COVID-19: Go Away! (Part 2)

Nebraska Extension Author

05/19/2020 Added

11 Plays

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COVID-19: Go Away! (How are you coping?) – Part 2 of 2 The COVID-19 pandemic has brought so many uncertainties to daily life and challenges to our mental well-being. How are you coping? Watch to see how you can stay in the healthy zone. This video is part of the “Start the Conversation: Taking Care During Tough Times” video series created for Nebraska Extension’s Wellness in Tough Times project. The videos, led by Dr. Christine Chasek, include strategies to improve your well-being and reduce stress during this challenging time. Watch more videos at https://go.unl.edu/ruralwellness.

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[00:00:00.000](upbeat music)
[00:00:21.920]Okay, so welcome back to part two
[00:00:23.820]of "COVID- 19: Go away!".
[00:00:26.140]I'm Dr. Tina Chasek, and so I am wanting
[00:00:30.110]to kind of kick this off with talking about coping
[00:00:33.400]and how we cope with things.
[00:00:34.790]You know, kind of gave you all the bad news
[00:00:36.910]about all this stuff that's going on and you know,
[00:00:39.227]and I'm sure it's not absolutely no surprise to you.
[00:00:42.820]And so now we wanna talk about,
[00:00:44.320]okay, how do we deal with this, right?
[00:00:45.987]What do we do?
[00:00:47.450]And so there are of course two ways that we can deal
[00:00:49.720]with anything, we can do it in a healthy way
[00:00:51.540]or we can do it in an unhealthy way.
[00:00:53.710]And we want to of course, maximize the healthy
[00:00:57.900]and minimize the unhealthy.
[00:00:59.570]So what is it that we do that's not good
[00:01:02.710]for our behavioral health and kind of
[00:01:06.360]how we cope with things like disasters and stressors
[00:01:10.100]and, you know, even the day to day little annoyances
[00:01:13.210]that go on.
[00:01:14.200]And so one of the things, this is the,
[00:01:16.800]what you don't do, okay?
[00:01:18.440]This is,
[00:01:19.273]"Do not do this."
[00:01:20.510]One of them is, is you don't wanna overuse substances.
[00:01:23.600]And I tell ya, COVID-19 for whatever reason, substance,
[00:01:29.730]alcohol sales have been through the roof.
[00:01:32.370]And I say for whatever reason, I mean,
[00:01:33.637]and I know what the reason is.
[00:01:35.820]People kind of wanna tend to forget and relax
[00:01:38.940]and you know, maybe not try to not think
[00:01:42.400]about the bad things that are happening, right?
[00:01:44.490]And substances do that to us,
[00:01:46.000]they kind of put us to sleep, if you will.
[00:01:48.310]That's their job, and that's what they do
[00:01:50.406]is anesthetize our brain so we're not worried about things.
[00:01:54.420]The problem is, the more that you do that,
[00:01:55.997]the more you become dependent on it
[00:01:57.590]and the more it starts impacting your health,
[00:02:00.620]your physical health, your relationships,
[00:02:03.446]and you know, quite frankly, the pocket book as well.
[00:02:06.490]And so that's, you don't wanna overuse substances.
[00:02:10.010]You know, and that includes things,
[00:02:11.660]you know, obviously like alcohol,
[00:02:13.750]but like prescription medications
[00:02:16.132]or any what we would call street drugs
[00:02:19.550]or illegal drugs like marijuana, methamphetamine,
[00:02:24.560]any of those kinds of substances.
[00:02:26.780]But also caffeine and sugar,
[00:02:29.370]and some of those other things that are not
[00:02:31.030]so good for our brain and our body, right?
[00:02:33.290]To not overdo it, and I am gonna be 100% authentic here,
[00:02:37.890]this COVID and staying at home and self quarantining,
[00:02:42.570]the fridgerator is way too easy to get to
[00:02:44.950]and the only things that you can shop for are food, right?
