Coping up in the pandemic is, in fact, difficult. People look for different ways to survive both for physical and emotional security. While it is truly important to focus on our physical state by wearing mask and observing physical distancing, our mental health should be taken care as well.

Here are three survival tips during this pandemic:

1. Manage your time using social media. We pick a lot of information through the use of social media, specifically from various digital news outlets where people are publicly debating and echoing their sentiments on some issues. While our role is to be cognizant on what’s happening around us, too much information can cause an emotional and mental stress. Social media has also become a source of misinformation, which is not good as well to an individual’s well being because it may cause panic that might endanger someone’s life. Since social media is free and there’s no standard regulation on how to professionally and perfectly use it to our advantage, best thing to do is always do a fact-check.

This is the first time that social media is available during a pandemic but we must also acknowledge that being passive with such technology will do more harm than good. Always make time for the ‘real world’ and get off of your phone and take time to smell the flowers.

2. Try learning new skills. Disrupting your pattern and learning a new skill is beneficial during the pandemic. A lot of communities are in lockdown and the timing is perfectly right to learn a new trick while staying at home. Few clicks away, you can learn a new recipe your family can eat over lunch or dinner. Few searches away, there’s something you can bake in the oven that you can sell to your family and friends.

This kind of learning is not limited on what you can do in the kitchen because there are a lot of activities that you can do like gardening or putting up some small business online. The current trend of potting cacti and succulents has been trending since the quarantine started and you might want to consider.

To sum it up, there are vast options for a person if he or she is willing to learn. While staying away from social media, a person can maximize his or her time by learning as well.

3. Accept that what you feel is normal. Acknowledging your feeling is very fundamental in this pandemic. The feeling of anxiety and fear is normal most specially that there is no outright medication against COVID-19 but understanding your emotion will be beneficial to your mental. The changes the pandemic have brought to someone’s life can be readily faced if we fully understand what we feel. Remember that fear and anxiousness is normal but how do we face our next steps is where we should focus on.

Living during a pandemic is tough but on how we deal with this, using the tips mentioned, will surely make a difference.