Self isolation and social distancing for months is what the world has come to.

While staying self isolated does help  prevent the virus from spreading, it does come with negatives. It can cause loneliness and make people feel trapped, but now that technology is more prominent than ever, people are finding ways to help relieve those who feel lonely and trapped during this global pandemic.

Lindsay Taylor, the social worker at Perry who is in charge of the Mindfulness room, has started a YouTube channel to be able to spread mindfulness virtually since students can no longer see her in person.

The channel is called “YouMatter” and each weekday she will post a video related to the topic of that day. Monday’s are “Motivation Monday” Tuesday’s are “Tip Tuesday” Wednesday’s are “Wellness Wednesday” Thursday’s are “Think Positive Thursday” and Fridays are “Fun Friday.”

Personally I love this idea, mental health is something that a lot of people struggle with and especially teens who think they have no one to talk to.

These types of videos allow people to take their minds off of social distancing and helps people remember to take care of themselves during these hard times.

Taylor has 10 videos posted on her channel right now, one of those being her intro video. I liked that her first video gave viewers a preview of what type of content she was going to post on her channel, along with her contact information if anyone needed to reach out to her. Not only did she provide her own information, but also crisis and teen life line numbers if immediate assistance was needed.

I began to watch her videos each day of the week to see the effects of them.

The first day was “Motivation Monday”, and let me tell you I despise Monday’s, so motivation was definitely something I needed. Taylor talked about how being a beginner was a good thing and that everyone has to start somewhere, and that really spoke to me since I have that mentality of thinking “I’m not good enough” so this video was a good start to the week.

Next up was “Tip Tuesday,” and I found this video super helpful. One of the tips that helped me was “keep it simple.” Taylor then goes into detail about what she means by this by saying, “focus on one class at a time, one assignment at a time, one thing at a time.” Taylor mentions, “oftentimes we find as humans that we are either ruminating which means we are stuck in the past or we are projecting meaning we are worrying about the future and all of the what if’s.” This tip is really important for students who are not used to online school and who are stressing about schoolwork during this time.

“Wellness Wednesday” focused mainly on relieving anxiety and other intense emotions. While watching this I found myself  actually taking notes about some of the coping mechanisms that Taylor talked about in her video. Not only can these coping mechanisms help yourself, but they can help someone else you may know who may be in need of these mechanisms. This video is definitely a must watch for those who suffer from anxiety and other intense emotions.

Thursday was “Think Positive Thursday.” I was so glad I watched this video, it gave me so many eye openers and helped me realize not to stress about the little things, especially during this time we are going through. Taylor says, “just like this situation we are currently in with our world right now, keep in mind that with time, we will heal from this and things will get back to normal.” The biggest take away from this video was that “time heals,” which changed my mindset on what I should stress about and what I should not.

Lastly it was finally time for “Fun Friday.” For this week Taylor did an Oreo stacking challenge with her family and it was so cute to watch. She even encourages viewers to try it at home or over video chat which I thought was a fun challenge to do for those who are bored at home, plus you get to eat the Oreos after!

Having a YouTube channel that talks about mindfulness is extremely beneficial during this time, and I honestly feel better mentally, after watching Taylor’s videos. I really did enjoy watching her videos, and I recommend anyone to go and check them out because they contain helpful advice for viewers of all types.