Empowering You Organically
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Surviving COVID-19 – Episode

Jonathan and TeriAnn get vulnerable today and share their experiences with COVID-19 and self quarantining. Plus, they remind us to trust the source of our information, to reach out and ask for help, ways to give service to others, and how to build your immunity. Then we break down all the anxiety surrounding the pandemic. TeriAnn shares her Stages of Anxiety and 5 ways to tame the anxiety. Lastly, Jonathan reminds us that the children are watching as he shares tips on helping them navigate their emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Empowering you Organically – Season 10 – Episode 80

Title: Surviving COVID-19

Hosts: Jonathan Hunsaker, TeriAnn Trevenen

Description:  Jonathan and TeriAnn get vulnerable today and share their experiences with COVID-19 and self-quarantining. Plus, they remind us to trust the source of our information, to reach out and ask for help, ways to give service to others, and how to build your immunity. Then we break down all the anxiety surrounding the pandemic. TeriAnn shares her Stages of Anxiety and 5 ways to tame the anxiety. Lastly, Jonathan reminds us that the children are watching as he shares tips on helping them navigate their emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

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Statistics

 

Transcripts of News Conferences

 

Protecting

Remind everyone in your household of the importance of practicing everyday preventive actions that can help prevent the spread of respiratory illnesses:

    • Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
    • Stay home when you are sick, except to get medical care.
    • Cover your coughs and sneezes with a tissue.
    • Clean frequently touched surfaces and objects daily (e.g., tables, countertops, light switches, doorknobs, and cabinet handles) using a regular household detergent and water.

 

Mindset – Mental Health

If you are a patient or family member or friend in need of immediate assistance:

  • Disaster Distress Helpline (SAMHSA)
    Call 1-800-985-5990 or text TalkWithUs to 66746
  • National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (Link)
    Call 800-273-8255 or Chat with Lifeline
  • Crisis Textline (Link)
    Text TALK to 741741
  • Veterans Crisis Line (VA)
    Call 800-273-8255 or text 838255

 

Not all children and teens respond to stress in the same way. Some common changes to watch for include

  • Excessive crying or irritation in younger children
  • Returning to behaviors they have outgrown (for example, toileting accidents or bedwetting)
  • Excessive worry or sadness
  • Unhealthy eating or sleeping habits
  • Irritability and “acting out” behaviors in teens
  • Poor school performance or avoiding school
  • Difficulty with attention and concentration
  • Avoidance of activities enjoyed in the past
  • Unexplained headaches or body pain
  • Use of alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs

There are many things you can do to support your child

  • Take time to talk with your child or teen about the COVID-19 outbreak. Answer questions and share facts about COVID-19 in a way that your child or teen can understand.
  • Reassure your child or teen that they are safe. Let them know it is ok if they feel upset. Share with them how you deal with your own stress so that they can learn how to cope from you.
  • Limit your family’s exposure to news coverage of the event, including social media. Children may misinterpret what they hear and can be frightened about something they do not understand.
  • Try to keep up with regular routines. If schools are closed, create a schedule for learning activities and relaxing or fun activities.
  • Be a role model.  Take breaks, get plenty of sleep, exercise, and eat well. Connect with your friends and family members.

 

5 Ways to Reduce Coronavirus Anxiety – from UC Health

https://www.uchealth.org/today/coronavirus-anxiety-tips-for-reducing-worries/

 

Coronavirus anxiety has spurred people to hoard everything from toilet paper to canned tuna. One family in Australia accidentally ordered 48 boxes of toilet paper instead of 48 rolls and ended up with a 12-year supply.

 

Hand sanitizer has been sold out for weeks, spurring nervous neighbors to share tips on Nextdoor about how to make their own sanitizer, only to discover on fruitless trips to the pharmacy that the key ingredient – alcohol – is also sold out.

 

Add worries about the tanking stock market to spookily empty store shelves and we are witnessing a full-blown case of coronavirus anxiety.

 

What is causing coronavirus anxiety?

Psychologist Justin Ross said the coronavirus outbreak is causing a great deal of anxiety because there’s so much uncertainty.

 

Psychologist Justin Ross said it’s no surprise that mass anxiety and panicky behavior are spreading. Ross, who has a doctorate in psychology and practices at the UCHealth Integrative Medicine Center in Stapleton, said anxiety is a natural response now because the coronavirus outbreak is feeding the three key ingredients that cause anxiety:

  1. Unpredictability: when we don’t have a clear sense of what may happen next.
  2. Lack of control: when we believe we do not have direct control for managing issues appropriately.
  3. Threats to people or things we value.

 

Ross said anxiety can be a healthy response during times of stress.

 

“In many ways anxiety serves an adaptive, healthy response when something we value dearly is threatened or perceived to be threatened,” Ross said. “The problem is when the anxiety response runs amok and spins out of control. That’s when it can cause a lot of problems for people.”

 

Ross said it’s clear that anxiety about the coronavirus outbreak is causing problems for some.

 

“The current level of uncertainty and a felt sense of lacking control with this virus has led to us buy things unnecessarily or excessively checking the news and social media. We want to feel like we have the ability to control our lives. We want information and we want products that align with our vision for safety and control,” he said.

 

How to tame coronavirus anxiety?

While it’s not very helpful during legitimate times of stress to give people pat responses like: “calm down,” “don’t panic,” or “don’t worry,” Ross said there are simple steps that can help tame coronavirus anxiety.

 

Here are his recommendations:

1. Limit your exposure to news and social media.

Schedule times to view updates. Plan to check your news sources or social media feeds just twice a day. Make those checks brief. Then otherwise, avoid updates that could be feeding your coronavirus anxiety.

 

Unless you are running a hospital or a news outlet, you don’t need to be getting constant updates about the coronavirus outbreak.

 

“Anxiety can build from media exposure,” Ross said. “Limit your consumption. Pick one or two trusted sources that you are going to rely on and screen out all the others. Schedule two times a day that you are going to check the news and consume media for no more than five minutes each time. That’s long enough to scan the latest information. But, any longer than that is going to spiral your anxiety.”

 

Ross strongly recommends limiting exposure to social media since a friend’s post —which may not even be accurate — can trigger worries for you. Anxiety essentially can be contagious. Reduce the contagion by skipping the updates.

 

2. Focus on controlling what you can control.

“We feel anxiety when we are trying to control the things that are inherently outside our control,” Ross said.

 

Of course, the average person cannot control how widely the coronavirus outbreak will spread. We can’t control if our child’s school will close or if an important work conference will get canceled or if our 401K retirement savings shrinks dramatically.

 

So, Ross advises people to instead focus on the simple powers we do have.

 

“We can wash our hands. We can take precautions,” he said. “We can give ourselves the best chance of staying healthy.

 

Thorough hand washing is the No. 1 way people can stay healthy and avoid spreading the coronavirus. And, we can take reasonable precautions, like staying home from school or work when we are sick, not dipping our hands in community candy or food bowls, and skipping big group functions now if we have underlying health issues or our immune systems are compromised.

 

3. Get plenty of rest.

Multiple studies have shown that a good night’s sleep can boost your immune system and prevent you from getting sick. Quality of sleep for enough hours a night also helps with mood and can reduce anxiety. If you are not sleeping well, seek help from your primary care provider or a sleep expert. There are some common and treatable causes for poor sleep, like sleep apnea. Ask your primary care provider or a sleep specialist for help.

 

4. Breathe.

Engage in very simple, 5-minute deep breathing sessions at least three times a day.

