Category: Living Well

Low-Risk and High-Risk Activities Activities

On this Memorial Day, and every day thereafter, please be careful. See what activities are risky or not.

In prior posts, we looked at Coronavirus Thoughts from a High-Risk Perspective and Lighthearted Look at Possible Activities.

Now, we turn to a valuable list of low-risk and high-risk activities from NPR:

“It has been around two months of quarantine for many of us. The urge to get out and enjoy the summer is real. But what’s safe? We asked a panel of infectious disease and public health experts to rate the risk of summer activities, from backyard gatherings to a day at the pool to sharing a vacation house with another household.”

“One big warning: Your personal risk depends on your age and health, the prevalence of the virus in your area, and the precautions you take during any of these activities. Also, many areas continue to restrict the activities described here, so check your local laws.”

“And there’s no such thing as a zero-risk outing right now. As states begin allowing businesses and public areas to reopen, decisions about what’s safe will be up to individuals. It can help to think through the risks the way the experts do.”

“‘We can think of transmission risk with a simple phrase: time, space, people, place,” explains Dr. William Miller, an epidemiologist at Ohio State University. Here’s his rule of thumb: The more time you spend and the closer in space you are to any infected people, the higher your risk. Interacting with more people raises your risk, and indoor places are riskier than outdoors.’

To see what is low risk and what is high risk, click on an activity:

Low-Risk and High-Risk Activities
Image by Meredith Miotke for NPR

 

Audio Podcasts to Keep Us Going

More ways to occupy our time

Many of us who are mostly at home have reached a high level of boredom. No matter how interesting our activities, we’ve probably been doing the same things for quite a well.

To help us stay on an even keel, the AAA has devised an audio playlist for us to listen to during our stay at home.

Here are some selections from the AAA.

All Told— A human-interest podcast by The Washington Post. It reports first-hand stories of Americans whose lives are affected by the coronavirus pandemic. They’ve recently interviewed a physician assistant, a minister for the homeless and even a blues musician.

Coronavirus Daily — NPR’s new podcast reporting on coronavirus, hosted by Kelly McEvers of the NPR show, Embedded. Coronavirus Daily posts updates every weekday, and they’re usually about ten minutes long.

Coronavirus: Fact vs. Fiction — A podcast by CNN, hosted by their chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. This show also updates every weekday.

Coronavirus Global Update — A podcast by BBC World Service, which reports on coronavirus from affected areas around the world. Unlike the previous two podcasts, Coronavirus Global Update has a far more, well, global perspective.

Staying In with Emily and Kumail— Married couple Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani are staying in – like a lot of us are. Their podcast is all about getting through life “in the weirds,” their term for the current situation. All proceeds from Staying In go to charities who are helping to alleviate the effects of the coronavirus.

 

Lighthearted Look at Possible Activities

There is a light ahead.

We still need a chuckle or two during this period. Check out this image from the United Nations:

Mental health is an important part of overall wellbeing, especially now as anxiety and loneliness are on the rise due to the pandemic. This poster is digitally illustrated and designed to highlight the things one can do in the comfort of your own home to increase physical and mental wellbeing during the lockdown/isolation period. Its is a lighthearted take on a tough subject. Image created by Chevon Beckley. Submitted for United Nations Global Call Out To Creatives – help stop the spread of COVID-19.

Click the image to see a larger version.

Lighthearted Look at Possible Activities
 

More COVID-19 Resources

Valuable sites for you to visit.

During the last few weeks, we have made several posts related to COVID-19.  Given the ongoing nature of the virus, today we offer more COVID-19 resources. 

Click the links:

And, if you know someone you think feels overly stressed or anxious, please refer them to the following site. Just click on the image.

More COVID-19 Resources

 

Let Us Out – Please

Who decides what and when for us?

At this point, the phrase “let us out – please” is a mantra for us. We’ve been self-quarantined for quite a while. And we’re yearning to get out of the house. So, what should be okay for us to do? And who should decide what we can do?

What Should Be Okay for Us to Do?

Up to this point, many of us have been limited to these out-of-the-house activities: walking/exercising by ourselves, grocery shopping, and going to the pharmacy. Some may have also used curbside pickups.

But, now what? As the number of states “opening up” hits double digits, which of these DO YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE DOING? For which will you wait? First, we focus on discretionary activities — those that we voluntarily choose to engage in.

Let Us Out - PleaseAs we noted, the above are voluntary. That is, they are our choice. However, other activities may soon be required of us. Without them being at our discretion. These include:

    • Returning to work or school.
    • Walking on busy streets.
    • Taking mass transit.
    • Using elevators
    • Using public bathrooms.
    • Being less than six feet apart from other employees/students while working or attending class.
    • Being required to wear masks/gloves for lengthy time periods during the day.
    • Staying in dormitory housing.

That leads us to our second question.

Who Should Decide What We Can Do?

Wow. This has turned into a real “hot button” question. And there are lots of possible answers.

Recently, there have been protests around the U.S. about required self-quarantining. Those protesters believe too much has been shut down. And that they should be able to choose their activities. On the other hand, the vast majority of those polled believe that mandatory self-quarantining is necessary to enforce social distancing rules.

Before outlining possible decision makers, we must address the elephant in the room. Can we and our fellow Americans be trusted to adhere to voluntary social distancing rules? Or must these rules be legally mandated to be followed? 

Unfortunately, for a sizable number of people, “voluntary” means that these rules don’t apply to me. Let’s try to be apolitical here. With blue and red state examples. In New York City, some people continued to go to parks, play outdoor basketball, etc. This lasted until rules were more strictly enforced. In Florida, some people do not practice social distancing while going to reopened beaches. That state is leaving it up to residents to self-regulate themselves.

