Ease your stress this week!

Mar 04, 2020 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The period leading up to general and regional elections can be extremely stressful for Guyanese. But the stress of the elections and the interminable wait for the results, as well as the anxieties associated with whether the losers will accept the result, can take its toll on a person’s emotional health.
Stress, as we know, is associated with a decline in human health. If you wish to stay healthy, therefore, reduce your stress.
A way has to be found to ease your stress during this week while the nation waits patiently for GECOM to complete its tabulation of results. But what is there to be done to pass the time?
For the majority of people, life has to go on as usual. They have to go to work and earn their keep. But many are finding that business is slow this week and employers are keen to close their businesses early and discharge their staff so that they make their way home before it gets dark.
Many persons, however, opt not to leave the home. And this has nothing to do with the coronavirus, but rather, with precautions to ensure their safety.
Today’s column attempts to do this for the many persons who are forced out of fear to huddle in their homes until election tensions abate. There are many things which a person can find to do around the home or in their garden.
Phagwah will be celebrated next week, and this is as good a time as any to do some house-cleaning and clutter-clearing. This week is as good as any to get the house spick and span to celebrate Phagwah – a colourful Hindu festival which is also celebrated in Guyana.
Gardening has proven therapeutic benefits. Doing work in your flower or kitchen garden is an excellent stress reliever and far better than hitting the bottle. The weather at present is extremely dry. Plants are wilting in the sun, and this is the perfect time to clear weeds from the garden and to water your plants.
It is an excellent choice to reach for a book this weekend. You can always find a good book to read online, in the local bookstores or at the public library. A few days ago, I was browsing in a store in Giftland Mall when I noticed that they actually have some excellent books for lending for a few. But for those who do not have the money, there are countless websites which offer free books. And of course you can always get a good book to read at the library.
Many parents are not sending their children to school this week. And so this is a good time to spend some quality time with the kids at home. Many people feel that they have to leave the home to spend quality time. But this week is a good time to sit down with the children over a meal or a board game.
Sports fans also have a lot of matches on this week which can help pass their time. This morning (Guyana time) at 9.30 am, the West Indies and Sri Lanka square-off in the first match of their T20 series. The contest should make for some exciting cricket and the Regional side attempts to reverse its three successive defeats in the just-concluded one-day internationals.
The second match will take place on Friday. Two exciting matches in the space of three days should help ease the anxieties over the results of the elections.
South Africa and Australia also face each other in matches this week. These should be thrilling and entertaining matches. There is other international cricket being played this week which can take people’s minds off of the elections.
Football lovers can this weekend tune in to at least eight English Premier League matches. The League is becoming one of the most popular in Europe, outclassing even the Spanish and Italian leagues.
There is always something to do in order to take your mind off the tense political situation. So rather than frustrate oneself in trying to determine who won the elections, why not find something better to do. Ease your stress this week. Life will go on!

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper)