This content was created by Dr. Jameca Cooper. This content was uploaded by Dr. Jameca Cooper. This is a YouTube video titled "Omicron, Mental Health, and the Holidays" (created 2021-12-07) featuring Dr. Jameca Cooper presenting a solo talk/vlog. In the short video she offers three practical tips for getting through the holidays during the COVID‑19 pandemic: (1) set clear mental health boundaries (e.g., opt for virtual gatherings if in‑person family time is stressful), (2) practice self‑care while visiting (take breaks, nap, read, meditate, go for a drive), and (3) safeguard physical health against COVID‑19/Omicron and other illnesses (limit gathering size, physical distancing, wearing masks, or stay virtual). The tone is advisory and aimed at helping viewers stay mentally and physically healthy over the holiday season.
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Hi, I'm Dr. Jameca Cooper, and today I want to first make sure you subscribe. Today I want to talk to you about tips to make it through the holiday. The holidays can be quite stressful for many people. Sometimes it's stressful because you are alone and you don't have your family and friends around. Sometimes it's stressful because you do have your family and friends around, but usually the holidays come with peak times of stress for people shopping, cooking, lots of things, um, decorating that could be stressful. So I want to give you 3 tips for how to make it through the holidays without losing your mind and being healthy. So my first tip is to make sure that you have very clear mental health boundaries. So what does that mean? To have mental health boundaries that are clear, that means you know exactly what makes you stressed out. You know exactly what makes you anxious. You know what makes you sad. So if being around your family in the holidays makes you a little bit chaotic, then maybe you should forego that this holiday season. So boundaries for mental health. Instead of being in person for your family, you could opt for virtual gatherings this year, for Zoom, FaceTime, or whatever, um, platform you use to see your family or friends from far away. So, if that's what it takes to safeguard your mental health and your space, then I suggest that you do that. Mental health boundaries, that's my number 1 tip. My number 2 tip is to engage in self-care. So, let's just say you travel to be around your immediate or extended family and you're with people for 2 to 3 days at a time. It is still possible to engage in self-care while you're with your family and friends. Ways to do that. You can be with family all day and maybe just take an hour to go into a room, take a nap. That is self-care. Take an hour or two to go into a different room and read a book. Um, take an hour or two to just sit and meditate by yourself, or to go on a drive. These are all things that can really make you feel better, can improve your mood, and could help you get centered even in the midst of lots of socializing and conversation and dialogue with your family. So number 2 is make sure you engage in self-care. My number 3, and make sure you think about this number 3, this season is very important. We are still in the midst of a pandemic, is to safeguard your physical health. Omicron is out there. It's real. It's everywhere. It's in this country, so are the other COVID-19 variants. So we have to be very careful about how we spend our time and who we spend our time with this holiday season. So one option is to forego all physical one-to-one or in-person interactions and just say, "You know what? I'm not taking any of those risks this year. I'm going to stay home and do everything virtually." That's one way. Now, if you choose to engage with people in person, how can you do that safely? You can limit your gatherings. You don't have to go and be around 15, 20, 30 people at a time, even if that is what your host or people, your family, are having over to the house. You don't have to be in the midst of that. You can remove yourself from that. You can go in a different room. You can choose to socially distance from that, even if you're around it. But I would definitely say to limit your social gatherings to 10 people or under. It's safer because you reduce your risk by doing that. Now you can also choose to, even in the company of family and friends, continue to wear a mask. You don't have to kind of pay attention to the social norms. If everyone else is not wearing a mask, you don't have to go by that. You can do what is comfortable and safe for you. So you can continue to wear a mask and socially distance yourself even with— within family and friends. So these are a few things that we have to do this year, mainly number 3 for physical health and making sure that you can start the new year off and be healthy and safe. I think the last thing anyone would want to do is start off in January and be sick with any of the type of COVID-19 variants that we have now, or the other things that we haven't talked about, such as a flu, such as pneumonia, such as the common cold. All of these could really wreak havoc on how you spend your holiday time. So make sure you pay attention to these tips that I gave you today so that you can be healthy at the end of this year and to start off your new year in a healthy way. Thanks for tuning in. I'm Dr. Jameca Cooper Cooper. Stay healthy.
