The whole world is currently isolated right now! How are ya’ll holding up? When the coronavirus first hit China my thoughts and prayers went out to everyone infected and their loved one. However, I never imagined that it would travel to the United States. The country that has all my loved ones in it. Even harder to bear is the fact that my husband and I live in the Caribbean. Most of my days are filled with worry. I’m in a constant state of uneasiness and feel extremely tense about being so far from my family during this time. My husband can hear me having to yell at my family over facetime to stay home. My emotions come in waves. One minute I feel calm and relaxed, the next BAM! I’m a bag filled with anxiety.
Does anyone else live far from their family? Are you worried like I’am? I feel that is a rhetorical and idiotic question. Of course, you are worried! Feel free to hop on my bandwagon.
My thoughts can take me down a dark path. What if our borders are closed? What if someone I love is infected and I can’t travel? The island my husband and I are located has a very poor medical care system. Like extremely shitty! So on top of being worried about my own family, I’m also worried about us! Safe to say I am in a constant state of worry and panic right now.
You could say I need to relax and start enjoying some self-care activities.
I know that worry and stress do me absolutely no good. I have to take it day by day. The best way to stay safe is to stay in the comfort of your own home. Self quarantined is the best option for everyone right now.
Being self quarantined has not impacted my daily life that much (now that I put that into writing, it sounds pretty depressing). I work on my blog from my ‘office’ and by office I mean my kitchen table or my couch in the library. The only activity that I had to eliminate was the gym (summer body for 2020 is no longer going to happen).
With us all being self-quarantined it is the perfect time to work on YOURSELF. Take care of your skin, your body, and lounge around. We are being forced to slow down our lives and might as well make the best out of the situation.
It soothes me to remember that you can’t fight a storm, all you can do is wait it out. Remember, BREATHE, practice your patience, and enjoy activities in your own home.
The list of activities that you can enjoy from home is endless. I have written a few of my personal favorites. Hope you are all able to enjoy them!
Exercise
I do not enjoy working out from home. I feel as if I’m not working up enough of a sweat and I can not stay focused. Due to the fact that I can no longer go to the gym, I forced myself to dust off my yoga mat that was shoved in my closet and put it to use. I researched the best free workout videos on youtube and found a few that I like.
ARM WORKOUT VIDEO. I actually stumbled across this arm workout video a year ago, and I loved it. It is only 13 minutes of a workout and only requires dumbells. My arm fat is a target area that I am always trying to work on. Anyone can make it through the whole video, and it doesn’t require a lot of your time.
BARRE WORKOUT. I just found this one. I have only been doing it for a week, but I love it. Remember when I said home workouts do not make me sweat? Well, this one does! Like a disgusting amount of sweat. A 30 min video where the instructor has you moving the whole time. The camera angle is not the best at times, but because I enjoy the workout so much I had to include it here.
Read
My personal favorite recommendation. For so many of us, books are a perfect escape from reality, and with the coronavirus, everyone needs a good escape! I have already finished four books since being confined to my home. I’m actually nervous about running out of novels. Do you need a book recommendation? Read one of my many posts about the books that I love HERE.
I just finished Once Upon the River, by Diane Setterfield. An absolute gem of a book! I’m going to write a full book review of my experience with it very soon.
Experiment in your kitchen
Research new recipes on Pinterest and start cooking. After this quarantine is over we are all going to emerge as skilled chefs. My two new creations this week were Shrimp Pho and Tomato & Basil soup. Not to toot my own horn, BUT they turned out wonderful. The next food item on my list is to make fresh homemade bread! At least my stomach will be happy during this isolation.
If you need easy homemade recipe recommendations, check out my collection of dinner recipes here.
Listen to a podcast
Oh, man! So many great podcasts are available to us. A few favorites of mine are:
- Adulting Like A Mother Father
- Absolutely Not, comedian Heather McMahan
- The Friend Zone
Podcasts are great to simply sit back and enjoy. Podcasts are made by REAL people going through some real shit. Some are inspirational, some are hilarious, some educate us, and some are dark with creepy undertones. No topic is off-limits. No matter the topic you are intrigued by there will be a podcast about it.
Puzzles & board games
Perfect calming activity and can keep you busy for hours. I myself have recently started a London puzzle of 1000 pieces. Puzzles are a great way to keep busy and will get your mind off being bored. Board games and puzzles are perfect entertainment and guaranteed to be a good time. Is your family competitive? Game nights in my family tend to result in many good-spirited arguments.
Buzzfeed recently posted an article on 21 Games From Your Childhood You Can Still Play. Fill your time playing them! Honestly, they are not as fun as I remember, but it’s so extremely nostalgic that I love it.
Meditate
Find your inner zen. Inhale and exhale. Practice the simple act of only breathing. Clear your head and empty your thoughts. Don’t know how? We have access to many apps and videos teaching us how to focus on meditation. I personally love the app Calm and listen to it right before bed. I have recently found myself riddled with anxiety. To calm myself I inhale for 4 seconds, hold for seven, and exhale for 8. Try it. I promise it will help.
Journal
‘Write hard and clear’. Write about everything! I have been starting my morning with coffee (naturally) and sit on my kitchen table and write one to two pages every morning. I write about my worries and concerns, what I’m thankful for, my goals, and more. If you are feeling stressed, start writing! Put your words on paper. Even if you are only venting in your writing, that is OKAY! It’s satisfying to get all your thoughts out! Write everything that needs to get released!
Clean
Clean everything! Get crazy! Clean out your closet, wipe down those kitchen counters, clean out that junk drawer.
Do those small tasks that have been put on your back burner. Put those photos in that album you bought months ago. Hang up that art that has been shoved in your closet. Clean out every nook and cranny. Personally, a clean space makes me feel less claustrophobic, and its a great way of staying active.
Skin Care
Show your face some love! Put on that face mask, use your jade roller religiously, and moisturize everywhere! I don’t know about you, but I always feel productive when I use my face mask. A simple and proper skincare routine is only three steps! Cleanse, tone, and moisturize! It is that easy.
Don’t have a skincare routine? Now is that time to master one. You have the time! There is no excuse. If you don’t know which products to start using check out my personal favorite products HERE. Give your face the proper self-care it deserves!
Movie Night
There are a ridiculous amount of movies available to us! Not a movie fan? Binge watch a TV show (HINT HINT, BROOKLYN NINE-NINE). Put on your comfy pajamas and watch movies all day! Now that is what I call some serious self-care loving! A few classic movies that I love are:
When Harry Met Sally
While You Were Sleeping
The Wedding Singer
Obviously I love a feel-good 90’s film. I’m also a sucker for a good rom-com! I mean who isn’t?
Take a Class
Crazy amount of online courses are dropping or completely waiving the cost of the class. Yale released one of their most popular classes for everyone to enroll in for FREE.
Yes, you read that correctly. The course The Science of Well Being teaches us how to create our own happiness and build more productive habits.
Learn a new language, become a writer, study the human mind, the courses that are available to us are endless! Learning and educating ourselves will always benefit us. You have the time now to learn something new. Taking a class in the comfort of your home is a lovely version of self-care.
Plan
Start planning that vacation you have always wanted to take. I have pinned a ridiculous amount of travel pins recently, and even though I know we are not traveling anytime soon, it never hurts to plan ahead of time.
Self-care can mean numerous activities. Everyone has their own treatment of self-care. Which activities soothe you? Pamper yourself during this time of quarantine and stay safe. Stay indoors and start working on one of the activities I listed.
Do you have self-care activities to recommend to me or movie recommendations? Let me know in the comments!
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