For me, one of the most important things that can help you through any tough time including the current situation is to take control over your own thoughts, beliefs and behaviours.
Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. Viktor E. Frankl
This is the challenge each of us can choose to rise to! If we're going to be stuck at home, we may as well make the most of it.
So, I've put together a few idea for you to try IF YOU HAVE HEAD-SPACE FOR THEM (and maybe paradoxically even more important to try if you feel you don't!)
I'm going to break this down in to a few posts to avoid overwhelming you and me with too much at one time so be sure to check back regularly for other posts 🙂
Here's part 1...
1) Create a Healthy, Supportive Routine
When we feel powerless or helpless (as so many of us do at the moment), one EXTREMELY easy thing to do is to create your own routine or schedule.
While we're all stuck in anxiously waiting at home, it's easy to lose our sense of time.
Days can begin to blend into each other (even without the wine ??.
A routine can give us an anchor and greater sense of control over our lives. And if you have children, creating a routine is especially important to give them a sense of normality.
This routine or schedule can be as simple as:
- 7am - Wake-up
- 8am – Breakfast
- 10am - Exercise
- 11am - Talk to friends
- 12.00pm - Lunch
- 1-4pm – Work, Learning or a home project
- 5pm - Make & Eat Dinner
- 7pm - Talk to close family
- 8pm - Reading, (Ok Netflix and chill is allowed too ?)
- 10pm – Journaling then bed
[Aside box to offer the journaling prompt page]
I think it’s important to include food preparation, social time, exercise and outdoor time and some learning or creativity so you get some benefit from this challenging time.
It's also important to recognize weekends because it's too easy for weeks to blur together. So, make a looser schedule for your weekends. For example, you could include:
- Sleeping in/later bedtime
- Brunch (why not have it virtually with pals?)
- "Treats"
- Movie night with popcorn
- A virtual happy hour/or virtual quiz with friends
- A larger project, perhaps some art, craft, gardening or home redecoration.
Create a routine for a sense of control and mastery over your environment and life circumstances that suits you.
These are just my ideas. You add or take away whatever you want to take control for you.
Reclaim what power you can over your own life, because with all this uncertainty it's important for you - and especially important for children - to have predictability.
2) Build Your Physical Strength, Fitness Levels or Flexibility!
Building your physical strength is powerful and health-boosting! Not only is physical strength and flexibility life-affirming and good for our health, but feeling more physically powerful actually helps us feel more empowered and less helpless in life too!
So add some physical activity into your schedule - as little as 15 minutes daily. Maybe by the end of this you'll be fitter or even be able to do 10 (or 100!) press-ups!
There are many options to boost your physical strength and health. Here are some ideas:
- I'm a bit of an old stiffy and really need to work on loosening up. Here’s my fab pal Elizabeth Bandeen over at Best Ever Massage with some great tips for loosening up at home.
- Learn do a press-up or push-up or any other exercise you can't normally do easily. Then see if you can get to 10 (or more - depending on where you start)!
- There are so many online fitness classes on Youtube - for beginners, experts - with equipment and also with no equipment whatsoever. Find one that works for you and schedule a few minutes a day for it to build a habit.
REMEMBER: BEing stronger = FEELING stronger and more in control!
And building your PHYSICAL strength or fitness = REDUCED feelings of helplessness!
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