Now, let’s outline just some of those who are making decisions that affect our health and livelihoods:

    • Federal government and agencies
    • State governments and agencies
    • Local governments and agencies
    • Specific authorities (such as mass transit)
    • Public institutions (such as libraries and schools)
    • Private institutions (such as banks) 
    • Employers (both public and private)
    • US [intentionally listed last]

At this juncture, the preceding mix of responsibilities and authority seem rather disjointed. That is why interesting times are ahead.

 

Feeling Sorry for Ourselves

Is it OK to feel self-pity? Read on for an interesting discussion.

Many of us (including the author) have  — at least for a brief time — felt sorry for ourselves during our  l-o-n-g self-quarantining period.  So, three questions occur to us. (1) What is self-pity? (2) Is this an acceptable form of behavior? (3) How do we avoid feeling sorry for ourselves?

Note: In this article, we treat “feeling sorry for ourselves” and “self-pity” as interchangeable terms.

What Is Self-Pity?

From Phrase Mix:

Feeling sorry for yourself/myself means to think a lot about your own problems. A person who is “feeling sorry for” him- or herself is not only sad, but also thinking things like: “Why did this have to happen to me?” “It’s not fair!” “No one loves me.” “Everything is ruined now!”

From Vocabulary.com:

If you’re completely focused on feeling badly about your own problems and complaints, you’re feeling self-pity. Your self-pity can make it hard to appreciate that other people may face more serious troubles than you do.

When you feel sorry for yourself, or overly sad about the difficulties you face, you’re indulging in self-pity. It’s often easier to identify self-pity in other people than in yourself, partly because your own self-pity keeps your attention focused inward.

Is Self-Pity an Acceptable Form of Behavior?

Some experts believe that self-pity is almost never acceptable behavior. However, we believe that answering this question depends upon three issues. One, the severity of the negative situation. Two, our level of control to fix a bad situation. And three, how long we allow ourselves to engage in self-pity.

For excellent insights, we turn to Kat George, writing for Bustle:

I don’t think anyone should spend too much time feeling sorry for themselves.  But, sometimes I do feel sorry for myself. It’s a natural human emotion. And one you have to fight to get over when you feel it creeping in. It’s okay to sometimes indulge that feeling, insofar as you might want to spend an evening on the couch crying and eating chocolates. Or whatever else it is you do when you’ve decided the world has constricted into a tiny bubble that includes only your head. At the same time, nothing else exists except your extreme sorrow.

Most of the time, indulging in a little bit of self-important wallowing is the best way to move on. I often feel that once I’ve wasted a day feeling sorry for myself, the next day I am bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. As well as ready to pick myself up by the seat of my pants and enthusiastically have at it again. Cleansing yourself of self-pity is important, because if you hang onto it it will make you unbearable and unproductive. 

How Do We Avoid Feeling Sorry for Ourselves?

First, consider this tip from Amy Morin, writing for Forbes:

Self-pity causes you to think, “I deserve better.” On the other hand, gratitude is about thinking, “I have more than I deserve.” So the easiest way to conquer feelings of self-pity is to change the way you think.

Studies show that the feeling of gratitude offers a variety of benefits, including better sleep, improved health, better stress resilience, and more mental strength.

Every time you are tempted to complain about how bad your situation is, think about three things you’re grateful for. Some people even take it a step further and write them down in a gratitude journal.

Second, read Korin Miller’s observations for Women’s Health:

It can feel like you’re missing out on a bunch of awesome life experiences, and that can be a tough thing to swallow. But eventually life will get back to normal.* And it’s crucial to keep reminding yourself of that fact. Also, you’re not the only one dealing with this right now; the entire country, and most of the world is, too. While you’re in the thick of this experience, even when you’re upset that you’re missing out on certain things, it’s crucial to still allow for moments of happiness.

* Although, it is likely that we will face a “new normal” for at least a while. Therefore, we should try as hard we can to be grateful when we return to some semblance of normal — even if it is a new normal!!!! 🙂

Click the image to read a lot more helpful tips by Miller.

Feeling Sorry for Ourselves

 

Tools for a Calmer YOU

FREE tools to help you relax.

Today, we look at tools for a calmer YOU. And we focus on the Calm.com Web site. [Please note: Calm.com offers both free and premium access to its site. As a nonprofit blog, we emphasize free materials. And Calm’s free features offer a lot of tools.]

But first, review this comment from GCC Exchange:

“Keeping calm is a bliss that most of us don’t realize in life. When you keep calm in the most dreadful conditions of life, you open up the avenues for solutions. Thus, it is important to sort out even the major crises of your life. Everyone deals with the harsh challenges our lives give to us. And to survive into this busy world, we need to be patient. There are times when you need to stay mum instead of quibbling over a thing. Yes, sometimes we face circumstances where it is difficult to keep calm. Nonetheless, you still need to try!”

Free Calm.com Tools for a Calmer YOU

According to Calm.com:

“We’re the #1 app for Sleep, Meditation and Relaxation, with over 50 million downloads and over 700,000 5-star reviews. We’re honored to be an Apple BEST OF 2018 award winner, Apple’s App of the Year 2017, Google Play Editor’s Choice 2018, and to be named by the Center for Humane Technology as ‘the world’s happiest app’.”

Free Vs. Premium Access to Calm.com

The distinction appears in the help section of Calm.com. As highlighted here.

Free from Calm.com

As Calm.com notes at its blog:

“These challenging times remind us that it’s never enough to just look after ourselves. We must look after each other too. This is what it means to Calm Together. In that spirit, we’ve handpicked some of our favorite meditations, sleep stories, movement exercises, journals, and music. All of the resources on this page are free to use, and to share. May they bring you, and those around you, peace.”

Click the image to access these free programs.

Tools for a Calmer YOU