Taking Care in Strange Times
- kendrickumstattd
- Mar 19, 2020
- 2 min read
Right now, there is a plethora of memes, Instagram posts, videos, articles, and more about how to take care of your health, both physical and mental, during this time. Although I agree with many of the recommendations some of these outlets are promoting, I wanted to share some of the practices I have found helpful in the past couple weeks.
1. Take things one day at a time.
Humans hold ourselves to such high standards. If a group of monkeys were dealing with a pandemic, they would certainly not be concerning themselves with going about their usual daily routines, let alone making progress and achieving goals deemed ambitious even in a more normal day-to-day context.
Each day, create a task list for just that day and go one item at a time, celebrating the completion of each to-do. If your mind wanders because of the state of the world, that's completely normal.
2. Check in with people.
Checking in with those you care about over call, video chat, or text is so important for a myriad of reasons.
The more obvious reason is the delight of connection with family, whether it's your genetic or chosen one. The secondary reason is that this group can provide you with accountability checks.
When your day loses the structure it had before, being able to send a quick text about what you accomplished is a good way to hold yourself accountable.
3. Know that you have a right to feel how you feel.
This statement comes from comedian Jared Freid's podcasts, and he was applying it to dating scenarios, but the statement applies more broadly, too, of course. If you want a good way to remind yourself daily of things to be grateful for, I'd highly recommend the app Presently, which can send you daily reminders to log something you found uplifting or inspiring that day.
Sending you positive vibes in these strange times.
