As we all know, this period of isolation and stress is highly unusual, and a lot of us (mainly myself) don’t really know how to deal with this. Times like this could very easily cause a rise in anxiety and an overall decline in mental health. In order to try and combat this, I’ve set myself some goals I want to try and do every day to help myself feel as normal as possible. I decided to share them, in case anyone else needs some tips or general advice on what to do.
1. Daily meditation
As a way of reducing stress, or trying to increase awareness of my worries or anxious tendencies, I want to start doing a small meditation every day. They don’t have to be long, mine are 3 minutes, and I do them in the morning as soon as I wake up. As I’m new to this whole concept, I downloaded Headspace for some guidance – I’m currently doing the basic introduction course before deciding whether I want to pay for the entire subscription. If you’re not into this sort of thing, then even just finding the time to sit by yourself and reflect or write in a journal will have the same sort of effect. So far, it feels really nice to just have a few minutes a day to myself and my thoughts, and hopefully, I’ll start noticing some differences soon.
2. Daily exercise
This can be quite a challenge when you’re not allowed to leave the house, but exercise can have a huge effect on our mental wellbeing. I’ve taken up doing some online classes with my sister – we’ve found people who do classes on Instagram live, but you could absolutely find apps that do the same thing. We try to mix things up, so we’ve done yoga, pilates and an ab workout so far. The classes aren’t long, but they’re a great way to distract yourself and do something that isn’t looking at a screen!
3. Small daily tasks
Normally, we might be too busy during the week to do the little tasks until they just keep piling up. Now is the perfect chance to take care of these matters. I’m trying to spread these out so I’m doing one per day to keep myself busy. Maybe write a checklist and just tick or add them as the days go on. On my list right now, I’ve got dusting my room, organising my folders, cleaning my makeup brushes and sorting through my clothes. I find that taking care of the space around me has a massive impact on my mood as a whole, so maintaining it is vital.
4. Keeping some form of structure
Whilst the world may seem like it’s collapsing around us, it’s important to me that I keep some form of structure in my life. What I mean by this is doing things that I would do on any other day. It can be as simple as getting changed, keeping up to date with my job search (if possible), reading, updating my blog etc. On days where I feel a bit deflated, I’ve been writing myself a small schedule. It doesn’t really matter if I don’t stick to it, but having something to refer back to can be handy. This will be particularly helpful when this is all over, and I won’t suddenly be thrown back into reality.
5. Self-care
Most of these goals can all fall under the bracket of self-care, but for this one, I mean doing things that feel good to you physically as well as mentally. For me, this would include facemasks, skin/body care, anything I think will completely relax me. I might not be able to include this every day, but making self-care more prominent in my routine will again help me feel a lot better as a whole.
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I want to use this time to be productive, but also to relax and recognise the situation we’re in. Let me know if you have set yourself any goals too, whether they’re big or small!