GreenPlanetClub, IUB: When the whole world was afflicted with the infectious disease named Coronavirus (Covid-19), this unnatural phenomenon led to many new circumstances that affected each and every aspect of our life. Along with this drastic change in our normal routine, it brought emotional distress as well. Adapting to the “new normal” may be altering our mental state in ways we are not fully aware of and this is where we need to assess our overall emotional wellbeing. Random thoughts and mood swings are prevalent in these situations but it is necessary to understand what extent of them is acceptable for our mental health.
In light of that, Green Planet Club (GPC) at the Department of Environmental Science and Management, School of Environment and Life Sciences, Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) hosted a virtual Inter-university workshop on Mental Wellness: “Understanding Your Emotions” on 3rd July, Friday.
The workshop was facilitated by the Rubayat Kabir, Senior Lecturer of the Department of Social Relations at East West University. In order to make the session interactive in nature, she prompted the participants to access the website PollEv.com where she shared various questions. She then went into the details based on their responses. She started by asking about their current emotional state. She then explained how each of us has the power to control our unpleasant emotions to a certain extent, and we can change it by applying some specific strategies.
To make it easier for the participants to understand she gave some real life scenarios and highlighted that if a person receives negative vibes from someone they can convert it to positive energy by simply applying some tactics. She then asked the participants to revisit any one of the unpleasant situations they had mentioned earlier and to apply the technique introduced in the workshop to try and see if they could reshape the scenario into a positive one. The objective of this activity was to make the participants realize how to better understand their emotions, stop to analyze, and then take the best action to resolve the displeasing emotions in a healthy way.
In the last part of the workshop, some of the members of GPC showcased their skills which they had learned and improved upon while being quarantined. The presenters talked about how the activities helped them overcome their negative emotions while they were practicing social distancing. Some dabbled in culinary and presented pictures of mouthwatering dishes they had made over the course of the past months. Rekindled interest in art and poetry had some members invest time in mandala sketches, paintings, digital arts and we were able to enjoy those and a poetry recitation as well. Lastly, two of the presenters also expressed how music helps them deal with difficult times and performed two beautiful songs for us. This concluded the online workshop.