How Are You Doing Today?

With almost three weeks of self-quarantine under our belts, even those of us who have been relatively optimistic about how we would handle isolation are starting to see the cracks show on our emotional suits of armor.

So, we wanted to check in – HOW ARE YOU doing today?

(there is no wrong answer)

…. and also, provide a series of resources, official and unofficial, that WE HOPE can help during this trying time. We are all in this together, we promise.

A list of official resources, courtesy of the wonderful people at the Suicide Prevention Resource Center:

• Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Managing Anxiety and Stress – This web page contains basic guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on managing mental health stressors during COVID-19.
• Taking Care of Your Behavioral Health: Tips for Social Distancing, Quarantine, and Isolation during an Infectious Disease Outbreak – This tip sheet from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) provides information on typical reactions to social distancing, quarantine, and isolation, and ways to take care of oneself. The sheet also provides a list of hotlines and other resources for obtaining help.
• Mental Health Considerations during COVID-19 Outbreak – This information sheet from the World Health Organization (WHO) contains suggestions for coping with COVID-19 for the general population and specific groups including health care workers, caretakers of children and older adults, and people living in isolation.
• Taking Care of Your Mental Health in the Face of Uncertainty – This blog post from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) provides five suggestions for coping with the uncertainty due to COVID-19.
• Coronavirus Anxiety: Helpful Expert Tips and Resources – This web page, updated daily by the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA), contains links to a wide variety of resources for coping with general anxiety and some specific anxiety disorders during COVID-19, including articles, information sheets, blog posts, and videos.

Here is a list of unofficial resources we like and feel you should check out:

• Quarantine Chat – a place to connect with someone, over the phone, if you are feeling alone and isolated.
• Aesthetics of Joy – Ingrid Fettel Lee celebrates the power of color, light, pattern, and shape to create a happier, healthier world.
• Hey, Girl podcast – we were SO excited to host Alex Elle for the first ever live edition of this positive affirmations at our now-cancelled Future is Festival, but the podcast archive is the second best thing. Her instagram account is filled with positive wellness practices too.
• Stay Home – Take Care – a daily digital self-care package from our friends over at Girls Night In. Think of it as a choose-your-own-adventure in supporting yourself and others.
• Therapy for Black Girls – a wonderful podcast hosted Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, a licensed Psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia, as she offers practical tips and strategies to improve your mental health, discusses the latest news and trends in mental health, pulls back the curtain on what happens in therapy sessions, and answers your listener questions
• Dance Church – it will help.
• Lizzo Guided Meditation – it will DEFINITELY help.

Plus, here are some suggestions from our content output for how to keep the brain occupied with positive, but not too taxing things:

• Have Dolly Parton read you a bedtime story TONIGHT (April 2nd) – we’re THERE
• Check out some soothing photos from the BYT Flickr feed.
• DANCE IT OUT.
• Start a small, manageable, not-too-taxing project.
• Art CAN help. Be with ART, even if virtually.
• Tune into @brightestyoungthings instagram for our daily livestreams, so you can see faces from our community and feel a little less isolated.

Any other suggestions? Ideas? We’d love to hear what you are doing to keep yourself going. Let us know at [email protected]

BYT makes our living off of things that are currently non-existent as a source of income (arts, events, arts and event advertising). If you’d like to support the work we do, click here. Every little helps right now. Thank you.