Maintaining Your Mental Health in Lockdown: Staying Sane

I have a love-hate relationship with stepping outside my comfort zone. While I find it exhilarating to push myself mentally and physically to see what’s achievable, there are times I struggle with the idea of doing something completely foreign.

Take an ice bath for instance - that first toe in the water, so cold that I could feel it in my bones.

It was painful. But as my foot .. and then leg ..and then my chest and head went under, I could feel every last bit of stress and anxiety leave my body.

And that felt good. That's the love part of the love/hate relationship I have with stepping out of my comfort zone...when you've challenged yourself and you're better for it.

But what about the hate part? That first step out of your comfort zone - in this case, that first toe into a bucket of freezing water). How do you mentally get through it?

Sydney's most recent lockdown is a perfect example of finding myself out of my comfort zone - whether I deliberately stepped out of it or not.

And, speaking frankly, I've definitely lost my shit a few times - but we're all human right?

For me, to stay sane during lockdown, I focus on everything I am grateful for - like my family, health and the opportunity to be challenged every single day.

While I’m someone who’s constantly looking for the next thing or the next challenge, the lockdown, void of life’s usual distractions, has given me time to reflect on everything I throw myself into, to take a step back, and really appreciate all I’ve achieved.

The Making of a Man

I have spoken before about Rising Kings and everything they do for men who, like me at times, feel like they're struggling mentally.

Rising Kings’ Stop the Struggle program is designed to help men recalibrate their lives.

It exists to achieve results.

And that's been true for me. Taking part in this transformation was rewarding and lead to outcomes and friendships I didn’t see coming.

But I didn't stop there.

True transformation requires an ongoing commitment to doing "the work", and stepping outside of your comfort zone. So when Ben Salkeld (founder of Rising Kings)invited me to take part in Rising Kings’ Legacy group, on a weekend men's retreat on the Gold Coast earlier this year, my gut feeling (my comfort zone) wanted me to say no.

Spoiler: I said yes.

However, that feeling of trepidation didn't leave and as soon as I landed on the Gold Coast, I wanted to turn back.

Even though I knew it was an incredible opportunity for personal growth, the thought of bunkering down with complete strangers for three days gave me anxiety.

By the end of the weekend, I was so glad I went because I came back feeling the best I had felt in a long time.

The highlight - the aforementioned ice bath as part of the increasingly popular Wim Hof Methodrun by Johannes Egbert, the founder of Breathless, a leading adventure travel and education organisation.

Johannes has worked with over 3,000 people through tailored workshops, programs, and retreats, including the New Zealand Warriors and NZ Ferns.

So I was in great hands.

Any Icy Immersion

An ice bath has similar effects to breathwork and is mostly known as a type of recovery for athletes and fitness enthusiasts after extreme physical activity.

Also called cryotherapy, its most common purpose is to reduce muscle pain.

Some other benefits include helping you face stressful situations more effectively, aiding your central nervous system, limiting your inflammatory responses, decreasing the effect of humidity and heat, and training your ‘vagus nerve’.

While this may sound quite foreign to you (and it was to me too), these things are directly related to our overall well-being.

Cryotherapy can also be done at home by taking a freezing cold shower which can help to aid in sleep and reduce fatigue.

In and Out (breathing, not the burgers)

In my experience, self-care is not something you often hear men in business talk about.

It's a taboo topic but the impact it can have on our work makes it something we should certainly be discussing.

The way that Johannes seeks to achieve peak human health and performance is a great inspiration to me, and I believe it should be for other men out there too.

Johannes has studied, practised and taught many holistic approaches and philosophies related to self-care and I personally found breathwork to be such an interesting concept.

In essence, it's exactly what it sounds like; learning to use specific breathing practices and techniques to improve our mental and physical well-being.

It helps minimise our fight or flight response to stress, alleviates high blood pressure and helps lower our heart rate by triggering the body’s relaxation response.

Not unlike yoga, it makes you conscious of how you're breathing and incorporates techniques to help you control it.

It can also help to slow down the thoughts that might be clouding your mind – removing pressure and giving you time to focus.

Furthermore, studies have shown it can help treat anxiety, depression, and PTSD - something that's helpful when we're stuck at home, without our usual routines and stress relievers.

As you can see, there are so many things you can learn when you step outside of your comfort zone.

By continuing to incorporate what I've learned through Rising King's Legacy program I've seen great improvement in my productivity, efficiency and overall well-being.

So, if you're willing, I encourage you to look into some of the things I have outlined above and consider implementing them into your life because you never know what great benefits they may have.

For more information visit: https://oxygenadvantage.com/instructor/johannes-egberts/ or https://www.risingkings.com.au/.