Reduce Your Stress During Covid-19

Covid-19 Support Series #1

I am sending you my love and blessings during this world crisis due to the coronavirus Covid-19.  I bless you with the wisdom to make healthy choices and to keep you and your loved ones safe from harm.

To keep us all safe during this Covid-19 crisis, telemedicine is the only format that I am offering. I have been using video-conferences for 12 years so I’m very familiar with the platform. I can help you enjoy counseling sessions from the comfort of your own home.

Great News! Blue Cross Blue Shield has approved telemedicine (video-conferences + audio) for all policyholders for the next 90 days starting March 17, 2020.

This is the beginning of a series of articles to help you cope during Covid-19. Today we’ll focus on the importance of building your immune system with relaxation processes and developing your spiritual connection.

If your immune system is healthy, you have a much better chance of not getting the virus, or if you do get sick, it will probably be milder.

Stress erodes the effectiveness of our immune system. There are lots of things to be stressed about.

  • Relationships
  • Money and jobs
  • Health issues
  • And now the world-wide pandemic of Covid-19

While we can’t do much about everyone else’s stress levels, we can manage our own.

If you don’t like taking psychiatric drugs, here are my recommendations.

Don’t continue to let anxiety send your sympathetic nervous system into hyper-arousal. If you aren’t functioning in the zone of resilience in your nervous system, you may not make wise decisions.

Now we have tons more decisions to make, e.g., When I go to the grocery store, should I wear gloves? Should I wear a mask? How much food should I buy? Should I go to work or stay at home? What will people think?

Every time you relax and breathe deeper, you can think better and you feel calmer emotionally. With repeated meditation and relaxation, the actual physical matter of your brain changes. The effects of the relaxation will last longer.

If you’ve already learned meditation and relaxation skills, practice them one to three times a day. I do.

Schedule 30 minutes of meditation/relaxation during the day and get 7.5 – 8 hours of sleep. Make it a priority. It’s the most important thing you can do to boost your immune system.

I know it’s easy to let other things take precedence over meditation.

I urge you to make a commitment to your health because YOUR health affects everyone else around you.

If you want to learn meditation and relaxation skills, this is the perfect time to start.  I created this special discount for you.

Learn to meditate quickly to reduce stress.

Click here to listen to a sample.

I created “A Journey into Wholeness” meditation to help you in tough times like these. It has several purposes.

1. I guide you through breathing and relaxation processes that stimulate your alpha brain waves so you calm down. I recommend listening to this track daily so you memorize it. I want you to be able to use it in the moments that you need it most.

2. After you are in a calm alpha state, I walk you through a process where you access spiritual guidance for your problems. This helps you hear the voice of God. Being able to hear the voice of God is THE most important thing you need in any crisis.

3. Affirmations help you replace negative self-talk with helpful healing attitudes. If your mind gets caught in a rumination anxiety loop, this track will get you out of it. These particular affirmations focus your thoughts where they need to be … deepening your spiritual connection … boosting your self-confidence instead of feeling like a victim … and caring for your body as the temple of God.

Click here to read more details and purchase the MP3 download of “A Journey into Wholeness.”

* * * * *

Now let’s back to other things you can do to reduce your stress during Covid-19.

Deepen your spiritual relationship.

I’m sharing my personal prayer in hopes that you might like it, too.

I give my body to God. I give my thoughts to God. I give my emotions to God. I give my decision-making to God. Dear Lord, speak to me in such a clear way that I hear your crystal-clear guidance. I want to hear your voice. I receive. I listen. Thank you for answering this prayer every day of my life and especially now.

Monitor your self-talk. This means the thoughts that roll around in your head.

Freeze-frame your thoughts. Shine a spotlight on them. Then ask yourself, “Are my thoughts accurate?”

I’ve talked to several people who don’t believe that we are in a serious high-risk crisis with Covid-19. Their comments have ranged from “I’m not buying into this fear,” to “This crisis will blow over,” to “God will take care of it.”

People are welcome to their beliefs. But the worst part is that they are not protecting themselves and all those around them. They aren’t practicing social distancing of six feet. They think it’s perfectly OK to attend social events and be out in public.
Yesterday California ordered a mandatory lock-down for its 40 million residents.

People can carry the virus without having symptoms for 14 days. They can infect everyone around them without knowing it.

P l e a s e … Do your part to slow down the spread of Covid-19. Stay home as much as possible.

I heard one podcast predict that the rate of Covid-19 cases would double daily.

I wanted to see if that was accurate so I’ve been recording statistics.

My source for USA Statistics on Covid-19 is:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html

3/5/20: First Covid-19 case in USA
3/17/20: 5,359 cases in USA
3/19/20: 10,422 cases in USA

4/4/20: 277,205 cases in USA.  6,593 deaths.

The following stats reflect Covid-19 cases in Georgia. Source: Georgia Department of Public Health (GDPH)

3/14/2020: 66 cases. 1 death
3/16/2020: 121 cases. 1 death
3/18/2020: 197 cases. 1 death
3/19/2020: 287 cases. 10 deaths
3/20/2020: 420 cases. 13 deaths

4/4/2020: 6,160 cases. 201 deaths

In case you think that the virus is mostly infecting older people, (GDPH) released these stats today 3/20/2020.

Age 18-59 41%
Age 60+ 33%

So, the virus doesn’t double daily in the USA, but you can see the pattern, and it isn’t pretty.

I don’t share this information to plummet you into fear. I tell you these things so that you can make wise decisions to care for your safety and all those around you.

Remember, the best things you can do to prevent getting Covid-19 are …

Boost your immune system by lowering your stress and listening to the voice of God.

Stay at home whenever possible. Practice social distancing. Stay six feet away from people.

Meditate 30 minutes a day and get 7.5-8 hours of sleep.

When you go out, consider wearing protective gear, e.g., gloves and a mask. It helped me get over the concern about what other’s think of me. Two people in the grocery store applauded me saying, “That’s a smart thing to do!”

Would you rather be safe or sorry? Think about it.

I love you. I bless you. I see your heart. I believe in you.

Warmly,
Benita A. Esposito, MA, LPC

Please leave a comment or ask a question.

Author: Benita A. Esposito. If you would like to schedule a complimentary 10-minute phone chat to see if we are a good fit for counseling, please complete the Contact Form.

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