"Why do I feel so shit in a pandemic by a psychiatrist part 4, lack of novel stimuli. By this I mean lack of experiences. Most of us are seeing the same person or people in the same four walls reading the same news stories every single day at the moment. There's even a lack of new TV shows or movies coming out. When our brains are getting the same repetitive input day in day out something known as the brain's default mode network is activated. It's a sort of like a breathing standby, and it gives rise to rigid and repetitive thoughts and feelings. So if you're somebody who's prone to anxious or depressive thoughts. If you're not experiencing anything new to disrupt these thoughts, they're going to be on repeat. So how do you override the system? Do something you've never done before. "