(Hard!) Lessons I learned from being locked down in China for 2 months that I hope might help you
I wrote this for my friends and family but I hope this can help others too
I'm relieved to say that China is now over the worst of the COVID-19 outbreak with life returning to relative normality. I am still teaching online, but the stores are open again and there's more people out and about smiling, interacting, and going about their business. For the first time in months, I am feeling happy, healthy and confident about my future in this country.
However, I see that what I have been experiencing for the past two months is now steadily being repeated around the world and it's causing a creeping panic. I'm not one for false positivisms. I can't say it's going to get better because to each their own. However I do want to root YOU on as you try to pull through this situation. I've been there, it sucks, and it might suck for a while. All that said, here are some (hard!) lessons I learned over from being locked down in China for 2 months that I hope might help you.
Don’t internalizeyourfeelings, find social support and vent! I’m going to be real. Cabin fever is one hell of a ride. Yes, I was scared of the coronavirus but the situation also left me feeling frustrated, powerless, hopeless, bored, paranoid, restless, anxious, angry, apathetic, isolated, claustrophobic, misunderstood, and depressed for weeks on end. Reach out to your friends and family, use SAFE online support message boards like Big White Wall, or call crisis hotlines like Lifeline. Schedule calls with friends and family so you can look forward to certain days when you know you can hear from them. Don’t let those feelings brew up in side of you because stress CAN affect your immune system.
Focus on achieving small daily tasks for yourself. For me, the days began to blur together and sometimes I felt like there was no end in sight. Have daily routine tasks, but also add variety to them. Try new exercises, cook healthy and different recipes, or play mentally stimulating games (crosswords, board games). You won’t be feeling good about your situation, but at least you can feel good about yourself.
Limit your daily coronavirus media intake. You don’t need to know every single thing about the coronavirus. Step away from Twitter, Reddit, YouTube. Learn how to protect yourself (CDC), learn about the most important updates concerning your local area, but just stop obsessing about the latest theory.
And speaking of obsessing, chill out about the toilet paper! 75% of the world doesn’t use it anyways. Filipinos use a bucket; the Japanese use a bidet. For perspective, I haven't seen a shortage of TP in China yet. Unless you get diarrhea or the sniffles during this, YOU DON’T NEED THAT MUCH TOILET PAPER.
Fight the chaos with compassion. Did you miss out on buying hand sanitizer/Clorox wipes/Lysol spray/masks? That's okay because once you're stuck inside you won't be needing it anyways. Don't invite people over and clean your basic household mess with vinegar. Make yourself feel good and donate whatever excess supplies you're hoarding to shelters, the immunocompromised, or people who are working in public settings. You're just stuck at home, not surviving the apocalypse.
You don’t need TP, but you DO need food Don’t rely on fast food, eating out, or delivery services. Eventually the restaurants will close and worrying if your ordered meal is contaminated is no fun. While your neighbors are on the hunt for toilet paper, start stocking up your freezer and pantry! Buy in bulk, because let’s be real – you don’t want to go back to grocery store for a long time. Please practice social distancing! See a related post for some of the meals I made and ingredients I used that lasted me this time.
Accept your limitationsand ask for medication. Every person is wired differently and sometimes your brain has a way of taking over – no matter what you do to help yourself. Please know it is perfectly normal to ask for antidepressant/anxiety medication. Everyone is looking for a vaccine for coronavirus, but in the meantime, let’s not forget depression is a disease too which CAN BE TREATED. Despite having done my MSc in this area, I admittedly have spent far too much of this lock down suffering because I was too embarrassed and ashamed to ask for any sort of help. But what was the reaction from the old Chinese doctor when I finally did ask? He was proud. He said “90% of Chinese should be seeing a psychologist and be on medication right now, but they let saving face (stigma) stop them. You Americans, you know what you need and you seek it out. Taking care of your mental health is just as important as your physical health.”
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(Hard!) Lessons I learned from being locked down in China for 2 months that I hope might help youI wrote this for my friends and family but I hope this can help others too
I'm relieved to say that China is now over the worst of the COVID-19 outbreak with life returning to relative normality. I am still teaching online, but the stores are open again and there's more people out and about smiling, interacting, and going about their business. For the first time in months, I am feeling happy, healthy and confident about my future in this country.