 

“Breathing helps us manage the anxiety response on a physical, physiological and mental level,” Ross said.

 

The physical level is how the body reacts physically. The physiological response centers on the nervous system. And of course, our mental responses relate to how our brain is responding to stress.

 

Breathing deeply has the remarkable power to affect people on all three levels.

 

“One minute of deep breathing helps slow down the sympathetic nervous system — the fight or flight response associated with anxiety. Breathing also helps turn on the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps us restore balance and can provide a sense of calm and focus” Ross said.

 

The parasympathetic nervous system slows the heart rate and increases intestinal and glandular activities. It’s sometimes called the “rest and digest” system.

 

Exercise and spending time outdoors can be great ways to reduce stress. For Justin Ross, running is a great escape from stress and anxiety. He loves running marathons.

 

Ross encourages those already dealing with anxiety and everyone who wants to avoid it, to schedule three sessions a day of slow, deep, deliberate breathing for about three to five minutes during each session.

 

You don’t need any special equipment, but if an app helps, he recommends the free version of an app called Insight Timer.

 

Unless you are using your phone to help you breathe deeply, be sure to set it aside during your relaxation sessions.

 

5. Enjoy the outdoors and get exercise.

Coloradans are lucky that we live in a sunny climate where getting outdoors is easy and quickly can lead us to beautiful places. Take time to go for a walk or a run. Or find a view of some trees or mountains and enjoy a session of deep breathing outdoors.

Ross loves to run. He does marathons and, no matter how busy he is with work and family, he carves out time to run.

 

“People say, ‘I don’t have time,’” Ross said. “But if you make it a priority, it will happen. Making time to exercise and meditate and putting it in your schedule is going to make a difference.”

 

Ross often runs with friends and says that both the physical activity and the social connections are really helpful.

 

Find activities that soothe your soul and put coronavirus and other stressors out of your mind, at least temporarily.

 

“Exercise and yoga are great. Get out in the fresh air and the sunlight,” Ross said. “As much as possible, go about your normal life.”

 

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TeriAnn Trevenen:

Not only that, but this is not a time to go inside yourself and hole up. Yes, we’re all kind of distance and we’re in quarantine, but if you’re out of something and you can’t leave your home, reach out to your neighbors and ask for help. So many people are looking for ways to help right now. And sometimes I think we look at help, especially in situations like this, as a burden.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

Empowering You Organically, delivering content you trust with results you love. Welcome everyone to another special episode of Empowering You Organically. TeriAnn and I usually film these together in the same office, but since everybody is at home quarantining, we are doing this separately through Zoom. So again, I’m your host, Jonathan Hunsaker, joined by my cohost TeriAnn Trevenen.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

Hey everyone.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

And today we’re doing a special episode talking about Coronavirus and COVID-19. We’re going to cover a broad spectrum of things. We’re not going to come across as virologists and doctors and scientists that are giving you all of those kinds of specifics. We’re going to talk about how to deal with the epidemic that we have right now. Whether that’s anxiety, stress, what to look for in your kids. If your kids are suffering more stress, some things you can do to relax. Some things you can do to boost your immune system. So, we’re going to cover things from that perspective as opposed to the specifics on the virus itself.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

Sure. Well, I actually think that’s a really good point to touch on and start with. There is a lot of information out there right now. I remember reading some statistics weeks ago when this first broke out and it was uncertain that, was everyone going to quarantine or were they not going to quarantine? Some states were doing certain things, some states were not. We were figuring out what the government was going to do. I read a stat that said something in comparison to previous virus outbreaks like SARS and other things like that. Coronavirus had been mentioned… Those had been mentioned maybe 15, 20, 30 million times on social media and the internet, the news. In the first few weeks of Coronavirus breaking out, we had mentioned Coronavirus over 1 billion times on social media and the news and speeches from our government and political leaders.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

And so, we’re not going to get into stats here. I’m of the opinion, and I won’t speak for Jonathan, but what I’ll say for myself is we have so many numbers, we have so much information out there and the virus is still happening and it’s still ongoing. And really in my opinion, we won’t know until we look back on this, what really did and did not happen, and what the impact or the outcomes were until after. And so, I’m in the place right now where at first I think it was like everybody was watching the news and reading and listening and anticipating and giving numbers.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

It’s like the reality is there’s so much information out there that there’s so much misinformation out there. One person saying this and then another person is saying this. One person saying this, and then another person is saying this. I’ve gotten to the point where I do want information, I do want to know what’s going on, but finding really trusted resources and then taking it with a grain of salt. Because right now, even when you have someone who’s making the most informed and educated guess on something, it’s still happening. We’re still in the thick of it and things are going to change.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

And so, just my first point, this has been mentioned billions of times now. Be really careful about how much you’re putting weight behind everything that’s being said and everything that you’re reading because it’s changing from day to day right now. And that stress we’re causing in that day of reading that one thing, tomorrow it’s going to look different.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

I mean, there’s some realities here, right? Aside from the numbers and people’s projections and all of that, the fact of the matter is we are all at home being quarantined. And so, that brings its own challenges. So let’s deal with that, right? We know that people that suffer the worst from COVID-19 are those with compromised immune systems. So let’s talk about how do we increase our immune system? Let’s not look at all the other stuff, and not to mention all the political conversations that come into it and all of that other stuff. So, I challenge you aside from this podcast to kind of let the noise simmer down a little bit and let’s just deal with what we have right in front of us right now.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

One thing I will say is we have a ridiculous amount of show notes for this show that we’re not going to be able to touch on everything. Joni Jones, our producer, does a phenomenal job putting together all of this information for us so that we can sound smart on these podcasts. So what I challenge you to do is go to empoweringyouorganically.com. We have all kinds of links for the Worldometer and John Hopkins and the CDC and World Health Organization. We have a lot of links. We have links in there for suicide hotlines. We have links in there for all kinds of things that can really help you. So I really encourage you, go to empoweringyouorganically.com and definitely download these show notes. I think there’s invaluable information that we just simply won’t have time to get to on this episode.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

Absolutely. Yeah. The first thing I want to talk about first and foremost is if you are under a tremendous amount of stress, you’re dealing with a lot of stress, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, or you know someone who is experiencing those things, there’s people who will have set up incredible hotlines where you can call and get information, whether it’s for you or someone else, to get the right tools and the right information to help people who are in very tough situations right now. The reality is, no matter what the numbers are or what tomorrow will look like, this is impacting people both physically, mentally, emotionally, financially. There are so many experts out there to deal with this. There’s a lot of therapists who are doing online virtual therapy sessions. There are, again, the hotlines we’re going to post in the show notes so that you have places to call to talk with people who have been trained to work through certain situations.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

I think the other thing I’m going to mention is I heard some interesting things regarding people get sick and they’re like, well, I don’t want to weigh down the medical system or things like that. I think you have to be careful. I think if you are extremely sick and you’re in that place, don’t wait to go in and get help, but at the same time way out what are your symptoms? Can you really ramp up your health at home? Or if you’re getting really sick and you’re like, I’m not going to go in because everything’s so overwhelming, don’t do that either because the reality is you could be very sick. And so, use the right resources and tools and information to help you. There are so many things out there.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

And also, not only that, but this is not a time to go inside yourself and hole up. Yes, we’re all kind of distance and we’re in quarantine. But if you’re out of something and you can’t leave your home, reach out to your neighbors and ask for help. So many people are looking for ways to help right now. And sometimes I think we look at help, especially in situations like this as a burden. But I think this is the time to call a neighbor and let them know you’re thinking of them. Call a family member and ask how they are.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

