5 Ways I Practise Self-Care at Home in Quarantine/ Lock-down

by Reem - August 24, 2020

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Life in quarantine, or just generally in this time period, has been a true challenge for many including myself. I can't deny that at first, I saw this current situation as a relief, a much-needed pause from everything, needless to say, I was extremely short-sighted. Shortly after, things started to get worse around me, although I am physically healthy and I am extremely grateful for that, keeping up with all the sudden and one-of-a-kind changes around me has definitely been a remarkable challenge.

Keeping my spirits up and my mental health in check now require more time and effort than ever. It seems so easy to let loose and essentially just give up on yourself, especially if you already have a history of compromised mental well-being, but I am here to tell you that it is also possible to maintain your health during this chaos, it just requires more time and effort but I'm sure you'll be very proud of yourself when you commit to your well-being and experience the satisfying results.

Not long ago, I started implementing some activities into my daily routine to help me stay well in these times and I noticed that they remarkably help me get through the day feeling better so I decided to share them with you:

1. Have something to wake up to every morning:

I went out of my way to find a remote internship that starts early-ish in the morning so that I have some discipline around sleep hours and not resort to sleeping for over 9 hours, trust me, I can do it. It definitely was a privilege to not put a time limit to any everyday tasks like sleeping, showering, or meals; because that was what I really needed coming out of a jam-packed academic term at university. But too much of a good thing can turn negative pretty quickly, which did happen, so I figured a daily structure that I can keep up with would definitely do the trick and it did!

Now I need to consider my bedtime and wake up at a reasonable time in the morning as well as make sure that I accomplish something during the day. I can't emphasize enough the importance of giving your day some structure so that it's not pointless to get up in the morning or take your bedtime into consideration.

2. Take care of my health:

I am definitely not the epitome of health and well-being in a human form, but I know the implications of an unhealthy lifestyle very well; as they make up the core of my studies, so I would say, they're pretty hard to ignore and turn a blind eye to.

I try to sleep well, drink enough water, by keeping a water bottle nearby and eat more healthy food, but also have the treats that I love in moderation; because balance is something I am trying to work on at the moment.

3. Have time for myself

Speaking of balance, too much time for yourself, surprisingly, can be counterproductive. I find having "me time" or "alone time" a great way to recharge, but too much of that can lead anyone to feel isolated and left with their own thoughts that don't always tend to be positive and encouraging especially in these troubling times we live in. We need other people's insights, preferably, people who have our best interests at heart.

I personally find that I tend to enjoy "me time" more when it's earned. The feeling of unwinding after doing some work that was more on the demanding side is just priceless, but then again, you may be different, so try to find a balance and a custom routine that works to make you feel recharged and fulfilled.

4. Try to work out pretty regularly:
Excercise has an endless list of benefits that I'm not here to elaborately talk about, but the one benefit that really stands out for me is the sense of achievement that I get when I finish a pretty challenging work out session. For instance, I first couldn't do a single push up, no, I'm not exaggerating. Now I can complete the entire set when I'm working out to a youtube video!

I mean, that's an achievement to me and it took time and consistency to finally get there. To you, it might be finishing an entire programming course or taking the first class in a language course. Anything that you can make measurable progress toward can be really helpful in making you feel better in general.

However, exercise, in particular, has proven in so many ways to be beneficial when it comes to mental well-being. So, I wouldn't pass on this opportunity if I really wanted to feel better. Starting with a simple, beginners' 10-minute workout video on YouTube and working out alongside it can be a great way to ease yourself into a new habit, or maybe just get some exercise for the day. It doesn't need to be a habit, just do it when you want to and it'll still help you out a lot.

5. Self-care is taking care of yourself and your needs:

With the spread of this term all over social media, its meaning can be often misconstrued. We can get the sense that self-care is laying in bed eating chips while binge-watching shows endlessly and it couldn't be further from the true meaning of self-care. Self-care, in my own interpretation, is to make decisions that will make you proud of yourself.

Looking after yourself is also something you should be proud of yourself for doing every day, and to me, it is self-care. However, engaging in fleeting-pleasure providing activities is not something that I personally would recognize as self-care in particular.

All of these practices have been really helpful in making me get through these challenging times, but I think it's important to understand that I, too, have days when I would rather stay in bed and not actively face the day, but the more I keep doing the above activities on "normal" days, the easier I find it to get myself out of bed and ready for the day ahead of me.

Even though you've reached the end of this post, you don't have to leave just yet! Take a look at these other posts I published recently:

Coping with long-term adversity & hopelessness

Things to do in lockdown/ self-isolation

Why it is so hard to be productive right now