[00:02:48.620]And so I know I'm gonna have to work off
[00:02:51.460]some extra pounds when all this is over with.
[00:02:55.200]So the other thing you don't wanna do is you don't wanna,
[00:02:58.160]you know, kind check out by oversleeping, right?
[00:03:02.000]Or, you know, just kind of avoiding things
[00:03:05.340]by maybe sleeping too much or trying to stay away
[00:03:08.050]from people, isolating yourself.
[00:03:10.850]That's not a good plan.
[00:03:12.850]Even though we have to be physically distanced
[00:03:14.807]from people, we shouldn't isolate ourselves
[00:03:17.360]from our support systems.
[00:03:19.406]And so, you know, kind of by,
[00:03:21.410]you know, going into kind of an isolating mode
[00:03:25.050]or in, you know, into the cave kind of thing is not good.
[00:03:28.580]The other thing that I think happens quite a bit
[00:03:31.050]is we ruminate on the negative things, right?
[00:03:33.910]And the media sure doesn't help us because, you know,
[00:03:36.730]it's on all the time, especially with this COVID thing,
[00:03:40.500]and there's just a lot of negative news.
[00:03:42.310]And of course in an all the media, their job
[00:03:45.300]is to hype it as much as they can, so you'll watch,
[00:03:48.100]and so it's hard to know sometimes like,
[00:03:51.320]how much of this do we really pay attention to?
[00:03:53.830]How much of it is, you know, kind of exaggerating
[00:03:58.220]and all of that, so we spend a lot of time worrying.
[00:04:00.210]And the more that you fill your mind with that stuff,
[00:04:03.290]the more that you worry.
[00:04:04.440]And so, you know, you do wanna stay informed
[00:04:07.490]but you don't wanna overdo or kind of binge
[00:04:10.207]on all this negative media coverage,
[00:04:13.610]and that's with any kinds of disasters.
[00:04:16.530]And so those are the things that we don't wanna do,
[00:04:18.860]we don't wanna bury our head in the sand,
[00:04:20.760]we don't wanna overuse substances.
[00:04:22.960]We don't wanna pull away from people.
[00:04:26.328]So what do you...
[00:04:27.161]what do we want to do?
[00:04:27.994]There's some awesome coping things that we can do.
[00:04:32.603]And you know, one is exercise,
[00:04:36.990]and get out and go for a walk, that can help.
[00:04:40.810]Shut the TV off, get outside when it's nice,
[00:04:44.030]the great thing about living in a rural area,
[00:04:45.700]we have a lot of really good places
[00:04:47.480]that we can get out and walk to.
[00:04:50.250]When I go stay with my kids who live in Omaha,
[00:04:54.840]there's nowhere to walk, I mean, I just feel like
[00:04:56.740]I'm getting run over by a car at any minute,
[00:04:59.997]and so it's hard to get out and walk, you know.
[00:05:02.267]And we can't push the baby in the stroller
[00:05:04.240]because it's the highway, and so we're blessed
[00:05:07.520]in the rural areas to be able to just to walk
[00:05:09.530]or ride the bike just to clear your head.
[00:05:12.360]So get out and do some type of physical activity
[00:05:15.320]and you don't have to, you know, pump a lot of iron
[00:05:18.441]or just sprint, like you're training for a marathon,
[00:05:22.077]but just to walk at a leisurely place.
[00:05:24.850]And so the other thing I think we need to do
[00:05:27.600]is use our humor, so maybe instead of looking
[00:05:31.910]all the time at the negative stuff, turn on a good comedy.
[00:05:35.570]Turn on something that makes you laugh,
[00:05:37.310]whatever that belly laugh kind of stuff is for you.
[00:05:41.050]We've been watching a lot of Netflix,
[00:05:43.740]kind of the standup comedians,
[00:05:45.070]there's a few on there that we really enjoy.
[00:05:47.810]And so humor and laugh and some TV shows.