Call your neighbors who you know can’t leave the house and say, “Is there anything you need this week?” Because people still have to run to the store and if you’re going to the store, why don’t you kill two birds with one stone? “Hey, can I grab some things for you so you don’t have to go out?” I think we have such an opportunity to reach out and connect in a way that we don’t normally connect, but connection is still there. So reach out to the proper people for help and come together as a community right now in the ways that you can.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

Well, I think it’s a phenomenal point. I mean, listen, we are tribal people, right? This is how our species has survived this long, is from living in tribes and communities. All of a sudden we take that away and we tell everybody to stay at home. We’re already suffering the West already from feeling like we have to do it all alone and all of that. I can do it all by myself and I don’t need help, to now you add this quarantine into it and it amplifies that even more. It doesn’t number on you emotionally and psychologically, especially being home, being away from other people. If you’re a social person and used to being around other people, it can really do a number. And even if you are somebody that’s more introverted, it still feels weird, right? It’s still different being at home and not having that interaction.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

Listen, you may not have your neighbor’s phone number, so go knock on the door. Just stand back six or 10 feet, right? Don’t need to be right in the doorway when they open the door. But maybe this is a perfect time to introduce yourself. Maybe this is the time to knock on the door. “Hey, I’m John. I live right down the street here. I know we’ve never had a chance to meet before, but if we’re all going to make it through these rough times, I want you to know who I am and I want to know who you are and just let you know if you need anything, I’m down the street.” And wave goodbye to them and go on your way.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

But this is not the time for us to get even more secluded. This is not the time for us to try to do it all on our own. Now is the time especially to reach out and it’s time to be vulnerable. It’s a hard thing to do. We’ve all been trained and conditioned to do it on our own, to be strong, and you can make it and rah, rah, rah, right? The whole Hollywood story. But that’s not what’s best for you mentally.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

And TeriAnn to talk more about your point, I think people allow guilt and burden to come into their psyche when it comes time to making decisions about themselves and their health. “I don’t want to bother that person. I don’t want to put more strain on the healthcare system by going in.” But if you’re not feeling well, go in, right? Go see somebody. Because this is no joke, right? I mean, people, they’re turning very quickly. What you might think, “Well, I’ll just wait a few days to see if it passes.” In a few days you could be so much worse off. Go find help, go get some help. Don’t allow that guilt, that whatever self-talk you have going on inside of you to keep you from staying alive and staying healthy.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

Yeah. And then to kind of turn it on a positive note away just from feeling isolated, secluded, come up with some cool ways to give service. What I’ve been following is good news and people doing good things. I just saw the coolest thing on Instagram last night. John Krasinski, who’s an actor, this little girl couldn’t go to Hamilton and she’d been wanting to go to this Broadway Play for so long. He heard about it. He and his wife got the whole Hamilton cruise gather on a Zoom call and they sang her favorite song on Zoom all through, and it’s viral on the internet right now.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

I’ve seen people who are going around with sidewalk chalking, writing notes on people’s walkways with happy comments and happy thoughts as they walk out their front door and they see this, you are loved or have a beautiful day today. Something that my girls and I have done, because I can’t see my family right now because my sister is quarantined because she’s a healthcare professional and she’s keeping her family quarantined. So she’s going back and forth from the hospital. And then my other family member who has a serious medical condition, we can’t see each other right now.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

And so, I went over and did this Easter egg hunt for them and I had to go to the grocery store and get stuff for the week. Anyway, I went and got stuff for that and we disinfected everything. We wiped everything down, we cleaned everything down and we went and left it all out there and let them do their little high knock on the door and ran. And so, I think there’s ways… I think some of us are getting stuck in this. Like I’m stuck in my house, I can’t do anything. And it gets really heavy and it gets really dark. But we can still go outside. We can still get our chalk out and write a nice message. We can still write a card.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

What I would encourage people to do is, if you’re going to drop a note off at the neighbor’s house, wash your hands before you write the card and you put things together. Just be mindful of germs and things like that. But there’s still ways to be creative and send love to people. Record a video with your kids or by yourself, a funny video, and send it to someone and make them laugh. They’re just, people are finding really cool ways to come together and to lighten people’s load and to bring joy to people. So I encourage people to do that. And not only is it going to make other people happy, but I think it brings a sense of joy and community to you where we’re so isolated right now.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

I had to make a lot of really valid points. Some of the things that you talked about that I really liked too is like, get outside, we need vitamin D. You need some sunshine. What’s interesting down here in Dallas, when all of this really started turning quickly for the worst a few weeks ago. I mean, we were getting rain like we’ve never gotten rain before. It was apocalyptic rains, it seemed like, and all this crazy news was happening. It’s been raining for like two weeks and I’ve been craving for some sunshine. We might get a little peak of sunshine here or something there. We have a sunny day today. I’m totally blessed for that. But it changes our mood. We’ve got to get that vitamin D.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

And if you can’t go outside right now, if that’s a challenge for you, if you’re in the city apartments, things like that, I know that some countries are really limiting how much exposure you have. Open up your window and get some fresh air. There’s nothing… well, there’s things more toxic, but the most toxic air is inside of your house, inside of your apartment, and it’s getting recirculated and recirculated. Open up the windows. I understand right now if you’re up in Michigan or Wisconsin, it’s probably a little colder than it is down here in Texas.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

That’s all right. Open those windows up for 10 minutes on either side of the house, let a bunch of fresh air blow through and then close it. There’s all these little things that we can do to really boost our mood, boost our morale. Sunshine helps with that. Taking a vitamin D supplement will help with that. Fresh air no doubt is going to help with that. Exercising. Now is not the time to not exercise. Now is the time to exercise. Now is the time to build your body and your immune system and your health in ways that you’ve never done before.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

You might live in a little efficiency where your kitchen is 10 steps that way. Well, it looks like you’re going to make 10,000 laps today to the kitchen and back, to the kitchen and back. That’s all right. You’ve got get your steps in. Walk, get the blood pumping. Don’t just sit on the couch looking down at your phone all day long or watching TV or these other things. Use this time to make some of those radical changes that you’ve been wanting to make in your life. Use this time to study, to learn a new language, to learn more about health.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

One thing that we’ve all… there were always challenges because I don’t have time to do this, I don’t have time to do that. Well now more than ever, I think we all have a little bit more time than it’s probably even feels comfortable. So let’s not waste that time. Let’s use this time to do things that are really productive. And being productive helps your mood. Being productive takes you out of depression. So whether that’s learning, reading, walking, doing some pushups, doing whatever you can do to just not sit on the couch and read the news and social media and Instagram and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I find the good stuff and doing those little things now is more important than ever. So with all that said… Oh I’m sorry, go ahead.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

I was just going to say, to touch on one more thing of people giving service and seeing how they can come together as a community. It’s really inspiring right now to watch businesses giving things like never before. If you’ve wanted to learn a skill, there are people who are offering courses that are thousands of dollars and because of what’s happening in the world and the economy and beyond, people are offering them for free. I mean, I have seen so many people in business who I respect, who I admire, who are just giving their content and their information away for free. Universities are giving courses away for free. I mean, I can’t tell you how many people I’ve seen in the last few weeks who are giving away free online home workouts that you can do at home, who are giving free information and content and craft information for you to do with your kids, who are giving courses, education, material.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

