a taboo in our society.

We see our family members lounging on the sofa and their rooms and are quick to call them out for their unproductivity or laziness with very little thought about what they're going through mentally.

This pandemic is hard on all our mental wellbeing in different ways, some ways that maybe even you and I cannot perceive, as each individual lives a different life and are molded by their own unique experiences.

I cannot stress how essential empathy and compassion are in these trying times.

However, if you do want to pick yourself up and try to combat this feeling of exhaustion there are a few simple things that can help you rewire your thought process and at least in my experience can act as a sort of “pick me up” that we all currently crave

1.    Sometimes the list of worries written down will lose its impact on the brain. Simply list all the fear and worries that you are currently facing. – It helps to see things in black and white and to remove them from the chasms of your mind.

Much like the monsters, small children see in the dark, some of these worries to dissipate when brought to light.

2.    Next, take 2-colored pen red and green and start striking them by analyzing, is this problem or concern within your control? If yes, strike them with green and write the response that you can take to handle this.

3.    If not, like the present lockdown, the COVID19 virus, etc, - strike them with red: but next to them write down the fact that some of the most brilliant minds are working tirelessly, day and night to come up with a solution, and sometimes having faith is the best you can do, and that is okay.

The human brain craves the routine and structure so try to create a new routine, make yourself a new normal.Sit down and pull out some colors and a piece of paper, fill your upcoming week with little tasks, and colorful activities. Picking up some art classes and doing some creative DIY projects, always give you a sense of accomplishment in the end.

It is also essential to connect with people and bring yourself the peace of closure to those you’ve lost contact with, each one of us have some people in our life where we are left with some feathers ruffled or left with a bad taste in the mouth. This is an opportunity to bring that to closure, pick up the phone and have some good conversations and allow those bad feelings to wash off with the tons of Sanitisers that we are applying,

Human beings are social creatures, we crave love and companionship. Mend those broken fences, so that once all this comes to an end the more people you have to meet and love and cherish. Inner peace has a larger place in our health and forgiveness and love are superfoods for the soul.

This situation is not going to stay this way forever, but do not make concrete plans for the situations to get better as when the days do not match you tend to get more frustrated. Take one day at a time and ensure each day counts in life. Touch more lives and give little more love to yourself and ensure to pat your back every day for making those small micro-changes in your life.

Finally yet most importantly be grateful for where you are now - if you are reading this article you are alive and you have access to information. Count those blessings. Count the people who contributed to your success saga and be appreciative of them and send them a small thank you note or share some kind words with them.

The activities suggested above have more power than they sound in a simple online article, I would suggest that you explore the energy that they bring by trying them out.

Play Pray and strive for Peace to have that Power