[00:05:51.180]And also can, you know, share silly stories
[00:05:53.740]with your family, and I know our kids love to hear
[00:05:57.180]about us growing up on the farm and on the ranch,
[00:05:59.557]and, oh my God, my husband has some stories
[00:06:02.440]that are just hilarious.
[00:06:04.280]And I don't even know how how he survived
[00:06:10.920]some of the things that he tells us about, right?
[00:06:13.150]So we just have a good laugh about that.
[00:06:16.540]One of them had to do with hooking up frogs
[00:06:19.150]to a car charging battery and making them do pushups.
[00:06:24.230]So it's just really some crazy things.
[00:06:27.540]And so that's the other thing, get outside and do fun stuff.
[00:06:30.950]I know there's a lot of work to be done on the farm,
[00:06:33.040]but also, you know, make those things fun
[00:06:36.140]or do some things that you enjoy.
[00:06:38.770]The other thing we have to do is just adjust
[00:06:41.380]our expectations, and so you know, we might not be able
[00:06:46.090]to do all the things that we wanna do right now,
[00:06:49.290]we have to adjust what our expectations
[00:06:51.530]of what we can and can't do.
[00:06:53.310]So even though we can't, you know, go out
[00:06:55.680]maybe to our favorite restaurant and you know,
[00:06:59.660]have a meal, we can, you know, still get take out
[00:07:04.160]and take it to a park and, you know,
[00:07:06.050]do some fun things like that
[00:07:07.445]or bring it home and have it in.
[00:07:10.986]Or you know, one of the things that
[00:07:12.800]I got to thinking about, like when all this started
[00:07:15.830]is that I must not have very many hobbies
[00:07:18.140]because all I could think of was I can't go out to eat
[00:07:20.770]and I can't go shopping because things are closed.
[00:07:23.550]And so I had to find out other things, like,
[00:07:25.957]"God, what do I like to do?"
[00:07:28.260]You know, well, I kind of found out that I like to cook,
[00:07:31.010]I forgot about that and now that I'm home,
[00:07:33.050]I can cook and try new recipes.
[00:07:35.850]So pick up a hobby that you haven't done,
[00:07:38.080]rather than thinking, you know, this stinks, this sucks,
[00:07:40.860]I can't do anything that I wanna do.
[00:07:43.680]You know, pick up something you haven't done for awhile,
[00:07:45.910]use this time as kind of a slow down time
[00:07:50.500]and try something new or different.
[00:07:53.620]And I know right now a lot of times for the farmers,
[00:07:56.330]especially in planning seasons here and you're busy
[00:07:59.730]and you're doing all kinds of stuff,
[00:08:01.360]you know, make time still to have fun with you know,
[00:08:04.270]with family and get a break too.
[00:08:07.630]We have to do new ways of socializing,
[00:08:10.293]and so even though we may not be able to,
[00:08:14.099]you know, have people over to the house or whatever,
[00:08:16.533]we can still talk to neighbors across the road.
[00:08:18.970]We can, you know sit down on our front porch
[00:08:21.520]like we used to and visit with neighbors as they walk by.
[00:08:25.660]And so, or use technology, you know, such as this
[00:08:29.004]to meet up with family who, you know, live...
[00:08:33.770]either live in another town or even next door, right?
[00:08:36.980]So you can set up meetings electronically
[00:08:39.280]and if you don't know how to do it,
[00:08:40.950]I bet you have a person somewhere in your circle,
[00:08:44.730]in your family who's a young person who knows how to do it.
[00:08:48.071]We call our 15 year old when he...
[00:08:53.000]our IT person, and as he's kind of grown,
[00:08:56.330]he's become known as "IT".
[00:08:57.820]So we call "IT" when we need help.
[00:09:00.970]And then just the other thing is get plenty of sleep,
[00:09:04.300]I think that's another really good thing
[00:09:07.510]to make sure that you're not oversleeping,
[00:09:09.305]but make sure you are getting enough sleep,
[00:09:10.650]that really helps our mental health and emotional health.
