Hello, everyone.
It's Chelsea.
And before we get into
this week's video,
I wanted to let you guys know
about an exciting new thing
we're doing at TFD.
It's called the Studio at TFD.
And it is a series
of digital workshops
around all sorts of topics,
from money management
to mental health to
organization to entrepreneurship
and everything in between.
We've got several
amazing events coming up.
And you can find out
more about all of them
at thefinancialdiet.com/studio.
See you guys there.
Hey, guys.
It's Chelsea from
The Financial Diet.
And this week's
video is sponsored
by Fidelity Investments.
And this week, I
wanted to talk to you
guys about the mental habits
and routines that you might
be getting yourself into
now as a result of COVID
that you don't even necessarily
realize you're doing.
Obviously, this pandemic
has upended so many elements
of our day-to-day
lives and made things
that used to feel totally normal
feel completely unmanageable.
There are some of us who might
have lost our jobs temporarily
or permanently.
Some of us may be suddenly
working from home.
Some of us may be working
in our regular jobs
but in totally
different conditions.
If we're parents, we're
suddenly with our children 24/7.
If we're students,
we have no idea
what's happening with our
schooling in the fall.
Basically, we are existing
at a level of uncertainty
that most of us have
never really experienced.
And having to lose that
sort of mid-term horizon
in our thinking can be very
destructive to mental health.
Yes, we can still
plan for what we're
going to do today or
even the next few days.
And we may be able
to have a sense
that life will resume some kind
of normalcy within a few years.
But that middle term, what's
happening six months from now,
maybe even a year from
now, is so blurry to us
right now that it
can insidiously
affect how we do
almost everything
and disrupt that important
feeling of stability
and normalcy and predictability.
We all love to feel that
we have a level of control
over our lives and are able
to plan for things, especially
if you're the kind of
person who watches TFD.
So having that taken
from us can truly
disrupt our mental health.
And all of the changes
in our day-to-day lives,
not the least of which
being that most of us
have seen our social activity
drop by about 90% at least,
means that we're
spending more time
than ever just with ourselves
in our homes feeling bad, which
can lead to a ton of bad habits.
So it's important
to recognize them.
Give yourself
permission to feel them
and understand them and
not beat yourself up
for having gotten into
them but then to start
working to get out of them.
So without further
ado, 8 bad COVID habits
that are destroying
your mental health.
Number one, feeling
ashamed about not
being productive enough.
I recently did a
whole video on how
frustrated I've been
with the discourse
around how we're
spending quarantine
and what we should be expecting
of ourselves during that time.
It can be easy
for people to brag
about learning a new language
or starting a new hobby
or accomplishing
something they've
been wanting to do for a while.
And it can make us
feel that if we're not
able to do those things,
we're somehow not spending
our quarantine right.
But in a life-changing,
paradigm-shifting global
pandemic, our
focus should not be
on how we can come out of this
with a better LinkedIn page.
It should be how we can come
out of this as intact people who
feel at peace with their lives.
There are some
people right now who
are struggling to get
out of bed every day
and put on normal people
clothes because what
the hell is the point anymore?
And that's also totally valid.
And making sure that you're
recalibrating your expectations
for yourself with
what is feasible
for you right now is incredibly
important, more so than ever.
Ultimately, what is so
important in this time
is remembering that what
you are able to do to get by
is going to have
to be OK for now.
And if you're constantly
comparing yourself
against a more
idealized version of how
you should be in quarantine,
you are almost guaranteed
to feel perpetually
disappointed in yourself
and therefore have a harder time
handling the day-to-day reality
of quarantine or at minimum
increased social distancing.
Number two is refreshing your
news feed every 10 minutes.
Now if you follow
me on social media,
you've probably noticed
that since quarantine began,
I have gone on and off my
social platforms a few times,
taking a week off
here, a week off there.
And yes, in some ways, I
feel a little disappointed
that I haven't been
able to do a clean break
for a long period of time,
but I have an addiction.
And it can be a pretty
complicated balance to find.
