Do you have the Covid Blues?

I wanted to share with you a recent experience I had with Covid as it unexpectedly affected my emotional wellbeing... Have you had Covid before? This was my first time and wow what an EPIC experience!

Besides the physical responses that had me laid up in bed for nearly two weeks, I noticed some pretty intense things happening to my mind. I wanted to share these with you today in case you get them or had them when you had Covid.

Unlike other flu's, the Covid virus plays with our mind. During my bout of Covid I found this intense fear, hopelessness and guilt wash upon me - and it felt real.

As a mindful practitioner, I'm always observing my thoughts and emotions and checking in, asking questions like 'is this negative or judgemental thought real? Can I substantiate it or is the opposite true and is my mind just playing tricks on me?'.

When I would do this during my darkest Covid days, I would check in with my gut feelings and ask those questions and I'd still get assurance that the negative and judgemental thoughts I were having were true. For example, when I spoke to my manager about having Covid, I kept saying 'I'm so sorry for coming into the office for a bit when Covid was starting, I'm so sorry that I may have made everyone sick', the guilt that I felt was intense and it hung around for days. Feelings of being a failure were also rampant.

My mind would keep giving me examples of what I'm doing wrong. For example, as most of you are aware, this hypersensitivity and chronic nerve pain have meant that I'm mostly doing things from home, I'm not getting out and about and doing my favourite beach walks each day nor socialising as much as I normally would.

My Covid mind would constantly tell me things like 'why are you living on the coast if you're not even getting to the beach?',

'you can't afford to go to Nepal at the end of the year for 10 weeks, who do you think you are taking all this time out of life's responsibilities for another Buddhist adventure?',

'your house is a mess! How can you live like this, there's clutter everywhere!' - that one was weird as my unit is pretty tidy, but I hadn't finished unpacking from my trip to Canberra so my toiletry bag and a few other things were still out.

I found myself questioning myself, feeling hopeless and feeling like I'd never get better and get out of bed again.

Thankfully one of the friends I reached out to said 'you will get better from this one Nat, you will get better'.

And another told me about this sense of hopelessness and fear. As well as listening to these beautiful friends, I also

💝 reached out to friends by text or phone if I needed a bit of support or contact

💝 consistently showed myself compassion for the thoughts and emotions I was having. Speaking to myself kindly, giving myself a hug and reminding myself that whether these thoughts are true or not, it's ok, I'll be ok.

💝 checked in with those thoughts and even on the darkest days when I couldn't dispute them, I would offer solutions like 'ok then, seeing as my home is a mess, I better tidy then', or even one morning I was like 'if you're in such financial despair how about making a cuppa and doing a financial plan?'.

Taking action in a positive, constructive way is a great way to handle our anxiety and fears.

💝 The most important and easiest thing we can do when we're feeling hopelessness, anxiety and fear is gratitude - find the things around you physically - things you can easily see and that make you feel all the warm and fuzzies. Keep showing your mind good things and keep those happy hormones being released from your brain.

I truely believe we have the power the create a life we love, to pull ourselves out of the dark times. We just have to know how to do it and to keep trying, even when it feels like we won't succeed.

This epic emotional roller coaster only lasted about 6 days and fast forward to today - I'm up and out of bed, symptom free and most importantly, I have my mind back.

I can see all of the things that were worrying me and I can laugh 🤭 woah! What a hectic and traumatic time, but as they say, 'this too will pass'.

I hope that by sharing this with you today that if you or any of your loved ones are experiencing the Covid blues, that this will help you understand what's going on and that you or your loved one will be ok.

If you wanted to share your Covid blues story I'd love to hear it, just comment or DM me in the chat box.

I'm launching my 6 week mind-retraining course From Worrier to Warrior on the weekend. I'm so excited! There's a special price for those who have done the course before and want a refresher and I've also updated the course with even more information on our mind and you're going to walk about with your very own Warrior Mindset Action Plan.

I've had heaps of fun recreating this course with many of the transformational tips that are helping me live my best life, regardless of the health challenges I'm facing.

🥳 Have a beautiful day

☀️ Picture is of me at Kopan Monestary in Nepal - what a stunning tree!

Love Nat xox