‘We all need our own way of managing our worries’
Als rediscovered...
nsAS THE dangers of the Covid-19 pandemic dip, a mental health epidemic is growing in its wake. During the last three months people have suffered loneliness and isolation, coupled with the stress and fear of being furloughed from work, and wondering if they will ever return.
Marital problems have been blown up by the necessity of close confinement during the lockdown.
Alcoholism has been exaggerated and domestic abuse has left hundreds of people in Stoke-on-trent alone terrorised in their own homes.
Now, even as the country slowly gets back to work, many employees are being told there is no longer a place for them.
That is clearly going to have a major impact on mental health.
I’ve spent much of this year talking to people about mental health, about recovery and the impact of suicide.
We launched our suicide prevention campaign at The Sentinel just a few weeks before coronavirus locked down the nation and made life much worse.
I’m sure most of us have suffered with our mental health during the lockdown – whether that be from loneliness, fears for the future, or even concerns about catching the virus itself, or passing it on to family members.
I’m lucky that I don’t suffer from poor mental health. In fact I generally have a very optimistic outlook on life.
But the ongoing fallout from the lockdown has given me my share of worries, just as it has everyone else.
So lately I’ve been thinking about coping strategies.
Most of the people I interviewed for the suicide prevention campaign have developed their own methods of dealing with mental stress and anxiety, whether that be music, exercise, enjoying nature or even baking.
I play guitar and sing in a band and cranking up my amp to 11 always helps me to blow off some steam. But my band hasn’t been able to rehearse during lockdown and with two kids at home, I haven’t had the chance to play as much as I’d like.
Instead, what helps me is a simple mental distraction to keep my mind occupied. That usually involves football, or more recently, the addictive computer game, Football Manager.
I’ve always fancied myself as an armchair football manager. Throughout my life, in unoccupied moments, I’ve engaged my brain in trying to select my first choice England squad, or my alltime Crewe Alex team.
In the days when I went to the gym regularly I’d run through World Cup selections while I was on the rowing machine to take my mind off the number of minutes I still had to go before I could stop.
If I can’t sleep at night I’ll sometimes analyse England’s past World Cup performances, or recite the squads in number order, because I am that sad.
So after failing to beat my addiction to Football Manager this year, I decided to embrace it, particularly during the lockdown.
It means I’m responsible for a pixelated squad of players and coaching staff. I have to guide my team through the pitfalls of the league and cups, I have to buy and sell players, select my starting line-up, choose my tactics and keep my squad – and the fans and the club board – happy.
There are lots of decisions that need to be made. So now, if I’m struggling, I take my mind off whatever might be worrying me by addressing these problems in the magical world of Football Manager.
That doesn’t mean I play the game constantly. It means that when my mind starts to contemplate troubling events I can’t control, or can’t do anything about at that moment in time; I’ll think about whether I should switch from a 4-4-2 formation to 4-3-3, or whether I should select a promising young winger ahead of a seasoned pro.
This technique wouldn’t work for everyone. Most people aren’t as sad as me, many find football boring, and others probably think games like this are just for kids.
Football Manager is not going to solve the world’s problems, or resolve any underlying mental health issues.
But while it isn’t going to make anyone’s problems go away, it does help to distract from them, for a while.
If not Football Manager it could be picking out the plotlines in Game Of
Thrones, choosing your dream villagers in Animal Crossing (which my daughters are currently obsessed with), or something far less geeky and uncool.
But there must be something, some silly obsession or interest which anyone could use to distract themselves from their very real problems.
After all, it must be exhausting feel worried and anxious all the time.
There’s plenty of distractions around the home, like box sets, books and games. But I’m talking about the times when you can’t switch on the TV, like at night when you’re trying to sleep.
Surely in those times we could all benefit from a simple distraction.
More dark times are ahead. Covid-19 could return for a second wave – although there are now high hopes a vaccine could soon be available – and the economic fallout of mass job losses will leave thousands struggling to make ends meet.
But while there’s music and dancing and love and Football Manager, we might yet be alright.