Managing COVID-19 Anxiety through Sit Spots
A Calming Activity for Yourself and Your Family
Pandemic and Social Distancing Anxiety
Is the pandemic causing you anxiety? You’re far from alone.
A recent poll from the American Psychiatric Association found that the majority of Americans are feeling much higher levels of anxiety right now.
More than one-third of Americans (36%) say coronavirus is having a serious impact on their mental health and most (59%) feel coronavirus is having a serious impact on their day-to-day lives. Most adults are concerned that the coronavirus will have a serious negative impact on their finances (57%) and almost half are worried about running out of food, medicine, and/or supplies. Two-thirds of Americans (68%) fear that the coronavirus will have a long-lasting impact on the economy. — American Psychiatric Association
Additionally, the mundane stressors of being cooped up indoors can cause irritability, depression, and relationship tension. Most of our normal stress-relieving activities — visiting friends, exercise, going out to eat or for drinks, etc. — are unavailable right now, or at least have to change dramatically.
Children and youth are also highly vulnerable to anxiety and depression during the pandemic. Millions of children are out of school and stuck at home right now, which completely disrupts their fairly structured schedules and routines. Depending on their age, children will have varying levels of understanding of what is going on, but they are likely to mimic the emotions of the adults in their lives.
So if you’re feeling anxious, depressed, or lonely — join the club. So is everyone else. This is a difficult time, and the future is uncertain.
Mindfulness to Manage Anxiety
A popular and successful strategy for managing anxiety is mindfulness. Research supports what ancient practitioners have been saying for centuries: mindfulness can dramatically reduce feelings of anxiety, even after just one session. Even more, continued practice has been shown to improve resilience and your body’s ability to avoid jumping into “fight or flight” mode at the drop of a hat.
And it’s not just new-agey yogis who practice mindfulness. From Marines to schoolchildren to prison inmates, mindfulness is a growing trend in managing emotions and learning to be in the now.
Sit Spots are an Easy and Enjoyable Introduction to Mindfulness
Now maybe you’re convinced of the benefits of mindfulness to manage your anxiety, but you’re worried it’ll be too hard or time-consuming. I hear you. Many people do struggle to develop a good practice, myself included. My mind races around a million miles an hour, and I usually have trouble sitting still for more than 30 seconds. I tried various meditations, to varying levels of success, before I found something that worked for my anxious brain: Sit Spots.
The idea of a Sit Spot is very simple: you find a nice place and you sit there. You observe what’s going on — both externally and internally. Maybe you have something specific you’re looking for, or maybe you just want to enjoy having nothing to do for a few minutes. Children and adults alike can practice Sit Spots — in fact, this is a great activity for families to do together.
Usually Sit Spots are out in nature somewhere, but they don’t have to be. Just fine somewhere where you’ll be undisturbed for at least 10 minutes, and that has enough going on to keep your interest. It should also be a place you can return to on a daily basis. The idea is that your Sit Spot is a special place you start to develop a relationship with — you notice the fine details, the changes, the movement patterns. It’s a safe space for you to visit whenever you need.
Right now, my Sit Spot is a patio chair in my postage-stamp sized apartment backyard and I watch the birds in at my birdfeeder. But it could be by a window, in a park, or your front stoop.
Sit Spot Ideas
- Bring a journal or piece of paper. Write a picture of your Sit Spot, describing it to someone who’s never been there before. What does it look like? How does it make you feel? Why did you choose it? What elements are there (plants? paths? birds? park benches?)
- Close your eyes and listen. What do you hear? Birds? Traffic? People talking? Water? Do you hear any sounds you’d never noticed in this place before? You might even want to make a Sound Map, where you visually represent your soundscape on a piece of paper. How would you represent the sound on paper? Does it move or stay in the same place? Does it stay the same volume?
3. Write a poem or story inspired by your spot. Imagine something fantastical taking place there; or narrate what the birds are saying to each other. Or consider what this place looked like 10 years ago. 100. 1,000. Or what it will look like in the future.
4. Draw a picture of what you can see. Make a landscape, or just focus on a single element. Get up close and person and notice the fine details. Try drawing from different perspectives. What does your Sit Spot look like from the sky? At ground level? Draw yourself in the picture from an onlooker’s point of view.
5. Notice movement, patterns, and flows. In my sit spot I watch the goldfinches, robins, and bluejays in a bushy tree in my yard. The goldfinches are out twittering in the morning, whereas the bluejays come out when its hot. The neighbor’s dogs come out in the afternoon and run around until he yells at them to come back in. I notice where the sun hits at different times of the day, and over the seasons (this is helpful in planning a garden, too!). You can draw, write, or simply observe the patterns you notice.
6. Practice a more traditional meditation by closing your eyes and focusing on your breath. Take a deep breath in over the count of 4, hold it for 2, then let it out slowly over a count of 6. Letting your exhale be longer than your inhale switches your body in parasympathetic mode, (or “rest and digest” as opposed to “fight or flight”) calming feelings of anxiety; doing this on a regular basis helps build immunity, regulate blood pressure, and build emotional resilience.
7. Practice yoga or stretching.
8. Try to identify the plants and animals you can see. Do you know their names? Do you recognize them? Do you know how they grow, what they eat, or their role in the food chain? You can use a field guide or an online resource to learn more about them.
9. Try a walking Sit Spot. If you can’t sit still, choose a short route that you can take on a regular basis and use one of the earlier prompts.
10. Make your own!
There’s No Wrong Way to Do It
Whatever you decide to do in your Sit Spot, you’re helping connect to a special place and calming your nervous mind. There’s no wrong way to do it except not doing it. Especially now with all the uncertainty of COVID-19, having a special calming place, and a stable routine, can do wonders for mental health.
Try to visit your Sit Spot for at least 10 minutes on a regular basis, be that every day or once a week. You can try doing it the same time of day to build a routine, or try mixing it up to see how the Spot differs throughout the day.
You can practice with your family, or (socially distant) friends, too. Choose the same Spot or different ones — it doesn’t matter. After your Sit Spots, reconvene and discuss. What did everyone notice? How did they feel?
Making Sit Spots part of your daily or weekly routine will create immediate and long-lasting benefits for your mental well-being and your family’s.
More Ideas
The Child Mind Institute offers dozens of resources for coping with COVID-19 anxiety, many with a focus on children.
More ideas for adults from the In My Nature
Information about Forest Bathing from the Association of Nature & Forest Bathing