However, I see that what I have been experiencing for the past two months is now steadily being repeated around the world and it's causing a creeping panic. I'm not one for false positivisms. I can't say it's going to get better because to each their own. However I do want to root YOU on as you try to pull through this situation. I've been there, it sucks, and it might suck for a while. All that said, here are some (hard!) lessons I learned over from being locked down in China for 2 months that I hope might help you.
Don’t internalize your feelings, find social support and vent! I’m going to be real. Cabin fever is one hell of a ride. Yes, I was scared of the coronavirus but the situation also left me feeling frustrated, powerless, hopeless, bored, paranoid, restless, anxious, angry, apathetic, isolated, claustrophobic, misunderstood, and depressed for weeks on end. Reach out to your friends and family, use SAFE online support message boards like Big White Wall, or call crisis hotlines like Lifeline. Schedule calls with friends and family so you can look forward to certain days when you know you can hear from them. Don’t let those feelings brew up in side of you because stress CAN affect your immune system.
Focus on achieving small daily tasks for yourself. For me, the days began to blur together and sometimes I felt like there was no end in sight. Have daily routine tasks, but also add variety to them. Try new exercises, cook healthy and different recipes, or play mentally stimulating games (crosswords, board games). You won’t be feeling good about your situation, but at least you can feel good about yourself.
Limit your daily coronavirus media intake. You don’t need to know every single thing about the coronavirus. Step away from Twitter, Reddit, YouTube. Learn how to protect yourself (CDC), learn about the most important updates concerning your local area, but just stop obsessing about the latest theory.
And speaking of obsessing, chill out about the toilet paper! 75% of the world doesn’t use it anyways. Filipinos use a bucket; the Japanese use a bidet. For perspective, I haven't seen a shortage of TP in China yet. Unless you get diarrhea or the sniffles during this, YOU DON’T NEED THAT MUCH TOILET PAPER.
Fight the chaos with compassion. Did you miss out on buying hand sanitizer/Clorox wipes/Lysol spray/masks? That's okay because once you're stuck inside you won't be needing it anyways. Don't invite people over and clean your basic household mess with vinegar. Make yourself feel good and donate whatever excess supplies you're hoarding to shelters, the immunocompromised, or people who are working in public settings. You're just stuck at home, not surviving the apocalypse.
You don’t need TP, but you DO need food Don’t rely on fast food, eating out, or delivery services. Eventually the restaurants will close and worrying if your ordered meal is contaminated is no fun. While your neighbors are on the hunt for toilet paper, start stocking up your freezer and pantry! Buy in bulk, because let’s be real – you don’t want to go back to grocery store for a long time. Please practice social distancing! See a related post for some of the meals I made and ingredients I used that lasted me this time.
Accept your limitations and ask for medication. Every person is wired differently and sometimes your brain has a way of taking over – no matter what you do to help yourself. Please know it is perfectly normal to ask for antidepressant/anxiety medication. Everyone is looking for a vaccine for coronavirus, but in the meantime, let’s not forget depression is a disease too which CAN BE TREATED. Despite having done my MSc in this area, I admittedly have spent far too much of this lock down suffering because I was too embarrassed and ashamed to ask for any sort of help. But what was the reaction from the old Chinese doctor when I finally did ask? He was proud. He said “90% of Chinese should be seeing a psychologist and be on medication right now, but they let saving face (stigma) stop them. You Americans, you know what you need and you seek it out. Taking care of your mental health is just as important as your physical health.”
各位都保重。
几分钟的时间。当然如果空气不新鲜，污染得都是微尘颗粒，那就不好说了，所以居住环境比较清新的，应该不用担心。
两周前就提到，我觉得很有远见。
NPR采访的心理专家说：有焦虑是正常的，这个时候没有焦虑，真要考虑是不是有严重的心理问题了，是不是掩盖什么。这种人是极少数。另一方面，很多人可能遇到的焦虑过甚，比如一刻不关注疫情报道，就没法安生，比如影响睡眠，影响日常生活（就是说你该干嘛都不干嘛了），脾气暴躁，疑神疑鬼，这种情况就是发展到过度焦虑的一段。如果出现这种情况，专家认为，除了找人疏通外，就是适当放下电子产品，远离信息源，做一些自己喜欢做的事。
我觉得专家的建议有道理。我喜欢kt，但是kt乱七八糟的时候，我就到户外去，做些适合老年人的运动，比如打太极拳，沾花惹草的，等等等等。
实在憋不住，吼一吼娃，也有帮助！
给他讲，这次命中率
一女二男的比例
60+ 更是高中之高
老公就是最大的传染源。
你想没想过我？...