[00:09:13.580]And if I would be able to pull all of you,
[00:09:17.070]you probably would tell me that you need,
[00:09:20.990]you know, maybe seven hours of sleep
[00:09:22.780]or maybe even six hours of sleep.
[00:09:25.080]You really need between eight and nine
[00:09:27.180]for an adult on a consistent basis,
[00:09:29.770]and you can't get into sleep debt, right?
[00:09:34.910]And you can't make it up.
[00:09:36.220]So, you know, if you're shorting yourself on sleep
[00:09:38.410]every night, you can't like sleep a whole bunch
[00:09:40.749]on one night to make up for it,
[00:09:42.750]it has to be consistent time.
[00:09:45.340]And that has to do with how our brain works
[00:09:47.270]and how it resets and the sleep cycles we go through.
[00:09:51.460]The first part of the sleep cycles
[00:09:53.010]are about physical repair in our body,
[00:09:55.440]the longer we sleep, then it starts shifting
[00:09:57.630]into repairing our emotional, our mental
[00:10:00.150]and our brain kind of health.
[00:10:02.440]And so you have to have those long sleeps
[00:10:04.850]to get into the brain and the emotional health repair,
[00:10:08.540]you know, if you don't, you'll just shorten yourself.
[00:10:11.315]And so definitely get enough sleep,
[00:10:13.370]especially during quarantine time.
[00:10:16.580]So what do we do?
[00:10:17.413]We gotta stay in the health zone, right?
[00:10:18.930]That's my challenge to you, stay in the health zone.
[00:10:21.430]And this goes for times of disaster like we're in,
[00:10:24.220]this goes for times of just everyday life,
[00:10:26.970]we wanna stay in the health zone.
[00:10:28.600]So what do we do?
[00:10:30.100]Get medical care.
[00:10:31.080]So if you're not feeling well, make sure
[00:10:33.760]that you're going to the doctor,
[00:10:35.420]that you're calling the doctor ahead of time,
[00:10:37.400]kind of like they're encouraging us to do right now
[00:10:39.940]if you're having any kind of symptoms.
[00:10:42.660]And you know, just in general, it's just a good idea
[00:10:45.300]to make sure that your body is in good shape, you know?
[00:10:48.870]So you can do the things that you wanna do
[00:10:50.580]and get your work done on the farm, on the ranch.
[00:10:54.370]The other thing is social support.
[00:10:55.850]So make sure that you have plenty of social support,
[00:10:58.430]whether that is you know, your own immediate family,
[00:11:02.650]maybe a friend, other folks.
[00:11:06.440]And there's your group of guys that, you know,
[00:11:09.870]maybe go to coffee with or you know,
[00:11:11.880]for women the group that you socialize with
[00:11:13.943]and you have book club week or whatever.
[00:11:16.750]And you'll have to do it different right now during COVID
[00:11:19.250]but definitely make sure you're getting social support
[00:11:21.920]and that you're communicating and talking about the things
[00:11:24.810]that are on your mind.
[00:11:28.060]What we know and we've found, if you let things
[00:11:30.150]kind of build up in your head and in your mind
[00:11:32.450]and you don't talk about it, it just gets worse.
[00:11:35.590]If you actually talk about it, your brain
[00:11:38.390]has a chance to make sense of it and kind of release it.
[00:11:41.360]And there's a lot of complicated neurobiology around that,
[00:11:44.501]but basically it's like, you know, talk,
[00:11:46.887]and that's why we have...
[00:11:48.400]that's why we have the ability to do so.
[00:11:50.119]And eat right, get plenty of sleep
[00:11:52.870]and exercise like I've talked about.
[00:11:55.040]The other thing is to practice whatever
[00:11:58.070]your spirituality is, your faith, the parts of you
[00:12:02.690]that connect to something bigger than yourself.
