Submitted by Admin
In the wake of COVID-19, we realize how important our immune system is. And the quest for immunity began: we started to eat more fruits and vegetables, exercise, and take our vitamin C and diindolylmethane (dim) supplements without missing a day.
Taking active steps towards building our physical immunity is important. But maintaining a healthy immune system should be holistic in nurturing our overall well-being, including our minds and emotions. Here are two other key types of immunity that we can build to lead healthier and more fulfilling lives.
Building Skin Immunity
When we think about physical immunity, our skin may have escaped the radar—we might have categorized skincare as vanity. Consider this instead: Our skin is our biggest organ. By caring for our skin, we learn more about our bodies and how to better care for ourselves. Building up our skin’s immunity can positively impact our mental health; we feel good about ourselves when we look good, allowing us to live more meaningfully.
Start with a simple 4-steps skincare routine to care for your skin. Five minutes is all we need at the start and end of our days; self-care is possible even with a busy schedule. Assess your skin type and fix a budget when considering the following products:
- Cleanser: Clears oil, dirt, and make-up from your face
- Toner: Preps your skin for other products and removes excess impurities
- Moisturizer: Repairs and strengthens your skin’s barrier
- Sunscreen: Protects your skin from harmful UV rays (worn in daytime only)
Use habit stacking to implement your skincare routine. Pair it with your existing habit of brushing your teeth in the morning and at night. Place your skincare products near the faucet—where your toothbrush and toothpaste are—so that they are visible and accessible.
A typical skin cycle is 28 days. Results will take time to show; don’t be discouraged if your skin is not improving as fast as you hope. Other factors that affect our skin are our lifestyle (i.e., diet, sleep), health (i.e., stress, medical conditions), and environment. We may need to look beyond our skincare routines to underlying lifestyle or medical concerns to address instead.
Building Psychological Immunity
We have experienced all kinds of losses during the pandemic. Someone you know died from COVID-19. You lost your job. We lost our sense of normalcy and certainty. Perhaps you may have realized that you don’t know how to grieve. It seems easier and more intuitive to wake up, dismiss it, and get on with your day. And repeat.
Being psychologically immune doesn’t mean denying negative emotions and thoughts and putting on a facade of strength. True strength comes from acknowledging that you are not in a good place and allowing yourself to think negative thoughts and feel heavy emotions.
We are creatures of habit; if we continue to run at the first sign of weakness or engage in mindless positivity talk, we will only hurt ourselves more. Your negative thoughts, feelings, and experiences don’t define you. You are merely experiencing them.
Our circumstances may not change. We may never have closure. Life doesn’t become less stressful. The first step to psychological immunity is to be aware of your thoughts and emotions. When you face them, they cannot consume you.
Next, you can learn how to process these thoughts and feelings. Ask yourself why you feel or think in a particular way. Here is the part where it becomes more difficult; people want out, choosing to distract themselves instead of getting in touch with what they truly need.
In the end, we may realize that our raw selves are insecure and fearful. We want to control. We want to be liked. We want to be understood. We want to be regarded. But there is so much that is beyond our control. What we can do is to accept ourselves and our humanity. We can be kind to ourselves by understanding and embracing our limits.
Find outlets where you can just be and release the heaviness you experience. Instead of putting on Netflix to escape your thoughts and feelings, spend 5 minutes journaling every night. Even when you write a single-worded “tired”, you recognize how you feel. You may need to process your circumstances with a friend or family member. Or, have a good cry.
You may also realize that you know what you have to do for yourself, yet you lack the courage to act upon it. It may be to set boundaries with your work, end a toxic relationship or seek professional help. Give yourself time and space to reconcile with the heaviness within you and take action. Whatever you choose to do is not an easy way out; it takes courage to be honest and do what is best for yourself.
While we celebrate our adaptability and grit as humans, we can also acknowledge how difficult and painful it is to be human. Validating our struggles doesn’t make our successes and joys any less meaningful, and vice versa. Allowing ourselves to express our pain helps us attune ourselves to our deepest needs to live more truthfully and meaningfully.