Managing Uncertainties during COVID-19

A webinar was organized on 6th of June for the students to manage the uncertainties during COVID-19. The main goal of this webinar was to help students cope with their emotional feelings and any stress that came with it during these hard times. The seminar was taken by Mrs. Manasi Karanjkar who has more than 20 years in the Information Technology sector and also has a Post Graduate Diploma in Counselling Psychology and is a Counselling Psychologist and Trainer. The webinar began with Mrs. Manasi talking about how extraordinary measures need to be taken during these hard times to ensure one’s emotional wellbeing. This is where understanding your emotions plays an important role. These emotions are different for people in different age groups. A new born child experiences the emotions of feeling safe and secure whereas for someone in the adolescent phase, the emotions related to them would be of surprise. The emotion of criticism is predominant in this phase. However, the most important phase for developing one’s emotions is when he or she is a young adult. There’s also a lot of insecurity for the people in this age group. Mrs. Manasi says that one should talk about their inward feelings whenever they have the chance to as it might weigh them down later. Also, sharing can help people a lot whenever they are feeling down. Finally, she said that one should never deny their emotions as it never works. Also, there may be times when you are feeling a rush of emotions and one should not hurry through this phase. Understanding and recognising emotions will help you a lot. She also quoted our Prime Minister who said, “There is always a staircase that will take you up when you are down”. Expressing emotions is an art in itself. At the end of the webinar, Manasi ma’am took up some of the questions by the students and Prof. Shaji Joseph related to the emotions that one might experience in this lockdown. Overall, it was  a great session for the students on how to deal with the many different emotions that one might be experiencing in this lockdown.