And then not even to mention, that’s one amazing thing. As Jonathan mentioned, learn something that you want to do and that you’ve wanted to spend time on that you haven’t had time to do. And also on top of that just seeing, if you’re in a business or you’re in a position to help, look for cool ways to help. There are people who are taking businesses. Like for example, I saw someone who makes baseball jerseys and then distributes them to all these stores across the United States. They are making the suits for hospital employees to suit up and go do surgeries and to go do the things they need to do to help Coronavirus patients with this fabric and material that they’ve never used like this before, but they figured out a pattern and they’re sewing them up and sending them off. People are making masks.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

There’s just such an opportunity to help yourself grow and expand despite what’s going on. Whether that’s service, whether it’s helping medical professionals get the supplies they need, whether it’s your business having the means and resources to feed kids who don’t have food right now. Whatever it is, it’s like look outside yourself, how can you help? And in helping, you can bring yourself a lot of joy and peace.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

On that note, I want to talk a little bit right now, we’re going to give a few more tips about things that you can do to kind of curb the anxiety and the stress right now. But I want to talk a little bit about where this anxiety is coming from in the psychology of anxiety. I mean, we’re watching people do things they’ve never done before, like toilet paper. I mean, we’re sold out of toilet paper worldwide. It’s on back order. It’s so hard to get it in. It’s like it’s just so crazy. Food, the shelves are empty. Everyone got so afraid that they went and bought in bulk and now we’re back ordered on all these things, and hand sanitizer. All these businesses that are making a killing on one end but then people are having a hard time getting it in.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

And this anxiety that we’ve felt as a society is causing people to do interesting things that they wouldn’t normally do. And so, we got some research behind this from a psychologist named Justin Ross and he said it’s causing a lot of anxiety because of the uncertainty. In fact, he says there’s three key ingredients that cause anxiety. Number one, unpredictability. When we don’t have a clear sense of what may happen next. Check that box off with this. Number two, lack of control. When we believe we do not have direct control for managing issues appropriately. Check that box off the list. Three, threats to people or things we value. Triple check those boxes off the list.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

And so, all these things come together in this perfect storm right now. One thing he said is that we may look at anxiety and stress as a negative thing, but in this situation it can actually be a healthy response to what we’re experiencing. He says, “In many ways, anxiety serves as an adaptive healthy response when something we value dearly is threatened or perceived to be threatened. The problem is when the anxiety response runs a muck and spins out of control, that’s when it causes a lot of problems for people.” I’ve been saying this to people repeatedly. In fact, I talked with our team today about this on our company call.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

I think emotions are extremely healthy. I think when we start to ignore our emotions and what we’re experiencing, we’re pretending things aren’t there that are really there. It’s what we do with those emotions or the anxiety or the stress, what outcomes are determined by our actions, that really matter. I definitely have felt that anxiety and stress many times over the last few weeks, and at times it’s been hard to manage it. But at the same time, it’s human and it’s normal. It’s our response to say something needs to be done here. But I think what we need to focus on is, what can we do in this situation? Some of the very things that we’ve talked about in the podcast already.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

Absolutely. I mean, I think it’s important not to… I think we pass so much judgment on ourselves of how we’re supposed to be or not supposed to be and how are other people acting? And look, so-and-so is handling this so well. How do you know? Because their Instagram post is something happy, right? Are you there 24/7? Do you see the tears that they may be crying as they go to bed just like you? So, I think first and foremost is we’ve got to get rid of that self judgment that we need to be a certain way.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

Second is understanding anxiety and stress are good. It’s how we stay alive, right? There’s a tiger chasing, you might be a little bit anxious, right? It causes you to be a little bit more aware and be more aware of your surroundings and things you need to do to survive. That’s okay. I think all of us got a little bit of a reality check in how prepared we were if something were to happen with how quickly this came down and then it was, oh no, and everybody ran to got toilet paper of all things, which is unbelievable. But maybe this is a cultural shift. We need to move to the days. I don’t know.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

But I’ll go back to a different conversation here. But the anxiety is good in the context. I mean, it’s allowing you to be aware. I’ve got three and five year old daughters. My stress levels and anxieties for them in making sure have I done what I can do to protect them and do we have the food and do we have the this and do we have the that, and that’s good to a certain level. But I also had to get myself back in check as well because it was going too far down that other side. This is where body movement helps. This is where walking and getting your steps in matters. This is where breathing exercises and deep breathing fresh air helps managing anxiety.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

Hey, anxiety is not going away, right? The stress is not going to go away, but we can minimize it. We can change how it affects our body. Stress affects us not just mentally and emotionally, but it affects us physically. My neck is super tight, my back gets really tight. I’m a lot stiffer to move around when I’m overstressed. My jaw, I hold all kinds of stress in my jaw. All this other craziness happens when just moving the body a little bit, breathing more and just being more conscious of the stress and anxiety that’s there. Rather than trying to avoid it, rather than trying to feel bad about having it, let’s now look at it, recognize it, accept it and then let’s make some conscious decisions on how we can manage it.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

Sure. It’s interesting because there’s a theory of the different stages of grief. But I feel like I have the different stages of anxiety through this. I’ll tell you a little bit about what this look like. It’s been so interesting and I’m sure people can relate. When it first started happening, I was in prepare panic mode. I’m already in uber prepared, like food, water, protection, energy, power, all those things. I just love to prepare. But this happened and it was like, what do I not have prepared? And then I’ll start preparing. I definitely wasn’t one of those people had to go buy bulk, bulk, bulk, bulk all those things because I am prepared. But I did go and get things because I started getting nervous what’s going to happen and that was my first phase of anxiety.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

Then the next phase was like, what are we going to do? I’m reading the news every day, I’m reading social media, I’m watching all the news conferences. I was just obsessed with what everyone was saying. And then you kind of start to realize, nobody knows what’s happening. You think that they know everything and then it starts changing, changing. That was another phase of anxiety and stress for me.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

Then I got to this point where my kids had been on spring break before they know school was closed and I was like, okay, we’re on spring break and then this is going to pass and it’s going to be great. And then school started getting pushed back further and further and further. And I thought my kids started getting stressed because we were in the spring break routine for longer than the spring break week. We were just like, let’s run spring break right now because it’s going to be fun. Then I realized like, this is it for a while. This is the new normal. I was like, we have to get back into a schedule and a structure. I got us back into a schedule and a routine. And then there was this level of stress and anxiety. My kids are home, I have to get work done, we have a schedule, there’s all this stuff. That was another phase in my anxiety and stress.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

And then we kind of started getting into this beautiful groove and routine and I kind of realized you have all these levels and stages of anxiety going on. When are you going to take a deep breath and just let it go? And now it’s kind of we’ve gotten into the space of like, I think I had acceptance with the anxiety and the stress and like, okay we’re here, what can I do myself in this situation? How can I handle this? How can I control what’s in my space? Some of the very things we’ve been talking about, I’ve turned the news off. I check in periodically, but it’s not every day, and not even every other day. I’m checking in maybe once or twice a week.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

I put a schedule in place for my girls and then we’re eating healthy food. We’re drinking water. We are getting up and getting schooled on in the morning. We’re moving our bodies. We’re having a routine on weekdays like we normally would. We’re focusing on what we can control: finding joy, giving service. I share all of that because I want people to know that just like we have stages of grief, I feel like we’re all going through stages of anxiety. And then if you add in the people who have lost jobs, who aren’t working, whose businesses are being impacted, that’s a whole different level of stress and anxiety. Another phase of that. Or if you have family members who are susceptible to being very sick from this. That’s another phase of it.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

