Coping With Loneliness During Coronavirus Pandemic

Enjoy this encouragement on how to cope with loneliness during the coronavirus pandemic. Joseph also provides five tips you can practice to help you have a more sound body and mind during these unprecedented times.

Transcript

One of the challenging mental health issues of our time is loneliness.

And the outbreak of the coronavirus has made things worse.

More and more people are isolated and don't necessarily have any support systems.

And so today if you're feeling lonely and don't know what to do,

I just want to encourage you and say that you're never alone.

There's always help,

There is hope.

I just want to provide you five tips for dealing with loneliness,

Especially in this coronavirus pandemic.

Number one,

Is you have to stay active.

It's very,

Very important.

I'm sure you've heard this said over and over again that if you're gonna have a sound mind,

You need to have a sound body.

And so stay active.

By active I mean get some physical activity going.

You can go outside your house,

It doesn't have to be all the way out,

But you can go out if you have a backyard.

Get some fresh air,

Start walking.

If you've got a bike or a treadmill,

Jump on it,

Start getting some movement.

It is very,

Very important that you begin to move and get some activity going.

That stimulates the other chemicals in your body.

That gives you a sense of general well-being.

So the second tip I have for you is this.

Do something meaningful.

One of the things that contribute to a feeling of sense of loneliness is a lack of a sense of meaning or purpose or identity or direction.

And the way you counteract that is you do something meaningful.

You do something that you're passionate about.

One of the things you can do is basically sign up for an online course and do a bit of it each day.

Work through and it doesn't have to be anything that you pay for.

In fact,

If you go to places like Course Error,

You can find a lot of free courses.

Anything from nutrition down to zoology,

Anything that you're passionate about that you want to get more information on is there.

Just sign up,

Go through it.

You're learning new things,

But at the same time you're doing something that's meaningful to you.

Another cool thing I found out the other day was that you can actually sign up to be an online volunteer through the United Nations.

Maybe you enjoy writing,

Research,

Art,

Or something like that.

You can sign up and do that.

What a way to do something that will have a global impact.

And so do something meaningful.

It doesn't matter what it is as long as it's meaningful to you.

Tip number three,

Connect with others.

This is also important especially in the times that we're in where we find ourselves isolated and practicing social distancing and other restrictions.

But I'm sure you've heard this that no man is an island.

You're not an island.

You thrive on connecting with others and interacting with others.

Now how do you do that in these times?

Well simply pick up a phone and call friends and families and other important people in your lives.

Or even better,

Do a video call so you can see the other person.

On the other hand,

It is important.

One of the things you could also do is to actually send a handwritten letter or postcard.

I know with the technological advancement of these days,

You know,

We're not writing anymore.

It's less and less people are writing.

But I'm sure that people still appreciate handwritten letter or postcards.

It's very important.

Do that.

These days there are so many ways to communicate with people.

You can do a zoom call.

You can do a FaceTime.

You can text or post on social media.

If you're a part of a group,

You can do that as well.

So connect with others.

This is not the time to isolate yourself.

This is the time to really connect.

Make an effort to connect with people.

Tip number four.

Create something.

Whether you're a musician like myself,

I play the piano so every now and then I find myself sitting behind my piano and making music.

Now if you're not a musician,

That's okay.

Maybe you're an artist.

Paint something.

It's very important.

It gets your juices flowing.

It gets your mind working.

It gets your mind off of the loneliness and all the bad things that are happening.

You're not going to improve the situation by just sitting down and not doing anything.

Create something.

Maybe start practicing writing in your journal if you haven't been doing that each day.

Start doing that.

You'll be amazed by the results,

The benefits that you reap from that.

Or maybe you're a good writer.

Start writing.

Start a daily blog where people you can write about some of your experiences or an area of expertise that you have.

In this information age,

People are always looking for information on how to do something.

You've got a skill.

Write.

Create something.

It doesn't matter what it is as long as it's something that has value.

It's adding value to people's lives.

Create.

Create.

Create.

Create.

I can't tell you how many times that creating something has helped me through a difficult time in my life.

We all deal with challenges.

That is how we cope with it.

How we deal with it.

I sit behind my piano and start playing.

The next thing I know five minutes turns into 20 minutes.

By the time I come out of it,

Everything is good.

At least for that moment.

So create.

It's very important.

Create something.

Start writing a journal.

Start doing something.

Create.

Tip number five.

Destruct yourself.

You know another way to keep your sanity and distract yourself from this feeling of loneliness is to find a healthy distraction.

This might come in a form of maybe reading,

Watching shows,

Listening to music or other fun activities that interest you.

You know maybe you're a reader and go back and read some of the books that you haven't read in a while.

It will probably even make a challenge.

What are the four books you want to read in the next month?

Or maybe you like magazines and stuff like that on topics that interest you.

Or maybe you like reading,

I don't know,

Maybe scientific journals or whatever interests you.

You even have audio books as well.

So start reading.

Or maybe you like watching certain shows on TV.

These days there are many other platforms that you can watch.

If you're like me,

I like watching a lot of documentaries.

It doesn't matter.

It could be about anything.

Animals,

Scientific explorations,

Whatever it is.

Podcast.

All of that.

I have very very useful tools that can distract you from this feeling of loneliness.

Or maybe you like music.

Create a playlist and put all your favorite songs on there.

Listen to it and you know get lost in the moment.

And other things that you can do.

Actually it's interesting.

I found out that you can actually take a virtual tour.

Many museums today offer digital access to their collection.

I actually took a tour of a zoo and I was watching turtles in their tank with water.

And you know every now and then they come out.

And it was very therapeutic and relaxing.

So I hope you get some ideas from some of the things that I've said.

So pretty much these are the five tips that I wanted to give you here.

Number one,

Stay active.

Get some physical activity going.

Number two,

Create something meaningful.

Number three,

Connect with others.

Number four,

Create something.

And number five,

Find a healthy distraction.

Remember,

You're never alone.

We are all in this together.

Stay healthy and stay safe.

Reviews

I really enjoy your live events on IT; your music is so special as was this talk and good advice on how to cope with the pandemic. Deep bow, Joseph 🙏🏻🌺

Thank you. 🙏 love the soothing background music. ❤️

thank you Joseph for your heartfelt message and soothing music your voice is very comforting also. Please make more🙏💝 Namaste

Your voice is so gentle and soothing i cried. Thx you dear one

Useful and soothing. Doing all but reminder very helpful. Thank u

:,) this moved me. Very heartfelt and so touching ❤️ thank you

Really nice ideas and such beautiful, calming piano music in the background. Thank you.

Thank you 💕🌀🦋🌿

Nice kind voice. Soothing piano music. I could just listen to his music for another hour and relax and meditate. Thank you!

That was a soothing talk made me feel good

Interesting. I realized that I do many of the things you suggested So I guess I am not lonely if I feel good about myself and am tired at night

Great tips and very calming voice and music. Thank you.

Thank You for your heartfelt words.

Great practical tips. I was beginning to get a bit stir crazy and lonely, especially working from home. I began doing some of theses tips, even journaling and wrote a simple short story that was very therapeutic. Getting out in nature with a friend watching nature, eagles, birds of all sorts was the best. Thanks so much for this❤️

great message, thank you! 🙏