[00:12:05.250]And you know, whether that's going to church,
[00:12:07.160]whether that's being in a study group,
[00:12:10.040]that we are a mind, body and spirit being.
[00:12:13.070]And so we gotta take care of our body,
[00:12:15.090]we gotta take care of our mind
[00:12:16.310]and we gotta take care of our spirit.
[00:12:18.090]So whatever that is for you, it's just really important.
[00:12:22.080]You know, it could be going to church,
[00:12:23.610]it could just be being out in nature,
[00:12:25.920]but something that you know, you connect to
[00:12:27.990]kind of on a higher level is really important.
[00:12:31.520]And to practice gratitude, right?
[00:12:34.210]To be grateful for the things that we do get to do,
[00:12:37.860]instead of always worrying about all of the problems
[00:12:40.770]or the things we can't do.
[00:12:42.277]And you know, if you get...
[00:12:45.460]even though there's all of these things
[00:12:47.860]that we kind of talked about with being
[00:12:49.600]all the challenges of the farming and ranching
[00:12:52.820]and agricultural and rural lifestyle,
[00:12:54.840]it really is a great way to live.
[00:12:57.790]And I know people would not give it up,
[00:13:01.630]and so part of it is living in a rural area
[00:13:04.060]is really healthy because you're outside,
[00:13:07.050]you're doing something meaningful.
[00:13:09.354]You know, providing for this world to eat,
[00:13:13.220]and that is a super important job.
[00:13:15.990]And you know, just take time to sometimes slow down
[00:13:18.950]and smell the roses and make sure
[00:13:21.450]that you are practicing that gratitude
[00:13:23.760]of all the amazing things that come along with it.
[00:13:28.290]And so it is "Nebraska Strong" to reach out
[00:13:33.400]if you are struggling, so we do wanna let you know
[00:13:37.290]that if you know, all of these things,
[00:13:38.860]all the positive coping stuff is not working
[00:13:40.910]and you're just not feeling like yourself,
[00:13:43.370]that sometimes it is necessary to get help outside of,
[00:13:48.570]you know, things from professionals.
[00:13:51.351]And one of the great resources we have in Nebraska
[00:13:54.740]is the Rural Response Hotline.
[00:13:57.220]And that hotline offers lots of different support
[00:14:00.890]and access to professionals, so it offers access
[00:14:05.570]to attorneys, financial advisors, clergy, mediators,
[00:14:10.670]and also professional counselors.
[00:14:12.900]And the neat thing about this
[00:14:15.770]is that you can call and ask for a voucher
[00:14:20.460]that doesn't cost you anything for counseling services.
[00:14:23.700]So many providers like myself has signed up for this
[00:14:27.120]and we're able to provide counseling services
[00:14:30.020]and then the funding for those come through
[00:14:32.700]the Rural Response Hotline.
[00:14:34.610]And so it's kind of like handing somebody
[00:14:36.280]about a thousand dollars, you know, if you refer them
[00:14:39.410]to this and they need some help.
[00:14:41.230]And it operates Monday through Friday
[00:14:44.100]from 8:00 to 5:00, and I'm gonna give the number,
[00:14:48.720]it's 1-800-464-0258.
[00:14:57.280]So if you wanna write that down
[00:14:58.950]and you missed some of it, I'm gonna say it again.
[00:15:02.180]1-800-464-0258.
[00:15:09.650]And so this is just, you know, you call up
[00:15:11.736]and you just say,
[00:15:12.569]"This is what's going on."
[00:15:13.740]And they'll help direct you to the right services, right?
[00:15:16.170]Whether it's attorneys, financial people
[00:15:19.100]or professional counselors.
[00:15:20.590]It's really a great resource we have in Nebraska,
[00:15:24.270]it's pretty much known nationwide too
[00:15:26.050]as being one of the best.
[00:15:27.640]Then we also have the farm aid hotline,
[00:15:29.520]which they do a lot of the same things.