I share this with people because I want you to know, just like Justin Ross the psychologist says, it’s okay to feel what you’re feeling. What I think is important is to identify, “I’m feeling these things, I accept that I’m feeling these things. What am I going to do with it now to pivot and make my life better and get the most out of this experience?” I want people to know you’re not alone in your stages of anxiety and stress and fear. I think we’re all experiencing different phases of that and it looks different for all of us. I think the most powerful thing we can do is put the power back into our hands to take those emotions and let them fuel us to something better and to grow and learn from it and to not feel guilt and shame for all of the things you’re feeling right now but use them to let you empower yourself.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

And so, I just wanted to share my stages of anxiety and stress because I think a lot of people can relate to the fact that there’ve been a lot of different stages of this process, this quarantine, this virus, and it’s not over. I think once we accept that it’s here and that there’s going to be more to it and we’re going to choose everyday how we’re going to respond, it can really put the power back into our hands to make the most of our situation right now.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

Yeah, absolutely. And I think that’s something to understand is, I mean, it’s not going back to normal anytime soon. It doesn’t mean the quarantine things may not leave but it’s going to be awhile before things go back to normal. And then it begs the question, what is normal and is what it was before all of this good anyway? We’ve all have seen what the impact of being in quarantine has done to the environment. The ozone layer being smaller than it’s ever been since the 1980s. I know that there’s a lot of lives being lost to Coronavirus. And if you want to look at a positive spin, there’s a whole lot of lives being saved to traffic accidents. There’s a whole lot of lives been saved to less pollution and things like that.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

I don’t want to go too far down that path, but I just want to share that let’s accept the fact that it just is what it is and let’s try to make it the best that we can now and let’s not hold onto, it needs to go back to what it was. Maybe what it was wasn’t good. Maybe what it was wasn’t healthy for us, right? Maybe there is a way to move forward now. I also am not fearful but concerned, I don’t want the social distancing to continue moving forward either. I don’t want that to be a part of our new normal where people talk about, is this the end of the handshake? I sure hope not. I sure hope this isn’t the end of hugging somebody that you haven’t seen in months.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

I think that now is the time though that we get to create our new future. We get to create what that looks like. Maybe not right today and in this moment, let’s get through this. But I think that it’s important for us to not hold onto what it was and let’s not hold onto what it has to be either and let’s just live in the moment and make the best of it. Doing that, we will make it out to the other side. There’s been many, many trying times before this. There’ll be many more trying times after this. So this is just part of our life. This is part of our process. This is a story we get to tell our grandkids. This is a story that we’ll tell for awhile. And hey, I lived through that. Let’s be smart about it to get through it.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

With that said, I want to touch on just five things you can do really quick to help manage the stress and anxiety. And then we’re going to wrap up the show shortly after that, but I want to talk about things you can recognize in your kids and your grandkids to see how they’re doing and how they’re coping with things because I think that’s very important. I think that there’s two sides. I think sometimes we neglect ourselves and we pay too much attention on our kids and then I think there’s times that we are so focused on ourselves because it’s so crazy and hard that we neglect our kids.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

And so, we want to talk about five tips to manage yourself and then it’s also look for things in our kids and grandkids that we can recognize, we can talk about and help them through it as well. Because I promise you whether or not they’re watching the news or social media like you, they feel what you feel. They hear what you’re saying. Their ears are always on. You think they’re not, I promise you they’re always listening. They always hear what’s going on. So let’s keep an eye out and make sure that we’re dealing with them in a healthy way.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

The first thing that we should talk about here to help limit your anxiety and stress, and TeriAnn you spoke about this, and that’s really, let’s minimize our exposure to the news and to the social media. It seems easy now, right? Let’s get on Instagram. I’ve got all the time in the world. Let’s going on Facebook. I’ve got all the time in the world. Let’s throw on CNN or Fox because I guarantee they’re going to have something sensationalized to talk about right now. But that’s not helping our anxiety levels. That is causing us more stress, more fear, just tension that’s held in our body.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

The Instagram and the Facebook, it feels like social connection, but it’s not really. In fact, you’re looking at how are other people coping with quarantine. So-and-so has a swimming pool and this person has that and look how happy they are in this picture. And now we get back into that whole comparison mode and realizing that, “Hey, maybe I suck and I can’t handle this like other people do.” But you’re just seeing the good pictures of their life. You’re seeing 33 seconds out of their entire day, right? You’re not seeing how it really is for them because they want to portray it in a certain way. So, turn those things off.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

Listen, I’m the same as everybody else. I hop on. When I decide to get on my phone in the morning, that’s one of the first things I check. I Google Coronavirus update. And let me read what’s going on. Cool, I know what’s going on. Before I go to bed or when I’m done, at least on the phone for the day, Coronavirus update, refresh, let me read and see what’s happened. Other than that, I try to keep it tuned out because it’s not the kind of thing that this massive, drastic thing is going to happen within a matter of hours. It’s something I want to keep updated on, but it can’t be something that I can allow to control my life right now because of all of these other things that we’ve talked about.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

I want to touch on that really quickly too. I want to be careful how hard we push too hard on the social media thing too because there are some people out there right now who are isolated and all alone and social media feels like their connection to the world. What I’d encourage you is, stay in positive spaces. There are people out there who are doing good news minutes, who are sharing good news happening in the world. People who may be sharing what’s going on in their life from a positive aspect that may boost your happiness. Unfriend people. You have an unfriend button if you can’t handle the negativity or the conspiracy or the fears, all the things that some people are pumping out there into the world. If you want to stay connected, stay connected to people who are going to bring you joy and encourage people enjoy.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

I’ve had some friends who been hit really hard by this, but in the past there are people who I look to for joy and happiness. I’ve sent some messages to them and I’m like, “I miss your funny posts.” And then as they get back into that, I’m like, “Oh, breath of fresh air.” It feels so good to see that side of you again. You can encourage people to bring the best side of themselves out too. I do think staying away from news and social media for the purpose of being fed by the fear and the negativity and reading into it too much can be dangerous. But if that’s your source of connection right now too, I encourage you to follow people who are putting out good content and information, who are connecting people, who are sharing their wins out of this, who are inspiring you to win out of this. And so, I think there’s two sides to that conversation and you just have to be careful how you’re using it.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

Number two on our list is focusing on controlling what you can control. Something I love to say to people and I’ve learned more and more in my life is, and it sounds kind of weird and cliche, but control actually looks a lot like letting go of control. A lot of us are tied to external things for happiness and for fulfillment, and those things aren’t bad. But right now I think we realize more than ever that some of our greatest strength and some of our greatest power comes from within, and happiness comes from within.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

You can’t control that schools are shut down right now. You can’t necessarily control your employee or your job. You can’t necessarily control when life’s going to go back to normal or exactly what tomorrow is going to look like or if you get the virus or not, or anything like that. We can’t control all those things. But what we can control is how we respond to these things and what we’re going to do with them. And so, as weird as it sounds, sometimes the best control we can have in life is letting go, acceptance and then moving forward using those things that are going on in our life to fuel us to be better.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

I think that’s great advice. I think other ways that you can control what you can control is maybe you do really well with a schedule. So reset a schedule. Just might look a little different than what it was, right? I very much love routine, loved getting up, loved going to the gym, all of that. When all of this quarantine happened, threw everything for frenzy. And then it was time to rebuild a new schedule. It’s easy at home to just, “Well, I’ll walk later. Well, I’ll work out later. Well, I’ll do this later. I’ll do that later.” That just adds to the chaos in your mind. So, put back a new schedule. It doesn’t have to be your old schedule. Put together a new schedule and then stick to it. What if you live alone and nobody’s going to hold you accountable. Nobody’s going to know if you did it or not, but you will know. And if you know, and then you don’t do it, it’s worse than other people knowing and you’re not doing it. So, find a schedule and stick to it.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

