Even typing this title made me feel uncomfortable. As someone who suffers from anxiety and OCD everything is heightened for me at the minute. I feel the best way for me to describe this to someone who doesn’t suffer from this is, that you may be more alert of things you are doing at the moment. For example, washing your hands every time you’ve been outside. Or walking faster when you hear someone cough. Cleaning down packages you have bought from a store. This is all now normalised behaviour that helps keep us safe but this precautionary behaviour is sort of how I am all the time even when there is no danger. For example, constantly worrying that someone might get ill because I’ve not done something correctly even though there’s no possible way that anything I’d done would affect this. So now an actual danger (virus) has been added my anxiety is in overdrive.

I couldn’t function properly if I let this take over however, so I’m implementing daily things to help me get through these times. I’m hoping that by sharing some of these it might help other people who are struggling whether this is your first time experiencing anxiety or your a long time member like me.

Number one: One of the things I have been doing is getting up and dressed for the day every day. As nice as it would be to stay in my pjs all day I know this wouldn’t be productive for my mental health. It would cause me to spiral as it would be so out of my routine since I would usually be working. So by doing this it seems to add a bit of normality to my schedule.

Number two: Connecting with friends and family. Isolation sucks. It really does. But it doesn’t mean we have to disconnect from those we love. I’ve been trying to video chat and call as many of my friends and family as frequently as I can. This helps me know they are okay and it makes me happy and helps me forget about the things going on in this crazy world. I have told them I don’t want to discuss the C word and they are all very understanding and don’t do this and we just focus on each other.

Number 3: Do things that make you happy. I love making stupid Tik tok videos. It is such a good distraction for me and I have so much fun doing these. I even rope my boyfriend in to doing them too. It’s a nice outlet and a way to do something fun whilst stuck inside. Check out my videos @bexwainwright on tik tok. They are all just a bit of fun intended to make people smile.

Number 4: Social media. Although social media is a good way to stay connected I try to avoid strolling things like Facebook too many times a day. There are lots of scaremongering posts about the virus on there that can be so damaging to my mental health when I read them. So by limiting my time on there I have less chance of seeing them. I do this with the news too. I watch it every so often so I know what’s going on but I don’t keep super up to date with it as it honestly just scares me.

Number 5: Online classes. I think it’s so important to try and keep to as much normality as you can. As a performer out of work due to the virus I miss performing. But there are so many online classes at the moment as everyone is in the same boat. So I try to take part in some of the online classes. This helps my mood and keeps me exercising which is good for mental health too.

This is just some of the things that help me. I see a therapist too and she does online appointments so speaking to her and explaining how I’m feeling helps me keep grounded too. Please speak out if you are struggling and I hope this helps someone.

Stay safe everyone!