For many of us, 2020 has been the most challenging year we have ever had to face. We have been kept in fear, isolation and financial hardship for months on end and the future is uncertain.
At times it has been impossible to find enough joy in the moment to even smile, let alone find the positivity and strength to home-school our kids, pay the bills with no income, remain isolated from our loved ones, maintain our health & wellness regime… and keep our sanity!
As a professional Crystal Healing Practitioner/Trainer, mother to 2 children and business owner, I have not been untouched by the fallout of Covid. I had to cancel my entire 2020 tour schedule. My husband has been forced to spend most of the year on the other side of the country, just to keep his job during border closures. I have been inundated with questions from potential students asking if my Crystal Healing Courses teach distance and online healing skills, and I have had to innovate my business model swiftly, just to navigate the quickly changing global landscape of life with Covid.
Despite my challenges this year, I have still managed to thrive under very stressful circumstances and achieve amazing things that I otherwise would not have been able to do, had I not seized the opportunity to adapt so suddenly.
Sure, I’ve had my dark moments, but I have implemented a core set of 5 steps to help me get through this crisis so far - intact and even better than before. Here are my top 5 tips to help you not only survive the Covid-19 Crisis, but to actually THRIVE and come through this stronger, more successful and resilient than ever!
1. TEND TO YOUR MIND GARDEN
Your mind is like a garden. With careful cultivation and care, it has the potential to blossom with fruitful ideas, positivity, inspiration, joy, wisdom and knowledge. But just like any garden, if we neglect it and allow seeds of doubt, insecurity, fear and negativity to take root and grow, then soon our mind-garden will become overgrown with noxious weeds.
Keep your mind garden healthy by limiting input that makes you feel bad or serves no positive purpose. Restrict, reduce or eliminate:
- Negative social media binge-scrolling (a social media detox can be very powerful in resetting the mind!)
- Mainstream news (doom and gloom!)
- Negative conversations
- Energy you invest in worrying about things you have no control over
- Focusing on what you can’t do and what your current limitations are
Focus instead on
- Listening to uplifting and positive podcasts & music
- Reading inspiring books
- Take positive action for causes you believe in (instead of complaining about it on social media, but doing nothing)
- Feeding your mind with empowering thoughts
- Focus on what you CAN do, and how you can use your current skills/strengths/situation to your advantage
2. LIMIT SOCIAL MEDIA & MAINSTREAM NEWS
Although I touched on this one above, it deserves its own paragraph! I believe that mainstream media and social media platforms have been instrumental in spreading heightened fear and biased reporting throughout the entire Covid-19 crisis. At no time have these mainstream information powerhouses focused on delivering proactive and empowering information to help us all cope positively with this challenging situation.
Topics such as how to support your immune system naturally, how to protect and isolate ONLY the vulnerable, how to support loved ones who are struggling through social isolation, or how to remain calm through a crisis have been woefully neglected in favors of a narrative that commands fear, disempowerment and mistrust from the viewers.
Thank goodness there are many independent alternatives to mainstream media, most of which support individual health, positive messaging and truth-seeking.
3. USE YOUR CURRENT SKILLS TO INNOVATE & ADAPT
Unfortunately, with the closure of so many countries and cities, many people have lost their jobs, businesses and livelihoods. However, that is not to say that we are left without any means to generate income or use our skills and knowledge in a way that is different from the original use.
I will use Crystal Healing as an example (this can also apply to many other service and healing-based practitioners such as Reiki Practitioners or Counsellors). My Crystal Healing courses were written several years ago and are 90% targeted towards a hands-on healing practice (as was my training around 14 years ago). However, those of us in the hands-on energy healing industry have had to quickly adapt to life online or see our business close.
For the first time ever, I have been offering distance crystal healing sessions and guided meditations over live video. I wasn’t trained to deliver my service this way, but I do have all the skills and knowledge. All I needed was the reason to innovate. Successful innovation takes a little creative thinking and a leap of faith! I have also been helping my students to find ways to adapt their skills to ensure their businesses remain active throughout Covid. Many are very grateful to have this home-based income to rely on in light of recent job losses.
4. MAINTAIN HEALTHY HABITS
It is easy to reach for the carb-loaded comfort food when you are feeling flat and have no reason to frock up, because of lockdowns. Binge-watching your fave Netflix series suddenly becomes a lot more doable than finding the motivation to do that 30 minute cardio workout when you’re exhausted from home-schooling and you don’t have a fitness instructor cheering you on.
It is vitally important to maintain good health when you don’t have a global health crisis to contend with, so it is a thousand times more important when you do. Fueling your body with a healthy diet and exercise is important for supporting your immune system, keeping the endorphins and high-vibe brain chemicals flowing and for feeling good about yourself. If the state of the world already has you feeling down, then the last thing you need is to be compounding this by feeling like crap every time you look in the mirror or step on the scales.
5. KEEP A GRATITUDE AND ACHIEVEMENT JOURNAL
One practice I swear by for all-round positive thinking and success, is the practice of gratitude. Instead of allowing yourself to wallow in everything that is wrong in your own life (or the world), try and shift perspective into one of gratitude. For myself, I could be very downhearted at being separated from my husband for so long, but I am choosing to be grateful he still has a job and we are not suffering financially throughout this crisis. If you are suffering financially but have your partner at home to snuggle at night, then be grateful that your family is whole and together. Gratitude can be found everywhere if you look for it.
And finally, it is important to set yourself motivational goals each day, so you can continue to cultivate a sense of achievement and empowerment at a time when so much is out of your control. Start each day with a list of 5 things you WILL achieve that day, with at least one of these things being for personal or professional development. Do that 60 minute workout. Write that memoir you’ve been talking about for 10 years. Build that cubby house you’ve been promising the kids. Take that online course that will grow your skills.
Use this time productively, because nothing lasts forever. No matter how bad you may feel or how difficult life may get, you only ever have yourself to answer for.