and welcome back everybody you know a lot of people have found themselves feeling anxious in the midst of this pandemic so we want to give you some ways to cope and deal with anxiety during all this joining me now live from her home this morning is dr.
RG Alan Wilson a relationship therapist and also the author of courageous conversations connect and she has her own practice in the Winfield section of Philadelphia doctor good morning thanks so much for joining us good morning to now it's good to be here thanks for having me and as we mentioned a lot of people just dealing with anxiety during all of this what are your suggestions for them yeah well you know we're anxious anyway right this is kind of put our anxiety on fleek quite frankly because we're stuck in home we're all working from home with our children and so some of the things that we remember is that this is temporary this is temporary inconvenience for long-term gain and as long as we stay healthy Janelle then everything else is recoverable but we also have to remember that we need to create a schedule for ourselves this is not vacation this is kind of business as usual just at home so create a schedule for yourself recognizing that once we create that schedule we can move into different place with regards to what we're going to do within our family system I also say like for many people we are grieving the loss of the life that we want snoo three weeks ago right and so we accept we are new norm once we accept the new norm then we can adjust reset our mindset make some tweaks and a start adapting to that new norm so that we can start appreciating the progress that we've made so those things are things that we need to do to decrease anxiety and of course we've got to talk about what's going go on or even write about it you know journaling is really good mindfulness meditation some movement and then meaningful engagement I don't know if you've seen people get online and do the deep would be nice where some people have online parties if you will listening to music there is a way to connect we just need to continue to be social at social distance but that doesn't mean social isolation and speaking of that a lot of people as you mentioned working from the kids are home there any other relatives or spouse at home how do you suggest people deal with all of these personalities at home for the majority of the day it's a lot for some to handle yeah yeah I mean the truth is most of us don't spend 24 hours a day seven days a week with our families we're actually spending that time with our co-workers or our colleagues eight and hours a day then we come home then we spend maybe a couple of hours eat we can do it all over again and so now that we're thrust in this together I'm telling people have the courageous conversation sit down with your kids first of all they're anxious because they're gonna be tapping into your anxiety so sit down with them and let them know first that you're going to protect them that you're going to have a plan for them that you're gonna provide for them because kids need predictability they need safety and they need consistency if they have those things and that's gonna make them feel secure and safe right that helps them to feel more confident then you say we're gonna have a plan we're gonna have our free time but we're gonna have our work time and then have everyone find a different place in the house that they feel comfortable with to get their work done and then reconvene I'm saying have your breakfast your lunch your dinner together have your free time go for a walk but then come back and get your work done and get your rest your bed time is very very important again this is not vacation this is work we're just working from home because we're trying to keep ourselves safe and if your kids aren't and frightened or anxious allow them to know that you've got an open door for them to process what's happening but do not use your children as your peer or your sounding board you need to have an accountability partner maybe a friend maybe your parent your sibling to process your anxieties so that you don't sort of tap it tapped into your children's in piety that's a good point there but the flip side of that is there are also people who live alone and this can be very isolating for them tips for them yeah for the people who live in law and recognize that again social distancing does not mean social isolation we have this technology now many people felt very anxious about the technology the goodness gracious what will we do without it right now so allowing people to know they're home alone that they can tap into their friends or their family they can take a walk if they have a car or their mobile then they can reach out to somebody else maybe go to a senior person by the way this is a time now we have where we are still more still than ever before but pick up a habit do some reading write a book start your business this is a time where you can find ways to actually I had a client who said he was gonna write a song with our boyfriend because you're not going on prom this year so there's a creative way for many of us find ways to connect again social distancing does not mean social isolation absolutely dr.
RG Alan Wilson thank you so much and great advice and stay safe and stay healthy thank you are you too dear thank you for having me all right thanks Jenn we're going to send it back over the year Thank You Janelle.
