Week 1: The First of Many

With the latest developments in Canada necessitating the need for our community to practice self-isolation and/or social distancing, preventing a sedentary lifestyle is absolutely important for maintaining your health and wellbeing (not to mention keeping your immune system primed). Despite not being the most ideal environment, your home, apartment, garage, condo, (or in my case during my UG years - dingy 2-star basement rental), can actually make for a half-decent exercise space. Again, I stress that this already isn't ideal, but we do what we can to adapt to the circumstances, don't we?

Below are some useful articles outlining some suggestions for how to keep active in isolation:

• You Can Take Care of Yourself in Coronavirus Quarantine or Isolation - Article from the New York Times
• Should I Exercise During the Coronavirus Pandemic? - Article from EcoWatch
• How to Stay Active During Social Distancing - Tips from RunnersWorld.com

Your EngWellness Team has also created a Keep Moving Facebook group as well. Lots of useful videos and exercises and plenty of suggestions from students and your peers! All are welcome to join: EngWellness Keep Moving Facebook Group

I think it's reasonable to assume that most of us were not as productive as we would have liked to be last week. World-wide pandemics of this scale tend to throw people off their game from time to time. I wouldn't beat yourself up too much about it. However, now that we've had a moment to process this new reality of ours, we need to see what we can do to keep motivated and engaged in this more digitized world. For you Matrix fans, funny enough I don't recall having the option to take the blue pill...

Keep to your routine (or most of it)

With the inability for us to engage in our usual status-quo, we need to make some modifications to our everyday routines. Full disclosure, it isn't easy to modify a habit as it's been routinized, automated, and reinforced for so long (sorry, smokers). The key is to make modest adjustments and build on them each day. You might need to change the location of where you do your morning exercises, you might need to adjust the time based on when you will be remotely engaged with course content or lectures. Remember, small changes are easy for our brains to digest and the best way to guard against the dreaded mechanism known as procrastination. Combine these modest changes with the element of time (consistent practice, ideally daily), and you'll be amazed at your new normal!

Here are some useful tips for staying motivated and engaged with your newfound abundance of autonomy:

• Seven Tips for Staying Grounded with COVID-19 - News Article from University of Toronto Psychiatry Professor, Dr. Suze Berkhout
• Working from Home in a Pandemic - Article from BBC Worklife
• 5 Tips for Working from Home amid COVID-19 - Article from PsychologyToday

I'm going to make a wild assumption by stating that some of us are maybe, sorta, kinda, somewhat concerned about this 'global pandemic'. I can honestly say that I have never witnessed something so globally enveloping as this in my lifetime (sorry, myspace). Amidst all the breaking news, broadcasts, ministerial addresses, and all around calamity, what can we do to keep a straight head about this?

The following are some strategies for navigating the uncertain waters we now tread: 

• 6 Potent Ways to Reduce Stress during the COVID-19 Pandemic - Article by CognitionToday
• How to Deal with Uncertainty - Tips from PsychologyToday
• How to Prevent Loneliness in a Time of Social Distancing - Article from the Scientific American
• Tips to Support Mental Health Amid COVID-19 - Suggestions from The Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA)

Your EngWellness Team also has a number of different tools in their toolboxes for working through these unprecedented times. If you want some more suggestions, connect with us at: engwellness@uwaterloo.ca!

Despite not being 'here' physically, a number of UW supports and resources have migrated to remote formats. Below are some bookmarkable links that you'll want to keep tabs on re: everything UW and COVID-19:

• Dedicated UW Coronavirus Webpage
• Central listing of all modified services at UW
• Campus Wellness Online Seminars / Workshops
• Empower Me Mental health supports (available for UG and Grad students through StudentCare)
• UW Athletics Warrior Habits (massive list!)

EngWellness also has a series of videos that we're uploading to YouTube to help support you all. Here's the first listing:

• Dealing with the Unknown
• Emotional Transference
• 10 Negative Thinking Errors
• Taking Time to Breathe

Don't forget that EngWellness is here to support you! You can always book a remote meeting with your Student Wellness Coordinator! (shameless plug)

Another important aspect of maintaining mental health is taking breaks - and that includes breaks from the bright red banner that we now see over every news broadcast and webpage we visit. Maybe even consider taking a break from reading those emails you're getting from every company you've ever provided your email address to (it's so nice to see them all doing their part!).

Here's a list of some fun e-things to e-do while we're all e-working from our e-homes: 

• The Met Opera has free shows streaming nightly.
• uWaterloo has access to free learning on LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com). Classes from interior design, business, program tutorials, music, painting landscapes, etc.
• OpenCulture.com has amazing art gallery walkthrough videos, free eBooks and so much more.
• Chef cooking classes. You may not have all of the ingredients, but Michelin star rated chef’s offering free cooking lessons. 
• Scribd (books and audio books) – free 30 day trial

If you have any cool digital things you would like to share, email us at: engwellness@uwaterloo.ca and we'll include it in a future post!