Surviving Social Distancing

Shifting from Uncertainty to Choice

We are certainly in a different state of being. This Coronavirus is having a global impact unlike anything we've seen for generations.

It's impacting all of our daily lives, and I've been noticing where in my day I can shift from uncertainty to choice. Now more than ever, paying attention to mindset, nutrition, movement, and sleep will help keep us mentally and physically prepared for each day.

To help, I've compiled and published a list of tools and resources (which I originally sent to my newsletter list). I’ll continue updating this list:

UPDATED 4-28-20

Ten Percent Happier Live

"Freaking out? You're not alone—and you're not malfunctioning. We're in a moment of uncertainty and anxiety."

The team at the Ten Percent Happier app have started a daily live meditation at 3pm EST every weekday. It's 20 min and begins with a short meditation. I was comforted listening to Will Kabat-Zinn lead Tuesday's session. I've been on retreat with Will many times, and he's not only calming but also relatable. Recordings are available if the 3pm slot doesn't fit into your day.

If that time doesn’t work for you or want to go deeper in your unplanned retreat time, Jon Kabit-Zinn is hosting a daily session entitled Cultivating Mindfulness at this Critical Moment. Jon is a mindfulness pioneer, author of many books on the subject, the creator of the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program, and a professor at the University of Massachusetts’ Medical School. He’s leading a session each weekday at 11am PDT for livestreams.



 

Expert Help with Coronavirus Challenges

The experts Stanford’s Dr. BJ Fogg has trained in the Tiny Habits® behavior change method are offering ongoing sessions for using Tiny Habits for Coronavirus Challenges.


Here's some of the upcoming live zoom sessions:

  • Tiny Habits for Staying Upbeat on Lockdown

  • Tiny Habits for Generosity

  • How to Foster Calm During Uncertainty

  • Pearl Habits: Creating positivity during challenging times

I presented one of these Tiny Habits Expert Help sessions along with my partner for our online course, Be Your Own Best Coach. Our topic: Tiny Habits When You’re in the Grip of Uncertainty and Fear which included insights for three key areas:

  • Psychological

  • Behavioral

  • Social

For each category we presented several Tiny Habit recipes to help shift your focus from lacking control to exercising choice. Today there are a lot of things you can’t control, but you can choose what you think, feel, and do. We created a page that can help you regain a sense of agency and empowerment including an Action Guide: What to Do When You’re in the Grip of Uncertainty and Fear - 52 Easy Things that Will Build Your Sense of Agency and Empowerment.

 

Free Public Support Group to Manage Coronavirus Anxiety

The online mental health app Talkspace opened a free therapist-led Facebook support group where individuals can seek guidance, tips, and resources directly from a licensed therapist.


 

How to stop touching our faces in the wake of the Coronavirus

Stop touching your face is a hard recommendation. We touch our faces up to 15 times an hour! I recently switched from wearing my contacts to glasses to add a barrier to unconsciously touching my eyes. There are a lot of challenges to stop touching your face, and this article references solid behavior design principles to help.


 

Keep Moving. Mind-Body Needs It

Brad Stulberg, author of The Passion Paradox and peak performance expert, weighed in on some key points for movement and nutrition on his Twitter account:

  • No gyms

  • Push-ups/squats/get-ups/kettlebell at home

  • Anything outdoors in uncrowded spaces

  • Do NOT go hard, lowers immunity

  • Do NOT cut carbs, lowers immunity


To help keep you moving, check out the Peloton app from the makers of the Peloton Bike. It’s full of classes from running, yoga to strength training workouts and is free for 90 days.

 
 

Sustaining Peak Performance During A Pandemic—How To Be Your Best While The World Is At Its Worst

Flow expert, Steven Kotler, who heads up the Flow Research Collective hosted a free live video session covering:

"The neuroscience of fear, how it impacts performance and how to stay calm throughout Managing distraction to balance planning for the worst while maintaining focus on what you can control.

Why doubling down on your flow and recovery practices is more critical than ever. What each of us are doing to better ourselves and advance our mission during this period."

Key insight from the session: Do more of your primary flow / enjoyment activity. It'll flush the stress hormones and increase the neurochemicals in your brain that boost your immune system.


The Flow Research Collective followed that first session with another featuring Stanford’s Dr. Andrew Huberman and former Navy SEAL Rich Diviney along with Kotler. They explored three areas:

  • Optimal Performance and Peak Performance are not the same thing

  • Anxiety + Uncertainty = Fear

  • Focus is the ability to suppress spontaneity

You can watch the reply of their conversation here.

Live Covid Data Analytics Tools

Here are three live data analytics sites that I've been using to get a sense of where we are with this pandemic and what the immediate future looks like for flattening the curve to get out into the world again.

Covid19info.live - The goal of COVID19info.live is to provide the latest data on the COVID-19 coronavirus and to make that information more accessible.

HealthData.org - Providing worldwide data analytics on deaths and hospital resources and projections by the University of Washington and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

Rt Covid-19 - These are up-to-date values for Rt, a key measure of how fast the virus is growing. It’s the average number of people who become infected by an infectious person. If Rt is above 1.0, the virus will spread quickly. When Rt is below 1.0, the virus will stop spreading.

 

Social distancing doesn't have to doom your weekends. We have ideas

Lots of choices on this extensive list of things to do from CNN. It inspired me to go on a hike on Sunday. We also started a puzzle at home. I'm also seeing many gyms, including Orange Theory Fitness, host online classes. This list will probably spark some ideas for you too.

I hope these resources help to shift from uncertainty to choice in as many places as you can.