[00:15:31.480]That's more on a national level.
[00:15:33.890]They can hook you up to resources,
[00:15:36.290]this came about in the 80s when we had the farm crisis
[00:15:39.360]and they really, since COVID really have reactivated this.
[00:15:44.740]And so this provides national service
[00:15:47.140]like maybe for outside of the Nebraska
[00:15:48.900]and you can't access the Rural Response Hotline,
[00:15:51.930]you can call this number and they can get you hooked up.
[00:15:54.660]And that number is 1-800-FARM-AID.
[00:16:00.280]And so they're operating Monday through Friday,
[00:16:04.130]9:00 to 5:00.
[00:16:06.610]And if you, you know, if you're kind of
[00:16:08.570]at your wit's end and it's outside of 8:00 to 5:00,
[00:16:11.560]you know, most crisis don't happen from 8:00 to 5:00,
[00:16:14.620]and we wanna make sure that you or you know,
[00:16:16.870]you have some resource if other people are struggling 24/7.
[00:16:21.060]And that would be the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
[00:16:25.334]And that is a...
[00:16:26.540]it's a crisis center, they provide emotional support
[00:16:29.630]kind of resources and help you sort through some things
[00:16:32.550]so that you don't make rash decisions, right?
[00:16:34.950]In a time when you're not thinking your best,
[00:16:37.620]and so that number, like I said,
[00:16:39.450]that's nationwide and it's, 1-800-273-8255.
[00:16:49.500]And I'll just say that one again if you wanna jot it down,
[00:16:52.810]1-800-273-8255, and they have a texting line,
[00:17:01.220]so if you're more of a texter or you know maybe your kids,
[00:17:03.940]cause you know, any of these resources are available
[00:17:06.686]for kids and families or folks who are in agriculture.
[00:17:11.010]There's a texting option, and what you do
[00:17:13.270]is you text the word "GO", capital G-O,
[00:17:17.390]to 741741.
[00:17:23.110]Again, you text "Go" to 741741.
[00:17:28.960]And these resources will be up on
[00:17:30.600]the wellness, Staying Connected, the wellness website
[00:17:38.161]and where all of this stuff is where you found it
[00:17:40.680]so you'll be able to find all those resources.
[00:17:42.970]And just remember reaching out is "Nebraska Strong".
[00:17:46.940]And so lastly, if you want to, you can certainly contact me.
[00:17:52.200]I'm, you know, available, I'm more than happy
[00:17:55.610]to take questions, calls or whatever I can do to be helpful.
[00:17:58.850]And you know, just that my passion
[00:18:00.550]is to help the agricultural community in any ways I can
[00:18:03.980]and this is just happens to be the way that,
[00:18:06.070]you know, what I'm trained in and what I can do.
[00:18:08.520]And so my contact information, I work at the university
[00:18:12.080]so you can find me at UNK's website,
[00:18:15.150]and that's at chasekkc1@unk.edu
[00:18:20.780]And my work phone number is 308-865-8361.
[00:18:28.710]And so I just really appreciate being able
[00:18:31.700]to bring this information to you,
[00:18:33.670]and I also want to take time to say thank you
[00:18:37.060]to all the sponsors who've made all of this possible,
[00:18:40.540]and for all of the great resources through extension.
[00:18:43.770]So everybody, I hope that you've gained a few little nuggets
[00:18:48.410]out of this and that you'd go out and you tackle it
[00:18:50.693]and you know, pretty soon COVID-19 will go away
[00:18:54.640]and we'll all be able to come back together again
[00:18:56.650]and just enjoy the good life.
[00:18:58.290]So thanks everybody, and make sure you stay tuned to the...
[00:19:00.666]for the next webinar, we're gonna talk about,
[00:19:03.147]"Are you at your wit's end with your kids?".
[00:19:05.640]So look for that, bye bye.
[00:19:08.086](gentle music)

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COVID-19: Go Away! (Part 2)

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