There are a lot of ways that the current pandemic might be affecting your mental health. A growing sense of isolation impacting just about everyone is one of those ways. However, whilst we might not be able to get the physical connection we need, that doesn’t mean we have to feel alone. Here are ways to fight the sense of creeping isolation and to live a full, healthy social life from the comfort of your own home

Get on camera

Now, it’s more important than ever that we call and message those closest to us, to check-in and make sure that they’re already and to keep those bonds alive and well-fed. However, it can be important to make sure that you get a little face-to-face time with them as well. From Zoom to WhatsApp, there are plenty of apps and tools that allow you to use your phone as a webcam to get the visual contact that can important to maintaining a lot of your relationships.

Gather round

The “friend group chat” has become a very common tool, and it’s a great way to stay connected with friend groups that might not be as common a part of your daily life, such as old high school, college, or work friends. Nowadays, a lot of people are using it to simulate hanging out with their friends, whether its sharing pictures of your latest cooking exploits or just sending memes from one person to the next. Make a group chat and invite your friends and you can even use it as a hub to set up fun things like online quizzes.

Have some fun

There’s a side of your social life that your friends and family might not be able to help with. We’re talking about the romantic and sexual side. However, there are tons of ways to satisfy those needs to some degree online. Dating apps like Tinder can help you strike up fun, flirty conversations, and there are erotic literature websites to help you express some of your fantasies, too. However, sites like Freechatlines are great for allowing you to anonymously connect by voice, too. Some people need a degree more sensory stimulation to really feel that connection and even that’s possible and safer online now.

Share your feelings

Feeling that your stress is building up and you might explode if you don’t get your feelings out? Or perhaps you’re simply feeling introspective and think that an audience could enjoy hearing your thoughts. To that end, there are plenty of ways to broadcast and share your mind. Starting a blog is the most traditional way, but streaming on platforms like Twitch is becoming a lot more popular for those who aren’t exactly confident in their writing or would like the opportunity to interact with a live audience as they share.

Connecting online and over the phone isn’t the same and being there, in person. However, it’s much better than letting yourself be entirely alone, so give it a try and see how it goes.