Because, on the one
hand, we all know
that having social media
constantly beamed into our eyes
is not really good
for our brains
even in normal circumstances.
But at the same time,
most of us are more
cut off than we've
ever been from
our actual social networks.
We can't see our friends
the way we used to.
There are many family members
we might not be able to see.
We can't travel
the way we used to.
So remaining connected
with people virtually
is more important than ever.
And like it or not, social
media is a pretty easy way
to go about that.
But that being said,
during a time when
it can feel like you have
a responsibility to be 100%
informed all the time because
something really big and scary
is happening that you
need to know about,
the line between keeping
yourself informed and doom
scrolling slash catastrophizing
becomes incredibly blurry.
In order to help yourself
find that balance,
though, I think there are a
few key things to remember.
One, make sure that
just because you're
following a certain
number of accounts
on a given social media
feed, you don't necessarily
have to see all of those
people at the same time.
For example, on
Twitter, you can curate
lists of different
accounts and click
between different lists
at different times
to get a different feed.
You can have one that's
just real life friends, one
that's news slash experts, one
that's funny meme accounts.
You can have a little
bit of everything
and don't need it all jumbled
in together at the same time
so that every time
you open, you're
getting 100% of what you follow.
Number two, you can
make sure that when
it comes to getting
news, things that
are journalistic in nature,
you are following experts.
Part of the thing that's so
infuriating about social media
during this time is suddenly
everyone is a scientist.
What's going on?
why is my uncle here
like popping off
about whether masks actually
protect you from COVID or not?
Excuse me, sir.
You're an accountant.
Anyway, point being
a lot of people
now are suddenly throwing
their opinion into the mix
when not only are they
often either not really that
informed or poorly informed,
but they also really
have no business weighing on
this topic in the first place
because they're not
someone for whom
that's an area of expertise.
Filtering out the
people who are just
getting off their COVID hot
takes is incredibly important.
But lastly, number
three, giving yourself
specific times at which
you can use these apps--
and there are plenty of
web browser extensions
and apps that you can
add to your phone that
will help you regulate the time
that you're on social media.
Giving yourself
those time windows
helps ensure that you're
not just constantly being
bathed in all of this content.
There's a time to check in
and a time to check out.
And keeping a tight lock
on both of those things
will prevent you from
feeling like you're
drowning in social media.
Number three is drinking
more than you normally would.
So obviously, we haven't been
in the pandemic for very long.
But there is now some
anecdotal research
starting to come out
about people drinking more
in quarantine slash during
COVID than they were before.
And on some level,
that makes sense.
Not only are people
really stressed the hell
out all the time.
But they're also
just sitting at home
99% of the time with
very little to do.
And while I'm sure that
everyone has probably
gone through a few
different coping mechanisms
during that time that
were probably not good
for them, whether that's
eating not very well,
keeping weird sleep
hours, watching way too
much television, drinking
too much, whatever
it might have been,
I think we've now
hopefully reached a time where,
yes, things are still bad.
They're not like
they were before.
But we're not dealing
with the total shock
of our lives being
upended overnight
the way we were in March.
We are starting to find
hopefully a little bit
more normalcy and being able to
adjust to what our lives look
like, which means that even if
you were, for example, relying
too much on alcohol as a crutch,
now is the time to start really
ratcheting that back.
Now everyone has a
different definition
of what is an appropriate
amount of alcohol consumption.
And I am not the alcohol police.
I'm not here to tell you
what is or isn't good.
But one good litmus
test to use when
it comes to the relationship
that alcohol has in your life
is how do you view alcohol?
Is it a reward for yourself
when you've done something good?
Is it a crutch for
yourself when you're
feeling some way
emotionally that you
don't know how to deal with?
Is it essentially
being used as a tool
to have some sense of control
over your own emotions
or brain?
That's the area where
it starts to be a bit
of a questionable relationship.
You should not be
in a situation where
any large emotion
negative or positive
is immediately accompanied
by alcohol, especially
because right now, we're all
in a time where we're probably
feeling a lot of emotions, many
of which we're not used to.
