00:00Hi, I'm Andy Georgia Greenberg, and I'm a producer at Refinery29.
00:04My favorite part about my job has always been that I get to travel to some seriously cool places.
00:12But now, not so much.
00:15I know how lucky I am to be healthy and to be able to work from home,
00:20especially when that's not the case for so many.
00:22But I'm still struggling to feel normal.
00:27So I figure if I'm going to be here in my living room,
00:31I might as well, with your help and with the help of some intelligent professionals,
00:35figure out how to be happy or at least slightly less miserable during a global pandemic.
00:43If you're anything like me, lately the mornings have been a struggle.
00:47I wake up, I check the news,
00:51and I immediately downward spiral.
00:58Luckily, I've been hard at work developing a foolproof coping system.
01:03Step one, just because you wake up doesn't mean you have to get up.
01:06So stay in bed.
01:08Just stay there.
01:09Stay in bed as long as you want.
01:11And while you're there, girl, let it the f*** out.
01:15Cry.
01:16Cry harder.
01:18Cry so hard you might throw up.
01:20Find a window.
01:21Look out the window.
01:23Remember human touch.
01:25What's everybody else doing?
01:26They're baking bread.
01:28Can you bake bread?
01:29Try to bake bread.
01:33Step 14.
01:34You know what?
01:35Baking's never really been your thing.
01:37Order some bread.
01:38Disinfect the bread.
01:39Watch TikTok.
01:40What is TikTok?
01:42Should you be on TikTok?
01:43Get back in bed.
01:45That's right.
01:46You're back in bed.
01:47And that's when you'll realize this isn't working.
01:51Who are you?
01:52I'm your inner strength.
01:54Isn't that, like, incredibly cheesy?
01:56Totally.
01:56But, sweetie, we're in a bit of a quarantine situation right now, and this is the best I
02:00got.
02:00So I'm just going to need you to go with it.
02:02Fine.
02:02Great.
02:03Time to call a professional.
02:05Hi, I'm Dr. Amy Prozaworski.
02:07I'm an associate professor at Case Western Reserve University, and I specialize in anxiety
02:12and depression.
02:13Doc, you got to help me.
02:16I am freaking the bleep out.
02:20Please tell me what to do to maintain my sanity.
02:24So a lot of people are feeling exactly how you're feeling, and I think it's pretty normal
02:29to feel a level of anxiety right now.
02:31So the first thing is just to recognize it's okay, but there are still some things that you
02:36can do to try to kind of reduce some of that anxiety and worry just so that you feel
02:42happier right now.
02:43Hold up.
02:44Before we go further, I should just say that this advice is not therapy and should not
02:47take the place of actual therapy.
02:50Okay, continue.
02:50So have a schedule, but make sure that your schedule is something that's realistic.
02:54This can help with things like sleep.
02:57So good sleep hygiene means going to bed at the same time, waking up at the same time every
03:01day.
03:02Exercise is something that's very helpful.
03:05Meditation can be incredibly helpful, and we know that it's something that reduces anxiety
03:09and stress.
03:10Being altruistic is another thing, so helping others.
03:13And then you can also focus on things you're grateful for.
03:16So just focusing on one or two things a day that you're grateful for can really help you
03:22to focus on positive aspects of your current life, as opposed to getting lost in all the
03:27negatives.
03:28I love what you're telling me, but I do have my doubts.
03:31How can writing in a journal really change who I am and how I'm thinking?
03:36So there's a lot of data that suggests that if you change your behaviors, it changes your
03:41mood and it changes your thoughts.
03:43So if I do it, I'll believe it eventually?
03:49Exactly.
03:49It's not going to be a sudden shift.
03:51It's something that's a habit that you kind of need to change.
03:55It's as good a time as any to practice, practice, practice.
04:00I'll keep my fingers crossed.
04:01Perfect.
04:02I will be doing them right along with you, and I will look forward to hearing how they
04:06work out for you.
04:07Okay.
04:07First things first, a realistic schedule.
04:14920, open emails, 922, let's slack a coworker's team.
04:18In 2018, the Lancet Psychiatry published a study that linked having a daily routine to
04:22improved sleep, a better sense of well-being, and even better cognitive functioning.
04:28But just remember, these are not normal times, so you're going to want to set a reasonable
04:33bar and be more realistic.
04:35Oh, make it realistic.
04:41Better.
04:42Next up, mindfulness.
04:47The science is abundantly clear when it comes to meditation.
04:50There are hundreds of studies that show that it improves your mood, your general outlook,
04:55your sense of well-being, your cognitive functioning, and your memory, while decreasing stress, depression,
05:00and anxiety.
05:01It actually changes the makeup of your brain and can improve your physical health, too.
05:05If there was a pill that would do all that, you'd take it, right?
05:08Luckily for you, all you have to do is shh.
05:14That was easy.
05:15What's next?
05:16Gratitude journal.
05:17Okay.
05:18I'm grateful for my health and the health of my loved ones.
05:20I'm grateful for this apartment and the light through the windows.
05:24I'm grateful for the light everywhere.
05:26I'm grateful for the light in the park.
05:27I'm grateful for sunsets and the fact that they keep happening every single night.
05:31I'm grateful for space.
05:33I'm grateful for movies about space.
05:37I'm grateful for gravity, so I'm not in space.
05:40And I'm here in my apartment.
05:42Doing this, writing down just the few things you're grateful for three to five times a week,
05:46is clinically proven to boost your sense of well-being and your interconnectedness.
05:50It also could have physical improvements for your body.
05:53Speaking of body, time to move it.
05:56Everybody knows that working out is good for you.
05:58There are hundreds of studies that prove its benefits, but did you know that even just
06:02a 10-minute sweat sesh can give you the endorphins you need to feel good?
06:06Good, because I'm over this.
06:09Okay, you can chill, because next up is altruism.
06:14Being altruistic.
06:15No one's done more research on what doing acts of kindness can do for you than Dr. Sonia
06:20Lee of Mirsky.
06:21And to her, timing is everything.
06:23In her book, The How with Happiness, she suggests that you should challenge yourself
06:27to doing five acts of kindness on one day for the maximum feel-good boost.
06:31And just remember, no acts of kindness are too big or too small, and you should mix them
06:35up so they don't become a manot in this door.
06:37In that case, I'm going to donate to COVID relief.
06:43Try to talk to isolated seniors.
06:46Well, thank you for sharing those memories with me.
06:49Buy a present for my nephew.
06:54Bake for my neighbors.
07:01And write a thank you note to the staff of a local hospital.
07:07I just finished my five acts of kindness, and I gotta say, it feels pretty good.
07:12So, you're happy?
07:14I'm getting there.
07:15It's safe to say that I started this week with a spiral, and I think that's okay.
07:19After talking to Amy, I felt better about having these crazy mood fluctuations and feeling weird
07:24about this weird situation that we're in.
07:27But I am dedicated to trying.
07:29Every day, every hour, every 30 minutes, little by little, to hack my own happiness and get
07:34back on track to some semblance of normalcy.
07:36I'm also dedicated to doing five acts of kindness on one day every week for as long as we're in
07:41this thing.
07:42And that's where you come in.
07:44Show me, tell me in the comments below how you're giving back.
07:47Then maybe we'll all be slightly less miserable during this global pandemic.
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08:01Go ahead.
08:04I got all day.
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