Hey there,
How have you been doing with everything that’s going on lately?
For me, it’s felt like a strange week. At the last minute, my husband and I canceled a vacation we had planned for this week, and had a Social Distancing Staycation instead. If I’m being honest, the planned vacation was our babymoon (we’re expecting twins, this June) — and it’s strange to think about expecting new life and such a life transition, in the midst of such an uncertain moment.
I’m not an expert on all that you should be doing to keep yourself physically safe during this time (though please, keep yourself safe!), but in case it’s helpful, I wanted to share some ideas on caring for yourself — your emotional, spiritual, and cognitive health — in the time of COVID-19:
Eating-related self-care
If you’re someone who struggles with your eating, this might be a tough time for you. Maybe you’re home a lot more than usual, and a more anxious or down than usual…and those tortilla chips or pint of ice cream in your kitchen might seem a lot more compelling than usual.
Here are some gentle intentions you might set, to help you make sure that you eat in a way that serves you :
Try to eat only when you’re sitting down and paying attention to your food.
I noticed that I was eating, standing up (while I was preparing food, while I was walking by to go somewhere else) more than usual this week, so I gently reminded myself of this. When we eat without noticing that we’re eating, it’s so easy to eat too much food, or to eat more indulgent food than makes us feel good.Try to eat only when you are hungry. In times of stress and/or boredom, food is an extremely compelling pleasure button. So we will eat it for all kinds of reasons that have nothing to do with actual hunger (here’s my list). Keeping a log of when you eat and if you’re actually hungry, can be a gentle, helpful way to stay aware.
Try to ask yourself each time you eat: “What do I want this food to do?”
Do you want it to make you feel pleasure? Comfort? Connection? It’s worthwhile noticing what emotions or needs are there when you eat, as best you can.
Non-eating related self-care
The eating stuff is going to be a lot easier if you take excellent care of yourself, in non-eating parts of your life.
Prioritizing movement, especially outdoors. You might be thinking: I know, I know, movement is good for you, blah blah blah. But I still think it’s worth mentioning because, frankly, in the past week, moving outdoors has been essential for my mental health.
I’ve taken a daily walk for a long time, but in the past week or so (since I’ve stopped doing most other activities outside of my house) I’ve been taking two walks a day — a longer one in the morning, after breakfast and morning pages, and a second, shorter one, sometime in the afternoon. I often think: Wait, do I actually need to take this second afternoon walk? And then, every stinkin’ time, my mood is noticeably better after I do.
Of course, I’m lucky — in my relatively uncrowded suburban area, it feels safe for me to take walks outside. So just a gentle reminder to do the best you can with movement.Getting organized. There are some people on the internet who have a million routines and to-do list “hacks,” and I’m typically not one of them. But recently, even though I’m technically on a “staycation,” it’s been so helpful for me to set a morning routine and also, to make myself a list of things that I’d like to do each day. It’s easy to get a bit vague and disorganized when so many days at home mush into each other, and I’ve really appreciated how a bit of structure has grounded me.
Be careful about screen time. When you’re home a lot, it’s easy to be on screens a lot. I’ve noticed that some amount of screen time is fun, but too much can make me feel more anxious. I find screens particularly sneaky because it’s often not immediately clear that they’re contributing to my anxiety, but if I reduce my screen time, I typically feel calmer, clearer, and happier within 24 hours. It might be worth noticing how much time you’re actually spending on screens.
Talking to friends and loved ones. This might be another “duh” recommendation, but this week I’ve really noticed how much better my mood is after chatting with my mom or a friend on the phone.
I’d love to hear from any of you, if you’d like to share how you’re doing. And above all, I’m rooting for you (and the world at large) in the week and weeks ahead. We’ve got this.
Katie