I think it's probably
healthiest if you
want to make a comparison in
your life to treating alcohol
the same way you would
treat like a really
indulgent dessert.
Now I say that, but I also eat
sheet cake pretty frequently.
So maybe that's not the
best comparison for me.
But long story short, it's
like a food that you wouldn't
necessarily feel should
fit into your everyday diet
because you know
objectively it's not
overly great for your body.
But it also is
enjoyable in its own way
and should have its place.
But do be conscious
about the role
that it's playing in your life,
what it means, why you do it,
how frequently you do it,
and whether or not you
feel that you need it.
Many of us may be relying
on things like this more
than we did pre-COVID,
but that doesn't mean
that pattern has to continue.
Number four is isolating
yourself completely.
Now everyone is
probably in the midst
of finding an awkward, delicate
balance between being socially
responsible with regards
to transmission of COVID
and seeing friends and
family that we love.
Technically, when it comes
to what would be most
epidemiologically responsible,
we would all be isolating 100%,
but obviously that's
not realistic.
Now depending on your
individual circumstance,
you may be in a place
where even seeing friends
in a park for the
afternoon feels
like too much of a high
risk situation for you,
and that's OK.
But that doesn't mean you have
to cut yourself off from them.
Making sure that frequent
contact with your friends,
whether it's a phone
call or one of those
cursed Zoom happy
hours that we've all
been having, making sure that
you are present in the people's
lives that you love, and
they are present in yours,
is incredibly important.
And listen.
Did I just refer to Zoom
happy hours as cursed?
Yeah, because honestly
I'm sick of Zooms.
And I'm sure you guys
are sick of Zooms.
But what's the alternative
for a lot of us?
Yes, there are a few
friends and family
that I see now socially
in responsible conditions.
But there are a lot of people
that I can't see and probably
won't see for a really
long time because I'm not
able to travel the way I was.
And what are my options there?
So while I would of course
prefer a real meetup
over a Zoom meetup, we have
to make do with what we have.
And it can be
really easy to feel
like if you're not
living the social life
you would ideally want to be
living that you may as well
just cut it all off and
isolate yourself and go deeper
and deeper into your
social isolation spiral.
But that has incredibly
dangerous effects.
Whatever other bad
mental health habits
you may be leaning into right
now, being totally isolated
and having no social
accountability or connection
is likely to make them
spiral even further.
We need people more
than ever right now.
And whether that's seeing them
in a park or in a backyard
or over Zoom, we have
to make time for it.
Number five is throwing
structure completely
out the window.
Now one of the things
I mentioned earlier
that you may be leaning into
as a coping mechanism that
isn't so healthy
during this time
is having a really
upended schedule.
If you may have lost
your job, or you are now
working totally different
hours or limited hours,
you could find
yourself in a situation
where you're staying up really
late, sleeping way too much,
not sleeping enough,
watching TV all the time,
eating at strange hours,
just generally keeping
very awkward hours that aren't
necessarily in tune with what
your body would most want.
It's hard to feel the
motivation to keep a structure.
Even something as simple as your
meal times or exercise routines
or cleaning schedules can feel
like an overwhelming burden
in a time where you're just
trying to get by each day.
But it's important to remember
that those very structures are
what often enable us to get
by in the best possible way.
Our brains crave structure.
They crave predictability.
And they crave a
sense of control
over their day-to-day lives.
We already have so much that
is out of our control that
has been completely upended
in such a short amount of time
that we want to do everything
we can to make sure
that the things that
are under our control
remain under our control.
By letting our daily routines,
our sleep schedules, our food
schedules, our screen time all
run completely out of control,
we are only
compounding the feeling
that we have about how much the
outside world has completely
changed.
Number six is not moving at all.
A lot of us are
probably slipping
into a mentality
of like who even
cares what my body looks like?
I'm never going to see
anyone in a bathing suit
or be seen in a bathing
suit ever again.
And honestly, fair enough.
But that is not why we
should be working out.
You're not working out so your
body can look a certain way.
You're working out
so you can feel
a certain way in your body.
Getting regular exercise as
well as regular outdoor time
enables you to have a much
healthier sleep schedule.
It keeps your body on a
much better internal clock.
And it also makes
you stronger, have
greater physical endurance,
feel better in your body
on a day-to-day basis,
and just generally help
combat the overall impacts
of having your life so
suddenly and wholly upended.
I personally have been one of
those people that has found out
that when I am working in
the comfort of my own home
with a small Zoom
group of people,
I actually work out
more than I did before.
And I'm inspired to work
out at random moments
now and feel excited and look
forward to it because it's
one of the few things
I can do that feels
like pretty regular and
structure that isn't just
work and eating.
And that doesn't necessarily
have to be your case.
But feeling like you
can totally give up
on the idea of physical
activity because you've given up
on most of your social
activity is only
going to make you feel way
worse about the latter.
Number seven is engaging
with the comments.
Now whether it's people on
Twitter or under a YouTube
video or on your
Facebook, engaging
with people who are like
truthers about COVID
or people who think that masks
are for sissies or people who
are spewing toxic, bigoted
rhetoric right now,
every moment that we
give of ourselves,
a moment of attention, a moment
of energy, a moment of focus
is a precious moment
now more so than ever.
Spending time arguing with these
people or being angry at them
or feeling like you
need to convince them
is just a drain on you.
And 99% of the
time, these people
don't want to be convinced.
They just want to be heard and
get their feelings out there.
And yes, it can be utterly
maddening to argue about things
that are either true or
false such as the fact
that masks are
effective when properly
used in helping to reduce the
spread of respiratory illness.
But ultimately, if one is going
to look at that verifiable fact
and say, no, don't
think so, what the hell
are you going to do
to change their mind?
But more importantly, no
one deserves your time
just because they're
spewing an ignorant opinion.
Your time, energy, and
focus are precious.
And you don't need to be
giving any of it to the trolls
right now.
Lastly, number eight is
panic retail shopping.
Now listen.
If you still have your
income and basically
nothing to do ever, ever,
there can be a huge allure
in online shopping right now.
It feels like you're
doing something.
It's familiar.
It reminds you of your old life.
It makes you feel a
little bit excited
about something for 10 seconds.
You get to refresh
the tracking link
so you can see when your
package is arriving.
It's like an experience
that gives you
a level of endorphins that
you're probably not getting
very frequently now.
And plus, there can be
a sense of general panic
when you're buying things that
might be a little bit more tied
to your day-to-day
life in a pandemic.
But online shopping as a
sort of outlet or moment
of personal therapy is
incredibly dangerous right now.
Because quite frankly, in a time
of such economic uncertainty,
we all need to be conservative
about saving as much cash
as we possibly can.
The last thing we want
to do is be in a position
where our emergency funds are
depleted at a time when we're
entering a serious
depression, and we're
far from the end of potential
future layoffs or downsizing.
At a time like this,
cash is simply king.
And spending much of it
on emotionally unstable
online shopping is
an enormous mistake.
Part of the fun of online
shopping-- let's be clear--
is just in filling up your
cart and imagining yourself
with all these items.
So one hot tip that
I highly recommend
is before you buy anything
in a specific category,
challenge yourself to
make an inspiration
board about the item on
a place like Pinterest
before you even put
the item in your cart.
Now once you have
the inspiration board
all built out, which
probably took you a while
and used up maybe
some of that energy
and also gave you the burst
of imagination and creativity
that's so nice about
online shopping,
let the inspiration
board sit for 24 hours.
And if you come back to that
inspiration board in 24 hours
and decide that you still want
the item, go ahead and buy it.
But don't just allow yourself
to click through and buy
your cart because you can't
think of anything better to do.
As I mentioned, this
video is sponsored
by Fidelity Investments.
They are here to help you
reach your savings goals.
And if you're looking
for an easy way
to finally start investing what
you save, check out Fidelity.
So as always, guys,
thank you for watching.
And don't forget to hit
the Subscribe button
and to come back every
Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday
for new and awesome videos.
Goodbye.
