A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Pandemic

[Carol Ebert, MSN, RN]

COVID-19: Toll on the Body

Stress and Negativity

First, let's look at the toll that all this COVID stress and negativity takes on your health and especially your immunity.

When your stress hormone cortisol levels are constantly high, it essentially blocks the immune system from kicking into gear and doing its job to protect the body against potential threats from germs like viruses and bacteria.

Attitudes and Feelings

Negative attitudes and feelings of helplessness and hopelessness – which is running rampant right now - can create chronic stress which upsets the body's hormone balance, depletes the brain chemicals required for happiness, and damages the immune system.

On the other hand, the benefits of having fun and playing are plentiful: it relieves stress, improves brain function, stimulates the mind, boosts creativity, improves relationships and your connection to others, and keeps you feeling young and energetic.

Counter-Balance the Negativity

So how can we counter-balance all of the current angst and negativity? Lately I have been migrating toward opportunities to add pleasure to my days as another wellness strategy, alongside eating healthy, exercising, getting rest. It definitely needs to be a conscious effort to counteract the hypnotic and addictive nature of over-indulging in bad news.

So let's explore the possibilities of building more fun into your life instead of seeing these times of quarantine as a negative. In many ways, this new way of living brings many new positives we didn't have before.

Let's start with words of wisdom from Brendon Burchard's 8 minute video How to Have More Fun

Here are his tips:

• Have an intention to bring joy into your life
• Create a "fun list" of what brings you joy and do them more often
• Write down what is not fun and get rid of it, delegate it, or make a plan to dispose of it
• Share stories with friends and family which is social and the most fun

Here are some practical applications for adding fun to your days:

Enjoy Television

Since we are watching more, pick things that are fun such as:

Amazon Prime – The Amazing Mrs. Maisel

Netflix – Grace and Frankie

Some Good News with John Krasinski on YouTube

Jimmy Fallon's Tonite Show at Home

Creative home videos are in abundance now and very fun.

What are you watching for fun?

How are you using Zoom to provide fun for others?

1. Have fun with Zoom – we're on Zoom a lot for meetings and education, so interject fun into the mix
2. I have a weekly Business Networking Meeting so we are scheduling a fun meeting once a quarter to break things up
3. I am a member of the Chamber of Commerce and they are facilitating a bi-weekly Friday Happy Hour to play games and win prizes
4. I have a Home-based Wellness Business and since I can't meet live anymore to share our new anti-aging products, we are scheduling Sip n' Scrub skincare demonstrations to educate on the products while still having the feel of a Happy Hour
5. I have reconnected with former college roommates and we now have a monthly WUFF Meeting (Women Up For Fun)
6. Birthday Parties now have even more meaning and fun because we can gather friends and relatives from everywhere in the country all at one time and don't have to travel to see them
7. My business partner is creating At Home Bliss Retreats for self-care and to feel better
8. Schedule Fun Activities – there are lots of activities that make you feel good. Here are some ideas:

• Write thank-you's to people who have provided a service for you
• Try on clothes you rarely wear and if they don't make you smile, donate them to bring joy to someone else (win-win)

And if that's not enough, here are 98 more to consider.

So Can You Have Fun During a Pandemic?

And, is having fun healthy for you?

I think you know the answer. Please share what you are doing for fun!