The other thing when it comes to control, and I’m a control freak, so I’m just speaking from experience. Manage what you’re putting in your mouth and what you’re eating and the choices that you’re making around your food. Manage your choices around actually getting up off the couch and walking for 10 minutes around your apartment or walking to the end of your driveway and back and forth, or walking around in circles in your backyard or up and down the stairs in your apartment complex, whatever it is. But take that control because I promise you, if you just go do that for five minutes, you’ll go back inside and feel like you accomplished something and you’ll feel like you have a little bit of control again.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

If you choose to eat some carrots or something like that as opposed to the chips that are there in the pantry, afterwards your belly will be full and you’ll feel like you’re in control, like you made a good choice. And listen, the grocery stores I know are hit hard with things on the shelves, but the place that isn’t is the produce section. Everybody go to the produce section and I promise you it is full of foods to choose from to eat. Can just really help you in terms of controlling what you’re eating.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

With that said, let’s move on to the next one. Number three is getting some rest. I did a Facebook live on this last week and I’ve talked about a few of these things. It’s another challenge. We’re home a lot, but I think we’re sleeping less. For those of us that are really feeling a lot of stress and anxiety, we’re on our phones in bed late into the night and that blue light is affecting you in being able to go to sleep. And then you’re waking up early and you’re picking up your phone and you’re checking to see what happened. Meanwhile you’re getting less sleep.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

Your body needs sleep to recover. Your body needs sleep to process. Those dreams are your mind working out all the stress and fears. So you need to sleep, you need to dream, you need that downtime. The thing is is you may need a little bit of help right now to allow that to happen. And some things that you can do to really help that: one, turn off the TV or put down the phone an hour before it’s time to go to bed. Do some light stretching an hour before it’s time to go to bed so the blood is just moving easy and your body’s a little bit looser. Use essential oils. Lavender is phenomenal, inside of the diffuser or rub them on the bottom of your feet. Diluted is a great way to help getting some sleep. Making sure your room is dark. Having it colder in your room also helps.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

Also consider the help of melatonin. Melatonin naturally occurs in our body. It’s non-habit forming and you don’t need a lot. You can start with one milligram, you can do two and a half milligrams, five milligrams. The trick with melatonin is, do not expose yourself to light after you’ve taken it. Take some melatonin. If I’ve ever taken it, it’s a kind that just dissolves under my tongue and I go lay in bed and I make sure no more phone, no TV, no lights, no nothing, and it’ll help me fall asleep quicker.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

The last thing I want to talk about is that we sleep in 90-minute sleep cycles. So, two things I want to talk about. One, getting more sleep is proven to be so much more effective for our health and our longevity. Everybody likes to pride themselves on, “I only got four hours of sleep, I only got five hours of sleep. Look at me.” Yeah, but I’m not going to look at you when you’re 80 and you feel that much worse because you only got four hours of sleep all your life. I’d rather look at you when you’re 120 because you slept eight or nine hours a night and you lived longer and healthier. So, sleep longer if you can.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

With that length of sleep, the timing of your sleep matters. So 90 minute increments are your sleep cycles. If you are going to sleep less, six hours is a good time to set your alarm so that you wake up in the middle of that sleep cycle. Seven and a half hours is better. Nine hours I think is optimal. If you can sleep for nine hours, I think you will feel totally different because you’ll be in a 90-minute sleep cycle and you’ll have gotten an ample amount of sleep for your body to heal, for your immune system to get strong, to work through the stress. It’ll really change your life.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

Yeah. And I’m going to skip ahead and we’ll come back to our fourth point. But our fifth point is to enjoy the outdoors and get exercise. I think that’s another thing when we’re talking about sleep. Our bodies are meant to work and move during the day. And doing that also helps us to sleep better. Where we’re all, what we like to call stuck at home and we’re not moving as much, when we are more sedentary, our bodies don’t have time to move and exert energy. And then when it’s time to go to bed and you’ve been sitting all day, you’ve been on the phone all day, you’ve been at your computer working all day, haven’t moved a lot during the day, then you go to bed to sleep and your body’s restless and it’s like, “I have moved today. I need to move. I’m not tired right now. I don’t want to go anywhere.”

TeriAnn Trevenen:

Getting out and going for a walk, moving your body, staying in your workout routines. So much content on the internet right now about at-home workouts. And so when we’re talking about sleep, not only was our last point getting outside, getting exercise, but I also think that feeds into our sleep habits and our sleep patterns as well. When you move and you exert that energy and energy leaves your body and then it’s time to go to bed at night, you’re actually tired enough to fall asleep because you’ve moved and you’ve used your body. And so, I think those two things go hand in hand, especially given the circumstances we’re in right now.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

And even if you’re one of those people, I know in some countries people literally cannot leave their homes right now from political mandates and regulations that are in place. Jonathan made a good point. I guess you need to pace back and forth in the apartment. And quite frankly it would be what I would do if I was stuck at home. If you have stairs, I would use the stairs. If you can pace back and forth in your apartment, I would do that. Do some pushups, do some jumping jacks. If you’re limited in your physical activity, what’s a way that you can get that heart rate up and you can get your body moving because not only does your body need exercise right now, boost your mood, boost your emotions, keeps your heart, your lungs, everything healthy. It also helps with your sleep and it helps you to be able to sleep better when you’re moving your body more.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

I don’t think we can stress enough how important it is to exercise right now. It doesn’t mean you need to get on there and watch this Instagram influencer and start doing a bunch of burpees and crazy acrobatic things because you’re at home and all of that. You’re likely just going to get hurt. Two, you don’t necessarily, if you haven’t been working out a lot or having done high intensity workouts, now’s not the time to start doing high intensity because that can actually weaken your immune system. It can weaken your body. Stick with lower intensity stuff that really will actually help the stress and the anxiety work out of your body and you’re not going to risk injury because listen, right now you also don’t want to get injured and have to go to the hospital for an injury and be exposed to the Coronavirus there at the hospital. So, you got to be mindful of a lot of things.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

What are some other things you can do? Simple stretching. Stretch for an hour a day will be amazing for you. Do some yoga. I promise you if you Google or YouTube beginner’s yoga, there will be an unlimited amount of yoga you can watch on YouTube for free right now and just follow right along and just do it at your pace. But I tell you what? Your body will thank you. May not for the first day or two as your muscles adjust and you’re a little bit more sore. But you’ll sleep better, you’ll feel better, and in three or four days or five days, you’re going to feel phenomenal.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

And what if we’re… I mean, I know our quarantine here in the US is until April 30th right now. What if you came out of quarantine 10 pounds lighter, feeling better? Now, what if this was your time to make that change that you wanted to make? What if you were on a health journey and this has become an excuse to get off of it or fall off the wagon. Well, don’t let that be your excuse and get back on it. And if you haven’t been living as healthy as you want to, let this be the kick in the pants that you need to, it’s time to be healthy and be strong and build my immune system up. And if not just for me, let me do it for my family members or for my kids and people that care about me and want me to be around.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

