Maintaining your functional capacity during a crisis

You can support your coping in various ways, for example:

• Hold on to routines and everyday matters as far as possible.
• Seek the company of others if possible. Familiar people make you feel safe.
• Give priority to your and your loved ones’ basic needs, such as eating and sleeping.
• Spend time playing games, reading books, crafting, handicrafts, etc.
• Engage in physical activity and do exercises that soothe your mind.
• Offer your support and help to others if you can.

Read more: How you can help yourself in a crisis situation - Finnish Red CrossOpens in a new window.

Crisis reactions are individual. Shock and stress may make one person act while paralysing another.

In the early stages, an experience that affects everyone may make you feel united. People are waiting for the situation to subside together and may act altruistically while helping others. This sense of community helps you process the crisis.

When something happens:

• The incident may seem strange, difficult to understand or unreal.
• The incident and the news about it are occupying your mind.
• Your thoughts and emotions may be fluctuating and feel extreme. You might feel scared, anxious, irritated or angry. You may also feel numb.
• Stress may also manifest in the body as headaches or muscle tension.
• It may be difficult to fall asleep or your sleep may be fitful.

These are normal and understandable symptoms that do not require immediate professional help when they are minor and short-term. Talking to your loved ones can make you feel better.

If your stress and symptoms begin to significantly impair your wellbeing and coping, you must seek support and help.

Crisis tolerance is emphasised in prolonged situations. As a result, you might begin to experience an increasing amount of difficult emotions and fatigue with the unusual conditions.

• People may feel disappointed, frustrated, angry and exhausted.
• Cracks may appear in people’s sense of community, and commitment to promoting shared issues may weaken at the societal level.

Being able to understand and empathise with your own and others’ feelings helps you recover from negative experiences.

A long-term crisis may have multiple effects on wellbeing:

• It may be difficult to fall asleep or stay asleep.
• It may be difficult to concentrate.
• You may feel more irritable and want to withdraw further from others.
• It may be difficult to calm down, and fears and worries may arise in your mind.
• Physical symptoms, such as pain and headaches, may become more intense and difficult.

Once the crisis has passed, it is time to rebuild our own lives and society.
The reactions caused by the extraordinary situation will change and get less severe as more time passes.

Ways to recover from the situation:

• Let go of your distress and try to return to normal everyday life.
• Process what has happened on your own and discuss it with your loved ones.
• Start rebuilding your resources.
• Identify what you have learned about yourself during the crisis.

You can develop your own resilience by considering how the crisis would affect you.

Think about

• how you might react to a crisis
• which positive actions have previously made you feel better in difficult situations
• which activities and entertainment could help you keep your spirits up
• would you or one of your neighbours or loved ones need support or help
• which loved one, friend or family member could you call if you are feeling worried
• which services of your municipality and organisations could you contact for help and support.

Develop your insight. When you know your personal resources and ways to react to unexpected and difficult situations, you are better prepared to encounter unusual circumstances.

Make sure you have home emergency supplies, get information and learn skills. By preparing, you increase trust in your ability to cope even when things do not work as usual. Learn how to protect yourself from misinformation and a flood of information that reduces your wellbeing.

Stay confident in your ability to cope. Also trust in the ability of other people to cope and the ability of society to keep the situation under control. Belief in coping will help you to overcome the situation.

Ask for and give help. Even in normal everyday life, people should be prepared to help other people. When something extraordinary is going on, the significance of helping others gains emphasis.

Take care of your physical wellbeing. Physical activity has positive effects on physical and mental health. Everyday activity helps you stay healthier.

Read more:

• Psychological resilience to crisis - 72tuntia.fiOpens in a new window.
• Effects of physical activity - UKK InstituteOpens in a new window.

In a stressful situation that affects many people at the same time, it is important to both seek support from others and provide it to others. It makes it easier to cope with the emotions stirred by the situation.

Think about who you would ask for help and who you could offer your help. Potential people and groups include

• family members
• people close to you
• people in your neighbourhood and local area
• members of your work or study community
• hobby groups or members of other groups
• a network of parents you know through your children

Helpful actions can include small ways to offer help in everyday situations. Identify how you can help others, what skills you have and how you could use them to help others.