Category: Uncategorized

Engaging Your Mind in a Time of Crisis

While I’m no fan of the president who I’ve taken to calling Mr. Toupee over the years I’m impressed with one thing he said in a speech concerning life in the time of the CO-VID19 outbreak:

“All Americans including the young and healthy should engage in learning from home.”

It impresses me that a president who rules the country via Twitter fiats urged us to flex your mental muscles as a way to cope.

Not only did Staples deliver my ink and paper so I could continue my writing projects at home:

Amazon is set to deliver a book to my house.

Reading books and magazines would be in my estimation a productive use of our mental energy when we’re sheltering in place.

For you watching TV might be a pleasant way to pass the time when you’re sheltering in place. By all means continue to watch TV should this give you great joy.

Watching TV sitcoms all day on a good day is my version of a great way to dull my mind if not outright damage my mental health.

To keep my mind sharp and alert I’m reading a book one of my friends published last year.

Talking on the telephone to my family also helps me ride out this crisis.

Like I said the number-one act of healing for me has been to use the creative process to express myself.

So when the ink and paper runs out I’ll fire up the credit card and order new ink and toner from Staples.

We’ll get through this together.

Americans have always been resilient in the face of hardship.

Flexing your mental muscles?

I’m all for this as a game plan.

Eating Well in a Time of Crisis

Italians like I am eat to live more than we live to eat.

The Mediterranean Diet has been touted since the early 1990s as a healthful eating plan.

The number-one goal in a time of crisis as I see the goal is to keep up eating healthfully consistently every day.

From FreshDirect I order an organic CSA box of Lancaster Farms produce. It costs $39 and contains a mound of cheese and carton of eggs as well as 5 types of produce.

Either stopping eating or eating too much is the drawback in a time of crisis.

So far I’ve snacked my way through 3 bags of potato chips. Yes–you heard me right–3 bags of potato chips in 2 weeks.

I quickly threw out the 3rd bag of chips before it was all gone. The snacks are gone for good. And I won’t be ordering anymore chips at all from the online grocery.

Not bringing junk food into your house in the first place is the foolproof tactic for eating well in a time of crisis.

I’ve learned to cool it out with the chips and the pretzels.

Having breakfast lunch and dinner is imperative when you’re told to shelter in place indoors and not go out.

My goal is to have dinner before nine o’clock at night. Preferably by eight o’clock.

Eggs are great to have for breakfast.

Soup or salads are good to have for lunch.

Dinner can be as simple as turkey or chicken and a vegetable.

I was pleased to find out I could order healthful organic turkey burgers from FreshDirect online. They come in a 4-pack.

The CO-VID19 outbreak is no joke. Stay indoors when you must.

More to come in the next blog entry.

Safeguarding Mental Health in a Time of Crisis

I would like to be checked in on while I’m sheltering in place because of the CO-VID19 coronavirus outbreak. To have a person dial on the telephone to check in on me to see how I’m doing. This isn’t often possible for those of us who have flown the coop of the “mental health system.”

In this time of crisis though I’m at least able to talk to a therapist on the telephone which counts more in keeping me going.

Five days before businesses shut down in New York City I had the good fortune to be able to go to Best Buy in person and schedule the delivery of a new computer.

My old computer had crashed. I lost a number of files that couldn’t be retrieved. Luckily in January I had bought an external hard drive for $70 to transfer my folders and documents to.

I lead up with this introduction because it’s worth it when you can afford it to have a computer at home.

My mental health has improved because I’ve started typing up and editing and revising a work of fiction I want to publish.

Every day I sit at the computer working on this novel.

Engaging in the creative process whether it is by writing, sketching or painting, cooking a meal, or decorating your apartment can be a great way to safeguard your mental health.

This was how I healed from an illness: by using the creative process to express myself.

Always I recommend doing what gives you joy to inoculate from pain and hardship.

I’ve begun writing this new novel. I have 7 works of fiction I would like to publish in the coming years.

Writing in a journal–it can be dashing off your thoughts in a spiral-bound notebook–is another great tactic for riding out this hard time.

In the coming blog entry I’ll talk more about using other coping skills in a time of crisis.

Ciao Friends

In June 2000 I obtained a Masters’ in Library and Information Science (MS) from Pratt Institute. Since then I’ve been a professional librarian in an urban public library. Ten years ago I found my niche in career services, helping library customers find jobs that use their skills and interests. In the last 10 years, upwards of 85 percent of the individuals I’ve coached have gotten job interviews that led to job offers. For five years I operated my own LLC as a career consultant.