Poster design Yu Fei
For runners who are accustomed to going out for a run every day, home isolation is undoubtedly an "itchy" day.
In addition to doing moderate exercise at home to maintain physical condition, how to maintain a good psychological state when staying at home is also a topic worthy of attention.
Recently, the "Runner World" website has provided 6 professional suggestions from experts to help home fitness people carry out psychological self-counseling.
The days of isolation and closure will always pass, special periods, perhaps from another perspective, you can get different feelings and mentalities.
Recognize the difficulties, face the difficulties
For the general public who are accustomed to social life, the days of isolation will bring many inconveniences and easily lead to emotional depression, and the first step of self-adjustment is to recognize the difficulty of avoidance.
"Acknowledging the existence of difficulties is a very important beginning, because people tend to avoid painful experiences or refuse to admit that they have psychological difficulties." Psychologist Justin Ross said.
For runners, long-term exercise tends to give them an optimistic mindset, which is a powerful tool to cherish. Because like home isolation, the process of running often means "suffering" physically and psychologically.
"The same willpower can be applied from running to isolated life. Although the isolated life is static, and movement is the opposite, such a mentality is also a valuable asset. ”
Look to the farther future
"14+7" or even longer quarantine is an uncommon experience for most people, and it is also a somewhat difficult time.
It's a real need to be able to "come and go" with a more relaxed mindset — one way to do that is to try to think about this period of isolation with a longer-term perspective.
Extreme marathon runner and psychological trainer Daniel Sidder said that this way of thinking is conducive to alleviating anxiety: "Isolation will feel uncomfortable, but if you think about it from another angle, this is some days in the next 10 weeks, or even 10 months, you can better accept that this is a 'short' time." 」 ”
Use your time to learn from your experience
For many runners, there will always be a goal in life to be challenged and completed - to complete the amount of training they set, to challenge their personal best results, and so on.
However, the days of home isolation will make you suddenly lose your goal, in addition to confusion and loss, you may wish to see this time as an opportunity to sum up your experience and make better plans for the future.
"Try to use your rest time as an opportunity to grow, rather than limiting your own shackles." Daniel Sidder said.
Jumping out of the daily catch-up, while exercising at home, while summarizing their own progress and problems since running, and finding the reasons behind it, making future plans, can make this time become equally "efficient".
Release your emotions
During the period of home isolation, feeling anxious, depressed, and lonely are very normal phenomena, and for these negative emotions, one principle that can be learned is that it is better to block than to loosen.
Talking to friends, keeping a journal, asking for help from a professional... These are all ways to try, and these emotions can be vented in time to avoid greater negative consequences.
Daniel Sidder said: "The pandemic is a huge test that we all go through at the moment, and it is very important to respond and deal with it in a timely manner. ”
"We have to admit that many times it is difficult for us to directly improve the situation very quickly, in fact, it is like in the process of long-distance running we have reached a stage where we can't run, and what is more needed at this time is patience, persistence, and all the way to the end."
"We can't always be at our best and we should learn to accept that."
Use a variety of ways to stay connected
The loneliness and anxiety brought about by isolation are often unavoidable, but in addition to self-dredging, seeking communication with the outside world is also an effective way.
Discussing life with people close to you and caring for recent training programs for friends who are not isolated are all effective ways to make runners feel that they have not been "abandoned".
In addition, during the home isolation period, runners can also continue to learn and progress by watching running instructional videos, but it should be noted that the Internet and social media do not all bring positive emotions, and sometimes, they also need to learn to reduce the negative emotional impact of the Internet on themselves.
Remind yourself that quarantine will always end
In home isolation, the flow of time may "slow down", and the time that flashes by on weekdays becomes long and difficult.
"For many runners, training is an essential routine every day, providing not only physical exercise, but also self-identification, but even if it is only a few days after we lose this procedure, it can be a painful experience." Justin Ross admits.
At this point, an effective way to do this is to remind yourself that all this interruption is only temporary and will not last forever.
Just like running to the finish line in persistence, the road to the end of isolation also requires the willpower to persevere, and many times the situation outside is not within our control. "But how we face the challenge is something we can control ourselves." Justin Ross said.