Remember men mental and emotional wellness is an ongoing process for everyone for the rest of our lives.
Do not be ashamed if you feel the following: out of whack, confused, anxious, frustrated, angry, overwhelmed, pissed, lonely, sad, or depressed. During this type of environment many of those emotions surface. It is what it is. It does not mean you are weak. Actually, it means you are self-aware and that is good.
Be careful to not beat yourself up because your normality has been removed and your feelings are out of whack. Throw the two-by-four away!
You must put together a new routine. Your old routine has been totally disrupted, similar to your first semester in college.
Assume conflicts will happen at home. Everyone is stressed out and all under one roof…UGH. Try to stay calm, be in tune with your frustration and anger. Give everyone space and the benefit of the doubt. Hold your tongue, go for a walk, or find a quiet place in the house to calm down. If you are spiritual, pray, read the scripture and journal.
What can you do to help your parents and siblings? Get your focus off yourself and onto serving them.
Are there any projects at home that have been put on the back burner because of being busy? Start them.
If you feel anxious, google anxiousness and watch some videos on breathing and how to calm yourself. Lots of our military do breathing techniques, learn from them.
If you are having trouble getting out of bed or sleeping way too much, that is a red flag your moving into depression. If your anger is out of control that’s another sign. I had both of these when I went into depression ten years ago. Call your medical professional. I went on depression medication for nine months and then went off. It leveled me out and that is what I needed during this personal trauma event in my life.
Recognize FEAR, fear of figuring out new ways to study and a new system of how your being graded, your GPA tanking, or not being able to cope.
Your natural connecting environment of the chapter house is gone. You need to use your facetime and zoom time to keep up relationally where you hear or see a voice. Set up some weekly times where there are several of you connecting. Do some different games online you can do together.
Be careful of sliding into any addictive behaviors because of boredom and loneliness.
Monitor your weed or alcohol use.
Shame causes us to hide, if your feelings are not normal do not hide, seek help.
Many of your endorphins from the gym and weight room have suddenly ended. Figure out plan “B”. I have been using bands and tension chords, push-ups and sit-ups, running, hiking, biking. I need to get outside and get them kicked in! Get your butt outside men!
Talk to someone, a family member, friend, girlfriend, fraternity brother. Talking and listening to each other is helpful.
