How to Get Life Back on Track during COVID-19

Quarantine – Day 37

I hope that this article will help you to find a “new normal” during this uncertain time of the global COVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease 2019) pandemic.

After several years of non-writing (actually some writing, but no publishing) I planned to come back with new topics and lessons that I learned as being mum of two.

Although I’m still working on the parenting section, in given circumstances, I believe the priority is to address this new situation in the world (in which we are all in together).

I created “Mind Of a Winner” with the intention to help you to develop the “mindset of a winner” no matter where you are and what your life situation is. This especially applies to difficult times – as that is the time we need to work on our mindset harder than ever.

I’m sharing my journey from fear to growth during COVID-19 with the intention to help everyone find new hope and get their life back, even when things are unpredictable.

Like many people, over the last month, I went through the rollercoaster of emotions.

I experienced the fear that we have got Corona (as we got ill after travelling with kids from the UK to Croatia over a month ago). Although runny nose and coughs are pretty much a regular thing when you have kids, in Coronavirus time it can drive you crazy. I spent many nights reading all Coronavirus experiences that were available at the time, hoping that what we have “it’s just a cold”. Since we had no fever, we weren’t eligible for a test so we did what we would normally do when we got a cold – stay at home, eat soup and drink a lot of tea. Luckily our symptoms eased with time. However, all the negativity in the news and media, the pressure to work remotely (despite still feeling weak) and to do urgent business actions to quickly adapt to a world-changing left me feeling tired physically and emotionally.

On the other hand, increased connection with everyone, Coronavirus “memes” and people showing support and getting in touch shined a bit of light to the whole situation.

On social media sites, I was receiving more and more ideas on how to stay productive, do more, and have the best use of time at home etc. Although it’s admiring how efficient some people are, at one point, I started to feel the pressure I was not doing enough.

It took me a lot of time to process everything that was happening and to get from the stage of fearing for the life of loved ones (and “feeling” for everyone who is suffering) to the stage where I can do creative work like writing.

And that’s fine. We all need to go at our own pace. It’s ok to take time, to feel overwhelmed and unproductive. In fact, one of my friends (who is a psychologist) shared a great article on this topic.

In this situation, health is a priority.

After accepting the emotions that I felt are completely fine, I felt relieved and decided to make new decisions.

Instead of drowning in the sea of negative news, I decided to be a more selective consumer of information available.

It’s definitely important to stay informed, follow government rules, understand what’s happening and how to protect yourself and others.

Apart from that, I decided to limit news reading, and I joined groups like John Williams’ Facebook Group Humanity vs Corona, which he set up to share news from the world of science and to “present the realistic best-case scenario to counter the worst-case outcomes consistently reported by the media”.

Even if we don’t exactly know what will happen, having some idea of how things will go is much better than living in total uncertainty and fear. It helps to gain control of life.

Also, he started that group to help others and to keep himself sane. This really inspired me to think about what I can do to keep myself sane, and at the same time, help others. That’s why I decided to write this article. After some thinking, I realized that this is the best anyone can be doing at this moment. Even if we are not front-line health workers, we can still do a lot while we are at home – offer help, support, advice, share our expertise.

What can you do to keep yourself sane, and at the same time, help others?

“The water doesn’t flow until the faucet is turned on”. Louis L’Amour

For example, I have a friend who is an expat living by herself, and she decided to share tips for everyone in a similar situation by putting together this “Guide for single expats during a pandemic“.

Another friend (who is a single mom) likes painting, and she shared some of her work with me. It was really inspiring to see that the beauty in the world is still being created, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, she shared a very useful app for females to workout at home.

My sister in law (soon to be nursery teacher) has been incredibly helpful by creating, on a daily basis, arts and crafts for kids and making innovative games to keep little ones busy.

At the very beginning of social distancing restrictions, one mum shared this message (she allowed me to share this online, but prefers to stay anonymous), it’s a great example of how to quickly adapt to new measures and create routines for life at home:

If you are a parent, perhaps you can share creative ideas about how to keep kids busy at home. If you are good at DIY, why not share it with others…? Each of us has unique skills, and even if you can’t think of anything, you can take the opportunity to learn something new and inspire someone else to do the same. Many websites (like Udemy) offer courses for free, especially at this time.

Sharing, creating and contributing has a much bigger therapeutic effect than just consuming and going through what’s already there.

Another thing that helped me during the transition period of finding “new normal” was going through the books that I read earlier and checking highlighted parts (this practice of highlighting things that resonate with me proved itself as extremely useful for a situation like this).

I was also going through my old notes where I wrote down tips like “schedule time for worrying”, which is a bit unusual but an excellent idea. Pick a certain time of the day when you will do all the worrying and reserve the rest of the day for something else.

I even downloaded the new audiobook (Get Out of Your Head) which helped me as well with some good tips and advice. The good thing is that I can listen to audiobooks while doing something else (tidying up).

“When you feel like your problems are growing, the only way that you can overcome them is when you feel you’re growing at the same time.”– Jay Shetty

I also re-discovered this Sigmoid Curve model which can be applied to this situation (and to any other situation of life/business).

At the beginning of COVID-19, I definitely had a big decline, and I felt overwhelmed and worried, then I focused on learning (understanding the current situation in the world, getting ideas about the future, creating new routines) which helped to finally reach a state of growth.

Fear → Learning → Growth

I realized that if I don’t continue growing, I might experience “decline” again. But that’s the case with everything in our life.

If you ever find yourself in the decline phase, just get back to beginning and learning, even if you think it’s not working, keep persisting, growth will definitely occur (both in personal life and business)

Finally, my sister shared with me this video the other day. This Bill Gates’ TED talk was something recorded 5 years ago. It is just a reminder that we need to learn more from our past to be better equipped for the future.

What lessons did you learn in your past that can help you cope with this situation better?

I even remembered things that I learned at my hypnobirthing course with Siobhan Miller, like breathing techniques which calm your body (count to four while breathing in and count to eight while breathing out).

Yesterday, Tim Ferriss shared this infographic (source unknown), which I would like to use to finish this article because it resonates with everything I already explained.

Key is learning more!  And that applies for any other challenging situation in life.

Written by Eva Lu

Eva Lu is an ex engineer who decided to give up her successful career and dedicate her life to inspire and motivate others to find the best in themselves. She founded the “Mind of a Winner” website because she strongly believes that success is a skill developed by persistent people and her passion is to motivate others to become persistent enough. Her inspiration and her mentors are self-made millionaires who helped thousands of people to change their lives and who managed to build careers with their passion and vision towards doing something what they love. She also helps young entrepreneurs with business advices and encourages them not to give up on their dreams. She teaches them how to turn dreams into clear visions and ideas, and ideas into actions and results.
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