The effects of being isolated

Venting our fears and concerns with others can reduce their intensity. Others may provide support and care and soother our negative feelings. We can do the same in turn for them.

We learn we are not alone and may learn how others cope with their frustration and fear, which can help us adopt those methods.

Venting should not become a habit as it won't fix the problem. When to stop negative emotions:

• When venting becomes the main coping style cause delays in adaptive action.
• When sharing with others stresses them.
• When you don't feel better, and one or both of you feel worse.
• Young children are not there to listen to our problems, and their job is not to soothe us.
• Talk to your doctor if you experience signs of clinical depression (depressed mood, low energy, poor or increased appetite, insomnia, and poor concentration).

Mental disorders that are unchecked and untreated in employees(and their family) often lead to reduced productivity, increase in workplace accidents, with a majority of the employees suffering from decreased concentration at work.

Treating mental health is not a big investment and employers can be the facilitators to reverse the grim scenario.

1. Becoming aware of the workplace environment and the policies that might adversely impact the employees.
2. Learn from leaders and engage in employee wellbeing.
3. Follow other companies who have taken necessary steps to curb mental health issues at the workplace.
4. Understand the unique needs and opportunities of your workforce to develop tailored policies.
5. Take practical steps like initiating training programs and facilitating the various workplace wellbeing strategies.
6. Many workers have a stigma attached to seeking help for mental health problems and need to be educated about the process while making it frictionless.
7. Remember that mental health is linked to everything, including physical and economic health.

Online mental health therapies may make people stick to it longer, but it’s long-term benefits are still questionable, according to a study.

This mandatory Quarantine mode, which can last for weeks or months, is making us more dependent on anything and everything online, with smartphones being the potential gateway to online mental health care.

Before the pandemic, only 4 percent of the US workforce worked from home at least half the time. However, the trend of working from home had been gaining momentum for years.

It is estimated that within a couple of years, 30% of people will work from home multiple days per week.

• Before the pandemic, a lot of company management and leaders were skeptical regarding remote work. But the skepticism will go away because companies recognize that remote work does work.
• The economic impact of the pandemic will likely force employers to cut costs. They may reduce their rent by letting workers work from home instead of layoffs.
• Employers had to spend money on new technology and equipment to work from home - a departure from the norm.
• Employees themselves are also spending more money to create better home offices.
  

• Epistemic Uncertainty: Uncertain information and data about the past or present, which can be unraveled by using measuring tools.
• Aleatory Uncertainty: The unknown things about the future related to randomness, luck, chance or indeterminacy.
• Deep Uncertainty: Also called radical uncertainty, it is a state in which there are so many unknown things that the future looks like an abyss.

In statistical science, risk is an important uncertainty, but a comparing of risks sometimes does not take into account certain human factors, leading to misinformation or even disinformation. This is due to the statistical models being oversimplifications of the real world.

Statistical data is a ‘Map’, not the actual territory.

We hate being wrong, but mistakes often teach us the most and allow us to innovate.

Think of the pros and cons of trying something and then free yourself to do it. If it doesn't work, take what you learn, and try something else. 

The persona of the fool allows the truth to be told, without the usual ramifications that might come with speaking against social conventions. Give yourself permission to be a fool and see things for what they really are.

• Panic buying makes people feel in charge of the situation, while seemingly mundane measures like hand-washing, which are actually impactful, seem ordinary.
• The problem comes when people overbuy in their over-panicked state of mind (irrational stockpiling), making the shortages worse than they really are.
• Speculators also take advantage of panic buying and raise prices of essential items like face masks, forcing companies to take appropriate measures.

..is a principle which makes people do things so that they don't feel regretful later. 

People are panic-buying for the same reason too, with social media and news media amplifying the sense of scarcity.

The key to working from home is clear communication with your boss. Your manager might not be used to managing people virtually or may not have a ready-to-go suite of tools for remote workers.

To prevent a breakdown in communication, you need to know exactly what's expected of you from day-to-day. Ask your boss for a 10-minute video call to start and end the day. Reach out to coworkers and managers regularly so that you won't get forgotten.

• Don't lounge around in your pajamas. Treat it like a real job.
• Create a space exclusively for work that is removed from distractions, just like you would at your office desk.
• Create boundaries within your home that your family members understand when you're 'at work.'
• Bookend your day. If you can't enter and leave a physical office that creates more precise boundaries, use psychological transitions like a 20-minute coffee in the morning, then exercise right after work.