5 Ways To Deal With The Quarantine Blues
✨5 WAYS TO DEAL WITH THE QUARANTINE BLUES✨
Have you been hit by the quarantine blues?
I come in and out of them.
Some parts of my day I’m super productive - almost feels more productive than before sometimes!
Other parts of my day I’m staring off into the distance wondering what to do with myself.
There is certainly enough to be stressed about so I thought I’d share what I’ve been doing to take care of myself and manage these quarantine blues.
1. FIND A CREATIVE OUTLET. Creativity brings us joy.
If you like to doodle or color 🖍, put some music on, open up a notebook and have at it.
If you’re missing paint nite 🎨, get online with your friends and a bottle of wine - they have YouTube videos for that and you can order supplies online!
If your thing is music, Fender has offered free online guitar lessons 🎸, there are tons of free video lessons online for so many instruments. If you’ve always wanted to learn to sing 🎤 , I have THE best vocal coach online, I’d love to introduce you.
If your thing is writing✏️, writing that book you’ve been putting off 📖. If you’ve dreamed of being in fashion, start designing 👗. If it’s digital art, get on your computer💻.
Whatever your creative outlet is, prioritize it and enjoy it.
2. MOVE YOUR BODY. Movement brings us joy.
Exercise 🏋🏻♀️ MOST CERTAINLY reduces stress along with symptoms of depression and anxiety and improves mood, sleep, brain function, and has a slew of other mental health benefits.
I KNOW you know this. Put it into practice and feel the benefits for yourself.
Take a walk and revel in your body’s ability to carry you through this world. Roll around 🤸🏻♀️ and crawl on the floor. Dance in the kitchen while you cook or wash dishes.
Try the YouTube yoga class🧘🏻♀️, join my free FB live workouts, find the instructors doing Zumba classes 💃🏻or Animal Flow like I did yesterday.
There are so many options for healing in our world, by there is nothing quite like taking ownership of your body and your ability to move it.
3. PRACTICE GRATITUDE. Gratitude brings us joy.
Get a piece of paper and some sort of writing utensil and write down 3 things you're grateful for every single day 📝.
Today I’m grateful for: the safety of my home 🏠 , Ben & Jerry’s ice cream 🍦 , the birds chirping outside 🐦.
Gratitude turns what we have into enough - even if we’re feeling stuck.
4. GET IN YOUR KITCHEN! Cooking & baking bring us joy.
I separated this from creativity even though I believe cooking and baking are creative expressions as well.
Learn how to make that dish you always go out for 🍱. Bake a batch of cookies 🍪. Learn how hot the pan should be for the perfect sear on that steak. Experiment with flavor combinations 🍜.
I have been thoroughly enjoying cooking. Put on some music and sometimes pour a glass of wine 🍷. I take my time chopping my veggies while I see how many different veggies I can get into one dish 🥙 hahaha!
I enjoy watching everything sizzle as it cooks 🍳 and then I look at the finished product and am so proud of how awesome it came out! I sit down with my bf, we try it out and I say “babe, I did a really good job today!” He says “honey, you did, it’s delicious!” And I smile big and proud 😄
5. BE STILL. Stillness brings us peace.
Just as there is power in movement, there is power in stillness.
Take some time to be still today🧎🏻♀️
Not the kind of stillness where you collapse on the couch and scroll through your newsfeed 📱until your foot 🦶🏻falls asleep.
An intentional and purposeful stillness 🙂
I put “meditation music” in the YouTube search bar and just choose one. I put my phone down and I just sit still.
As many of you know, sitting still is quite a challenge for me… and that doesn’t mean that it is impossible. I’m not asking you to meditate for hours. I’m not even suggesting you meditate.
I’m simply suggesting you decide to do something that will bring you peace ✌🏻so that you can stress 🤪 a little less today.
2, 5, 10 minutes a day - whatever you want.
I’d love to know your thoughts - are you dealing with some quarantine blues? Are you already doing 1 or all 5 of these? Do you have a favorite? How has it impacted you? Is there one that you hadn’t thought of? Is there something you’d like to add? Which one will you try today?
Let me know in the comments!