This week I joined the Covid-19 club, testing positive. This is definitely not going to be one of my most well written pieces, and I’m sorry for that, but the choice was to either share what I’ve learned or not and I decided I’d rather put something out that’s imperfect than nothing at all. I’m currently writing from underneath my duvet!
How We Got Here
Omicron seems to be relentlessly sweeping through the world at the moment. I had a funny feeling we would get it in January, and here it is! It has swept through our sons school like a tidal wave since they went back after the New Year. Rewind to last week when our son tested positive and it seemed pretty inevitable that my husband and I would probably get it.
Here are some things that I have used to help get me through mentally.
Tip 1
Be prepared, but try not to worry about what hasn’t happened before you even test positive.
Using mindfulness has massively helped me with my anxiety over catching Covid. Whenever I would start to worry about catching it, I would bring my mind back to the present moment and away from potential future problems. I’m pretty sure that this also helped me cope mentally when we did test positive as I hadn’t build it up in my head too much beforehand.
Tip 2
If you do test positive, try not to think ahead in terms of worrying about how badly you may be affected in the future. Arrange anything practical you need if you can (eg: booking a shopping delivery), but try not to think ahead in terms of worrying if you will get more ill.
Tip 3
If you are suffering with bad symptoms, try thinking that it is just a moment and that moment won’t last forever. To be honest I have had horrendous pain with Covid, including some shooting nerve pain. It’s not been pleasant but in putting it into perspective like this it really helped me cope with it.
Tip 4
Taking deep breaths is my fourth tip. It is easy to stop breathing properly when you’re in pain as your body tenses up, but try to relax and take some deep breaths. If you are having trouble breathing with Covid, always seek medical advice. I’d highly recommend purchasing a Pulse Oximeter to monitor your blood oxygen to make sure if you get Covid that your oxygen levels are at a safe level.
Stay Safe
I hope you have found this helpful. Feel free to share or leave me a comment.
You can enrol in my free mindfulness course here.