Social Distancing From Stress

This post was a collaborative effort featuring Isabella and Layla. 

Hello everyone! We hope you’re doing well, and staying safe and healthy. But let’s be honest for a moment: Things out there don’t look amazing at the moment. We’re not going to lie. Today, it really sunk in: I've been doing this social distancing thing for two months! That's a really long time! Some of you may be feeling pretty anxious and stressed right now. But, it doesn’t have to stay that way. While we know that God and His peace are the only things that really removes those anxious feelings, (Psalm 94:19, Philippians 4:7,) we’ve found a few things that have helped us during this time, and thought we’d share them with you. 

1. Be a Prayer Warrior

 Lots of you might be feeling somewhat helpless at the moment. Finding and keeping a sense of purpose is hard enough in normal life, but now, some of those purposes are taken away. If you are feeling helpless, I encourage you to be a prayer warrior. We all can pray, no matter if we are kids, adults, out of work, or still with a job. And y'all, prayer changes things. Like, big things. I know that sometimes when you feel helpless, and someone says "You can pray about it," You think, "yeah. I know. What can I actually do?" But prayer is powerful. Just think for a second: You wield the coolest, strongest, most powerful weapon of all time. Will you use it? I challenge you to be a prayer warrior. 

2. Find a Project 

 This doesn’t mean you have to ditch Netflix completely. I’m just gonna put that out there. But, I'd encourage you to keep busy. Find a project. For me, my project is my writing. I work on my current story every day, and honestly, I feel so much better when I write. I’m also a dancer, so I work on some dance things as well. and so I’m working on some dance things as well. It also helps to find a goal within that project. Find a way to improve. Keep busy, and you’ll feel a lot better!

3. Keep in Touch with Your Friends (You too, introverts!)

 Right now, most of us can’t see our friends. Rather than simply missing them, it’s probably a good idea to keep in touch with them. Now, if you’re an extrovert, I’m sure you’re sending your friends messages all hours of the day (And maybe night, too.) But my fellow introverts know that’s not how it works for us. If you’re anything like me, sending people vague text messages, saying things like "Hi!” “What’s up?” and “What are you doing?” Is something that makes me a tad nervous, because frankly, I don’t want to “bother” people. If that is your approach, then you might end up feeling really lonely. That’s not fun. You aren’t a bother to your friends, and so you’ve got to keep in touch! Introverts, I challenge you to text or contact two people a day, if this has been a struggle for you. It really helps!

4. A Joyful Heart

 I know that right now laughing seems ridiculous. But, Proverbs 17:22 says "A joyful heart is good medicine." We all would like to see medicine, a cure, a something for this virus right now,and we can't make it happen overnight. But we need to stay positive. I know how crazy that sounds, but think of it this way: We need to stay strong for those who are struggling. And if you're struggling, then I encourage you to talk to God about that. If you feel like you have nothing to be happy about, remember what Jesus has done for you! Friends, we have reason to rejoice!

5. Have Fun With Your Family

 While we are at home with our families more than normal, it’s a great idea to do something fun together! A movie night will definitely be something everyone will enjoy. Whether you do a movie night, or a game night, or something totally different, here’s a suggestion: put the phones away. Enjoy the people around you! 

Here are some of our favorite movies you can watch as a family!

Movie recommendations:

1. Wonder

2. Tommorowland

3. Harry Potter (Younger siblings will absolutely love the first one (The Sorcerer’s Stone), as it’s a bit less graphic. Thank me later.

4. The Greatest Showman 

5. Aladdin (We love both the new one, and the old one!

6. The Lion King (Again, the newer one is really good!)

7.  Mary Poppins

8.  Mary Poppins returns

9. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

10.Little Women (2019)

 6. Take Some Time To Daydream

  Okay people now while being on screens can be relaxing, especially because it's the only way to keep in touch with your friends or even family who don’t live in the same house as you, screens are not the best thing to do every single day. Here’s what I do and it’s very relaxing:  After you’ve been on a screen for long periods of time put the screen away. Yes, even if  you're still  messaging your friend. Text them saying that you’ll text them later, turn the device off, go put it down somewhere and lie down in a quiet place where there are no sounds to distract you. Don’t turn on music or stuff like that but just think. Maybe think about how your day went or just daydream. Don’t really know what to daydream about? Relax, I’ve been through the same predicament and here’s how I fix that: Make a character for yourself. He or she can even look like a person you’ve met, (I’ve done that before) and maybe make him or her into a superhero or a villain you choose. Next pick a name for your character. I'm not really good on names but you might find good ones in a book, or if you’re really desperate look it up if you want. But after you look it up, put the phone back away! No cheating! Now that you’ve done the basics on making an imaginary character for yourself, pick a place for it to live, whether it be Gotham city or even Mars if you want, the choice is yours. Have fun! 

If you'd like prayer, please let us know in the comments! We're a team of prayer warriors, and it would bless us so much to be able to pray for you! You guys are the reason we do this, and we'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading!