How Can I Help? Five Significant Actions During Lockdown⁰
The crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic has countless implications and will create countless changes. Although many people want to help in some way, they either don’t know how or don’t think they have a real chance to do so. However, there are significant actions that any of us can carry out.
It’s clear to a large part of humanity that it’s time to show solidarity, even if we have to keep our physical distance from others. We’re all going to be affected by this situation, to a greater or lesser extent. That’s why mutual help is important, especially among those who don’t have means or great resources.
In principle, the common goal is to look after each other and to meet the objectives of home confinement. The main one is, of course, to reduce the rate of infection. During this confinement, we can take meaningful actions in order to make everything go a lot more smoothly and easily. What actions are we talking about? Here are five of them.
“One by one, we are all mortal. Together, we are eternal.”
-Apuleyo-
Five significant actions you can take during home confinement
1. Deal with your anxiety
One of the most difficult aspects to deal with in this crisis is uncertainty. No one is certain how all this will end, what the consequences will be, and what the impact will be on each of us. In fact, no one knows whether they’ll get infected, and, if they do, whether they’ll get timely medical help or whether they’ll be able to overcome the infection.
All of this is enough to generate a significant amount of anxiety. Some will feel it more severely and others will be able to cope better. However, the truth is that we all carry the burden of anxiety to a greater or lesser degree.
Thus, because of this, one of the most significant actions at this time is to take charge of this emotional excess.
This means increasing your ability to deal with those times of anxiety that you’ll go through time and time again. You need to do this in order not to turn on other people because of your anxiety in the form of aggressiveness, intolerance, or irritability.
If you put your mind to it, you’ll be able to find ways to relax or distance yourself if you feel bad. You can also seek help and ask others to listen to you in a mature and kind way.
2. Avoiding conflict, one of the most significant actions
One of the worst effects of poorly managed anxiety is the desire to start a conflict. We’re all feeling tense to a greater or lesser degree and being able to talk about the situation can help release some of that anxiety inside us. However, the “remedy” could be worse than the “illness” because such conversations can easily turn into conflicts. These conflicts can also leave a mark and feed negative feelings and attitudes in others.
You can’t behave all the time as if you’re invulnerable. It’s clear that almost everyone, in some way, will have a conflict with others during confinement. The important thing is to be aware of this so that it doesn’t become a habit. Therefore, that’s our second significant action: avoiding conflict, especially for reasons that can’t be justified.
3. Keeping busy
You don’t need to use lockdown to carry out the most amazing creations or work that you’ve ever done, as some have suggested. Each person must decide how they feel most comfortable spending their time. Some will put the emphasis on rest, especially if they haven’t had a chance to do so in a long time. If not, they may feel overburdened by the whole situation.
That being said, spending some time on something that makes you feel useful can improve your mood and disposition. By finding activities that you feel good about, you’ll be able to make your own progress in something that really inspires and motivates you.
4. Call your friends
This is a good time to dust off your “phone book” of friends and acquaintances. Why not give them a call to see how they’re doing and enjoy some company? This is also a way to get new stimuli and transcend the reduced space of the four walls of your home.
One of the significant actions at this time is to cultivate and enrich friendships. It gives you moral strength to know that you’re not alone, and to make contact with others, even if it’s from a distance. Think especially of those people who are going through this lockdown alone, and for whom communication with friends is of special value.
5. Sharing
One of the lessons that we’ve all seen should be essential during this crisis is that of sharing more with others. It will be easier for everyone to cope with the situation and overcome it there’s an atmosphere of unity and mutual help.
We’re all embarking on the same adventure and our collective destiny depends largely on individual actions. May all these difficult moments remind us that we’re all part of the same species and that we all depend on each other.
Just thinking about how you can help is already one of these significant actions, because it means that you’re thinking constructively about what you can do. Thinking about others and looking for ways to help them is something that, in most cases, will make you feel stronger and more optimistic.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
Arceo, F. D. B., Rojas, G. H., & González, E. L. G. (2010). Estrategias docentes para un aprendizaje significativo: una interpretación constructivista. McGraw-Hill Interamericana.
