Coach’s Corner: How to Feel Free during the Pandemic

One of my favorite sayings is “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.”  Coronavirus is happening to all of us. We can focus on all that we are no longer free to do for the foreseeable future and let that take over our mindset.  The uncertainty can be anxiety producing. The “Safer at Home’ restrictions can lead to depression and loneliness. The need to adapt to new ways of being can be stressful. Those are all legitimate and normal responses; and they can drag us down. Pretending we aren’t experiencing this doesn’t make these mental and emotional health challenges go away. What I urge you to do instead is to acknowledge them and then set them aside for a little while. Put them in an imaginary box and leave them on the shelf.  

Commit to freeing yourself from this negativity for 30 minutes. Commit to yourself that you will spend half an hour focusing on all that you are free to do. Remind yourself that you are free to think how ever you want. Then, engage your body to help you feel even more free.  Step outside and pay attention to your senses.

You are free to look around. You are free to listen. You are free to smell the roses. Think about how much pleasure your senses can deliver to you. Then, start moving. Free up your body from being stuck indoors, from the stiffness of sitting around, from the physical effects of any negativity you were experiencing.  As you start to move, notice your joints loosening up, the air filling your lungs, the wind and sun on your face.  Take a moment to appreciate the freedom of the moment.  Think about all that you are free to do. 

Turn a casual walk into a liberating experience in the face of the Coronavirus.

You are free to move forward physically, emotionally and mentally.