Prince Harry Shares Reminder to Check in on Friends amid 'Stressful' Coronavirus Pandemic
Although the coronavirus pandemic may be keeping people physically apart, it’s important to stay connected with loved ones.
Emphasizing the importance of being part of a community, Prince Harry recently joined in a Zoom call with several former Invictus Games competitors, including pal JJ Chalmers, who had joined forces for the At Home Superhero Triathlon.
“With lockdown and everything else that’s been going on...surely this was an amazing opportunity for you guys to come together,” Harry said during the call, noting just how important physical activity and working together can be for people right now — whether they’re “working on the frontline or homeschooling their kids or just having their life turned upside down.”
“Whatever you bring back from work or whatever you’ve consumed in your day-to-day life you can actually pedal it or sweat it out of you,” the Duke of Sussex, 35, added.
Harry also praised the competitors for their resilience — and helping to set the example that “every single one of us has the strength inside us to confront anything that comes across us.”
“With COVID and the way that everyone’s life has changed, what better time to put you guys front and center to say, this is what’s happened in my life. that was the dark place that I was in but look at where I am now,” he added.
RELATED: Prince Harry Is Making His Netflix Debut This Month Celebrating a Cause Close to His Heart
As the conversation came to a close, Harry stressed the importance of knowing that should the going get tough, there are people to rely on.
“It’s so important to know that if you’re going to have a bad day, if you’ve had a bad week or you’ve experienced more trauma or another loss or more stress in your life that you’ve got at your fingertips, whether it’s a WhatsApp group whether it’s an online support group...you’ve got at least a handful of people that you can reach out to,” he said.
“All of us want to have or want to feel the comfort to know that we’ve got it in case we need it,” he said, noting that it’s equally important to reach out to friends you may not have heard from in a while, just to make sure they’re doing okay. “If you haven’t heard from someone for a while you know that the first thing you need to do is check in with them.”
“It’s stressful,” he added. “The injuries that you guys have sustained anyway is part of it but then how everybody’s being forced to live now it’s really, really different.”
Can't get enough of PEOPLE's Royals coverage? Sign up for our free Royals newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more!
Harry, whose Invictus Games held their first event in 2014, has also participated in a new Netflix documentary called Rising Phoenix about the Paralympic Games.
"There isn’t anything else in the world that can bring you back from the darkest places than sport," he says in the official trailer, which was released on Thursday.