Our last point, and I’m going to add a little bit to our last point, is to breathe. But I’m going to say three things to go along with this one. I would encourage you to meditate, breathe and feel gratitude with your meditation and breath, and read. And the reason I put these together, this is actually a practice that I’ve been doing every morning in my schedule and my routine and it matters more to me now than ever. And all I do, I breathe in the morning but I’m trying to work to breathe throughout the day. But when we stop and we breathe, and I can guarantee you after this podcast is over, stop and do this.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

You will feel parts of your body when you stop, slow down and take those deep breaths that you didn’t even realize were stressed, that you didn’t even realize were tense, that you didn’t even feel this week, where you’re like, “I didn’t even feel how stressed and tense my feet were from walking around and pacing back and forth or whatever.” Maybe people are still going to work for those essential businesses, but you’re just carrying that stress in your feet, in your back, in your head. Like Jonathan said, in your job. Breathing allows you to recognize those points of tension and stress and let them go. And those are real things that add to our physical stress on our body that impact our health.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

So every morning right now, first thing I’m doing is breathing. Then I go into meditation. And we did a great podcast on meditation. We’ll reference it in the show notes on how you can get outside of the world and just be inside yourself and focus and relax and calm yourself. And then when you’re in that space, now more than ever is such a beautiful time to feel gratitude. Feel gratitude. Don’t just think it, feel physically what you’re grateful for.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

And then also reading. I read every morning right now. Whatever you choose to read. Maybe it’s fiction and you just want to escape this reality right now. Guess what? That’s okay to go out of what’s going on and focus on a good book and a good story. Let your mind be creative and wander. Or read a self help book or read a business book in something you’re interested in. Go somewhere else other than all these things going on out here.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

This morning routine has allowed me to start my day in a better place, in a focused place. Puts me in places outside of what’s going on out here and lets me focus on what I need to shore up inside to feel better about my day and start my day right? So breathe, meditate, feel gratitude, read a good book, do things that help your body to relax, to go to a different place so that you can focus on what you need to focus on to feel better.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

I think it’s phenomenal advice. While you were talking, I was doing some box breathing, like I got to breathe. I haven’t been breathing lately. So often do we do this shallow breath and that’s how we live our life. A simple breathing exercise is simply box breathing. Four counting, hold it for four seconds. Four count as you’re breathing out. Leave it out for four seconds and four in. That’s box breathing. And just do it for a minute, right? You’re not going to pass out. You’re not going to fall over. Do it sitting down though. Do some box breathing for a minute and find the difference that it does to your body.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

I think gratitude is something that’s often overlooked and you bring it up often TeriAnn, and I love that you do because it’s so often we just get caught in the competition mode, comparison mode, poor me mode, the world is coming to an end mode, I don’t have enough toilet paper mode. Right? All of these things as opposed to thinking, “Well, I’ve got running water. Let me be grateful for that.” Right? Because even if I don’t have toilet paper, at least I can take a shower after. What are some other things that I can be grateful for as opposed to living in the fear and the lack that often overruns us every single day.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

Let me just add too, I mentioned this on a Facebook live that I did last week. Another thing you can do outside of feeling gratitude is celebrate your wins at the end of each day. Right now I think that for some of us winning looks like I got up and I lived my schedule today and I accomplished some cool things. Or maybe your win is, today I decided to focus on joy and not the news. Or maybe your win is, you have a lot of health issues but you were able to walk down the street and back today. Or maybe your when is, “Today I woke up and I’m really grateful to be alive today.” Or maybe your win is, “I sent a really nice note to a friend.” Or maybe it looks like today I chose the salad instead of the ice cream.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

Whatever it is, even just one win a day at the end of the day. I think that sometimes we’re ashamed in our culture for winning and places that we win and celebrating ourselves. But I believe that life should be celebrated every day. And so, celebrate things today. Even if it’s just one thing, celebration can put our minds in a place of joy and a place of fulfillment and a place where we can take what’s happening in life and use it to better us. I would just say, celebrate wins.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

I think that’s an awesome advice. I’m going to add to it and talk about celebrate other people in your life too. If you live with husband, wife; boyfriend, girlfriend, maybe celebrate them everyday for something they did, or your kids. Imagine everything you’re feeling, they’re feeling it too. They’re probably not listening to this podcast. They may not even be into self-development. They may not be into any kind of personal growth stuff or health journeys or anything like that. So maybe just you celebrating them is enough to shift their entire day and relieve some of their anxiety and their depression and their stress and all of that. And sometimes it’s easier to celebrate others than it is to celebrate ourselves. So, I think celebration is just, it’s a very important key like gratitude. So I’m really glad that you brought that up.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

Yeah. And then we were going to touch really quickly just on talking to people in your life. And I know this is a little bit longer podcast than we normally do, I think this is a really important issue and I think that we really want to give some insight and feedback to people. And so, the thing I want to touch on really quickly is, a lot of us are living in quarantine with family members, with friends, with children, with whoever it may be. My advice to you would be; be honest, be real, be truthful, be empathetic, sympathetic and compassionate but also don’t sugar coat.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

What I mean by those things are, I’m going to give my kids as an example. I am a huge believer that if your kids are old enough to share, talk or question something with you, they’re old enough to talk about it. If my kids are old enough to ask me a question or bring something to me, I’ve made the commitment that I will answer it. I also think it’s a really dangerous road to try and force people to believe what you believe; with our kids, with family members, with anyone like that. So if our kids come to us and say, “I think this is going to happen.” And we say, “No, it’s not going to happen that way.” Why? I think in this time and place that we’re in, this is not the time to force our opinion or our perspective on people.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

This is not our time to sugarcoat. Well, it kind of looks like this, but it’ll be okay. Maybe for our kids, they don’t feel like it’s going to be okay and we need to nurture those feelings of, it’s okay that you feel that. Let’s talk about how we can work through this and help ourselves in the world around us right now. So my advice to people would be; be honest, be real, answer questions for your family, your friends and your kids especially honestly and openly, be understanding but also be someone who finds solutions. Help your kids do things that make them feel like they’re doing something for the world. They’re doing something for themselves. Help your family members and your friends to do that, to empower people to find ways to help and not feel helpless in this situation. And that would be my advice is; just be open, be honest, be real, and find ways to contribute to what’s going on.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

Yeah. And I’ll add something to it. Now’s the time to step up too, right? We were all raised during some sort of crisis, right? Maybe it was the Vietnam war, Korean war, maybe it was Cuban missile crisis, maybe it was with desert storm going on or 9/11 or the current Afghan Iraq wars. I mean, all of these things, we were kids at one point during some sort of crisis and our parents stood up and had to rise up and raise us through that. And so, I encourage people to step up and be who you need to be for your kids and for other people in your family right now that will make it through. It’ll be all right. And now it’s not the time to necessarily live in fear.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

It’s a time that we’ve talked about anxiety and stress is okay because it has you more aware of things. But I also think that now is the time to allow yourself to stand up and be the hero in your family. Being the hero in your family doesn’t mean you have to do anything crazy, it just means that you’re that person that’s being open, that’s being honest, that’s being vulnerable, that’s sharing, that’s not hiding, that’s practicing gratitude, that’s breathing, that’s being the least stressed out of everybody in the house so that you can help hold the space for other people to be less stressed. Right now is that time to step up. Too often do we look for excuses to not step up, let’s look for excuses to step up, and I think that this is a time for that to happen.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

Absolutely. I want to touch on one last thing. And I know this is not a business podcast, but I’m thinking of friends and family and people that I love who are experiencing lack of control and what happens with their business or in their career or in their financial situation right now. And just like we talked about being vulnerable and honest with your family members and people around you, which allows us to come together and help one another, I really encourage you, if you’re in a business, if you’re in an employment situation, if you’re in a financial situation because of this virus, do not hide away from people. Do not feel guilt and shame about your current situation.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

I can tell you, and I think that Jonathan would agree, we’ve experienced times in business where it has just been plentiful and abundant and incredible. We’ve experienced times in business where it was hard and it was scarce and it was trial and error and struggling and it felt like mistake after mistake after mistake. Like how did this happen and where did this come from? It was like putting out fire after fire after fire. There’s just been such a huge juxtaposition, really great and really hard.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

And in those times, one of the greatest lessons I’ve learned is that is the time to speak. Open your mouth, talk to people about what’s going on. Don’t try to go at it alone. There are so many ways to be creative in business, to pool your resources, to reach out and ask for help, to do things to transform your business and your life right now in a way that you can come out of this stronger. But you certainly won’t do it by staying quiet and suffering in silence. You certainly won’t do it by ashaming and guilting yourself like, “I can’t believe I’m here right now. I can’t believe I got here.”

