Overwhelmed by the dozens balls you keep juggling in the air, you are tired and feel like giving up or escaping from your world. But you're wrong; that's not the solution. You have the keys that control your life. It might be hard for many Egyptians to ignore the ongoing events of political conflict and instability that are ringing alarm bells of tension and which increase your feelings of despair. This gloom forces you to remain standing still, waiting for things to change around you. But you can take over and affect real change in your life since it is your circle of influence. The current surroundings might spread stress and anxiety and thoughts of suspicion and beliefs in conspiracies and end hopes of the future that Mahmoud Al-Hadidi, lecturer of psychiatry at Ain Shams University, explains as “similar conditions to those Egyptians with severe anxiety and despair”. Says Marwan Ali, 30 and a music composer: “I have spent the worst times of my life these past two months witnessing the current political conflict that I see like a snowball falling down a hill and things only getting worse. That made me suffer from a constant headache and forced me to sleep over 12 hours a day. I can no longer work on my music which is my life.” Eighteen-year-old Yasmine Hani, a student of mass communication, is suffering from the current divisions in the country. “The daily brutality and violence made me fear everything. I can't even express myself so as not to be judged or not to get into trouble. That has resulted in me being too distracted. I forget about assignments and barely passed my last exams.” Al-Hadidi adds, “the normal citizen who is apolitical and doesn't belong to any political movement or party is usually more vulnerable to feelings of despair since he doesn't have a supporting group that could provide him with comfort and give him arguments that explains struggles and conflict around him.” The problem here lies with people who feel burn-out and lose control over their entire life, starting with the political conditions of their country and ending with them putting on hold their families, study and work. Al-Hadidi elaborates that those who don't work on the maintenance of their souls are vulnerable to pathological coping, including aggression, sexual abuse, drug abuse, massive eating, oversleeping and constant denial. For just a limited time, this takes them away from the real problem. Psychological studies prove that healthy coping helps many to recover quickly from despair like sharing their thoughts and problems with others, having a daily schedule with regular physical activities like walking, swimming or any other preferred physical activity. Spiritual and religious practices help. Al-Hadidi stresses the importance of increasing cognitive functions with pleasurable activities like playing chess or Playstation, saying the more the brain is in engaged in thinking activities, the less vulnerable it will be to stress. He also points out the importance of getting enough sleep at night. Human resources consultant Maged Tadros advises those suffering from stress to change how they view problems and work on their “circle of influence” that they have the keys to and which they can control to affect change. Tadros also stresses the importance of daily recreational activities to be able to deal with change and overcome it, instead of living the four phases of change — denial, anger, resistance then acceptance.