TeriAnn Trevenen:

The greatest lesson I can offer to you from what’s happened to myself and other people in my experience in business and my journey in business, whether you’re a business owner, you’re an employee, you’re starting a business, you feel like you’re losing a business. Your financial situation is out of your control, ask for help. Share your story. Let your community, your friends, vendors you work with, customers, let them help you. Don’t go at this alone. There are solutions. There are options and the people who thrive in business are the people who are not afraid to find people who are smarter and better than them and ask for help. And so, don’t suffer in silence. Don’t get to the point where you feel like you’re at the end of your rope.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

Whether you’re a business owner, an employee, a family member, a child, a grandparent. This is not the time to feel guilt and shame. This is not the time to go inside yourself and hole up and be silent. We can find solutions together, but people can’t help you unless you open your mouth and speak. And so, this is not the end for certain businesses, for certain situations, for certain things. This is just the beginning of opportunity to grow, evolve, change and become better. So I implore you not to hole up and be silent, but to go outside of yourself and find solutions. There are always solutions to be found even in the hardest times.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

Such an awesome point. I really want to wrap up the podcast on that note, but I’m not going to because I promised earlier that I was going to get to a list talking about kids. I love everything that you just said and I hope people listen to it 80 times over because I think that could have been some of the most powerful stuff on this episode. I’m going to run through a list really quickly because I do want us to be aware of our kids. And if you’re a parent or grandparent, some of the things you can look for just to see how they’re managing the situation. One thing to look for, do they have excessive crying or irritation? Younger children returning to behaviors that they’ve outgrown: toilet accidents, wetting the bed, things like that.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

Excessive worry or sadness. You know your kid better than anybody. Do you see more of that worry, more of that fear going on. Unhealthy eating or sleeping habits. Listen, everybody’s doing a little extra stress eating right now, so let’s be aware of that. But let’s also not encourage that and see, just recognize, are you seeing a lot more of that excessive eating and unhealthy habits? Irritability, acting out behaviors in teens, poor school performance of boarding school. That one’s a little not relevant right now because we’re all stuck at home. But are they not even wanting to participate in their Zoom calls? Are they not wanting to participate with things like that and not wanting to do school in general?

Jonathan Hunsaker:

Difficulty with attention, concentration, avoiding some activities, enjoying the past, unexplained headaches or body pain. The headaches and body pain is interesting because I feel it, right? I carry that tension in my jaw. I carry it a lot in my forehead, in my neck. Kids are going to carry stress in the same way. So just be mindful of those kinds of things. Some really quick tips about what you can do to really help with them. Take time to talk to your kids, explain what’s going on, explain honestly what’s happening out there. Also explain though that it’s going to be okay. Reassure them that they’re safe and that things will be okay and that we’re working this out and everybody’s coming together to support each other.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

Limits your family’s exposure really to the news and things like that. These news channels make money off of sensationalizing things and driving more fear because more fear keeps you tuned in. And the more you tune in, the more viewership they have. The more viewership they have, the more money they can sell advertising to. And it’s all a big money game. So tune out. I promise you what’s happening from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM is all the same thing on rerun like every eight minutes. So if you’re going to check in, check in for five minutes in the morning and check in for five minutes at night. You likely won’t have missed anything.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

Try to keep a regular routine. Kids love routine, they need routine. Now’s the time to, if you haven’t been in a routine or you guys have lost routine, create a new one and stick to it. It will make a big difference with your kids, with yourself. Absolutely. And finally, this is one I touched on before is be a role model. Go and walk and take your kids with you. Your kids have pent up energy too. They need to move. Walk stairs with them. And if you’re not as healthy enough to walk as many stairs as them because their energy never runs out, send them to do laps up and down the steps. Do 20 laps up and down. Go do laps around the house. Go do laps… All kinds of ways to help your kids get that energy out by having them walk.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

But really be the example. Do deep breathing. Show them how to breathe with you. Have them stretch with you, have them do yoga with you. Show them how to eat carrots instead of chips. Be that example. Be the hero. Be that person that they need you to be right now. And I think all of this stuff will just make it so much better for them and easier for them to maneuver through all of the stress that’s going on.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

Absolutely. Yup. I think we’ve covered a lot of points today. Hopefully some of this has helped you and really helped you to understand places where you might be, how you can improve some of the places that you’ve been with this, like my different stages of anxiety, or if you’re just really stressful or fearful right now, how you can reach out, how you can find community. Just all the things we’ve covered today, I hope that something has brought you some comfort and peace or given you some ideas of how you can really cope with the situation that we’re experiencing right now. And the last thing we’ll end on today is, we are a company that lives and breathes organic, natural health. I think now more than ever, we’re living in a time where your health is critical to your wellbeing and critical to your life.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

I can’t say it enough and I’ve said it time and time again, a healthy body leads to a more fulfilling life. With the virus running rampant right now and health being at the forefront of everyone’s minds, now is the time to get healthy and love yourself and love your body like never before and treat your body like the incredible gift that it is. And as always, Organixx is here to provide you information, content, supplements, and beyond to help you on your health journey.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

If you’re just starting out, come and join us. If you’re in the middle of it, thank you for being here with us and allowing us to be a part of your journey. If you’re just crushing your health journey, we’re going to be here every day to keep giving you more information and more details. But one thing is certain, Organixx is not going anywhere. We’ll keep showing up every week with our podcast, every day with our emails. So don’t forget to subscribe to our email list, social media and beyond to give you information that will help you to improve your life and your health.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

Well said, I can’t stress enough. Go to empoweringyouorganically.com and download these show notes. All kinds of powerful links there. Again, everything we talked about will be written down. So, if you don’t remember half of the things we talked about, go there and check it out. You can also re-watch or download this episode. As always, do you find this information valuable? If you do, do me a big favor and go to iTunes and subscribe. When you subscribe, you’ll never miss another episode. Also, give us a star review. Don’t really like it, give us one star. Like it a lot, give us five stars.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

The more that you review, the more that you interact with us and you download it, the more that we’re exposed to other people and hopefully others will hear this podcast and others like it. And maybe it’s just what they needed to hear on that day in that moment to start their health journey, which could change their life for the rest of their life. All because you went and left a review or gave a five star review. So, thank you so much for tuning in. Stay safe, stay sane in quarantine, get some exercise, do some walking, love your kids, be nice to them, love your spouse, be nice to them as well. We’ll all make it through this in the end, then we will end up, I believe in a better place than we were before. So thank you everybody for tuning in and we’ll see you on the next show.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

Thanks everyone.

 

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