With the whole world facing the unprecedented challenge of Coronavirus and Covid-19, many things are unclear. It’s easy to spiral into fear and anxiety, especially as we isolate and distance ourselves more.
We’re working from home now, and one thing has become very clear. Mental fortitude will be essential for us to pull through. There are a few simple measures we can all implement to make life easier during this time. We have compiled a basic guide to strike a healthy balance for body, mind and soul, during our time at home.
We’ll continue to add updates and post on this subject in the coming weeks. So please let us know your suggestions or questions in the comments.
1. Routine and Structure
Firstly, an overarching principle, if we are all set to spend much more time at home, good routine will be essential. It will prevent our time from simply sprawling and form the basis of our other beneficial measures and steps.
The simple repetition of routine can be a great comfort in uncertain times. It can provide stability and helps us get back on track.
A simple way to start building your routine is with pen and paper. List the daily activities you wish to do. When you are satisfied with the list, allocate times to fit them into your day.
Remember, managing your routine and time should become one of your daily tasks. Doing his helps to reinforce your plan and to adapt and grow it as you go. From there, plan your week and add different activities for each day for further variety and balance.
A ‘not to do list’ is a good idea during this time. Things like compulsive snacking while we spend more time at home can creep into our routine. A key behaviour we must avoid now is spiralling into negative news and speculation.
This time is an opportunity to be more intentional in our activities and to work on our personal growth.
Routine ideas and resources:
- Don’t simply switch on the news and see where your day goes – take control of your day
- Make a ‘not-to-do’ list of behaviours to avoid
- Plan standard tasks for every day
- Plan unique tasks for different days of the week
- Keep to treating weekdays and weekends differently
- Please comment or mail further suggestions to us
2. Social Contact
Naturally, our key concern in this time of self-isolation is loneliness. This is an issue we increasingly deal with regardless of the current pandemic – and the current situation will exacerbate this.
There is no substitute for face to face contact. In our current circumstances, virtual contact is still a great source of comfort. Speaking to friends or loved ones regularly is essential.
Structure contact with your friends and loved ones by making it a point to check in daily. Perhaps schedule recurring calls or video calls. This can remain and become one of the positive legacy elements of the coronavirus pandemic.
If you maybe don’t have people to contact or feel lonely, email us and we’ll connect you with someone.
Socialising ideas:
- Cook together either with your co-habitants or on a video call
- Get the kids to do a play or recital on a video call
- Reach out to old friends – check if they are ok
- Please comment or mail further suggestions to us
3. Unplugging
Just as we have to ensure we spend time with friends and loved ones, we have to ensure we have time away from the virus. The overwhelming media and news coverage will likely grow louder.
The pandemic seems to touch every aspect of life, and it can be hard to ignore for even a minute. We’ll actively need to remove ourselves from its grip.
Key to this is not to allow ourselves open-ended media access. Schedule news downtime or even better schedule limited news time. Switch off your tv and phone for proper peace and repurpose this time.
Unplugging ideas and resources:
- Set a daily window for news
- Limit the amount of open-ended time spent on phones and tablets
- Please comment or mail further suggestions to us
4. Movement and Exercise
As we self-isolate and distance ourselves from others the space, we have to move in shrinks. A degree of atrophy seems inevitable. Exercise is not only important for our morale but good for health and immunity.
Those that have access to uncrowded outdoor space, can take advantage of this for fresh air or walks. However, many others are more homebound. Either way, we should gear our minds to get good exercise during this time.
There are many great resources for home exercise, even without any equipment. Yoga, stretching, Tai chi and bodyweight training are all great options.
Exercise resources:
- Check out the Body Coach’s 10 Minute Home workout For Seniors
- We love the Downdog Yoga app and they have a bunch of other exercise apps too. They have made these free for the next few weeks
- The Nike Training Club is a great app with many options, including workouts without equipment
- Search YouTube for the kind of fitness instruction that interest you – like learn basic Tai Chi
- Please comment or mail further suggestions to us
5. Staying Productive
We have all been stunned a bit by the sudden change in circumstances. There’s also a torrent of new information constantly coming at us. Naturally, we would lose momentum on productivity.
If one considers the damage to the economy and savings, it makes sense that we try to stimulate as much productivity during this time as possible.
Those who have been freelancers or consultants will likely have a good idea of what they could do now. Others will need to be resourceful to find paid opportunities.
Paid productivity is ideal, but many unpaid forms of productivity will have significant benefit too, especially as we need to be more self-reliant during this time. The cooking, cleaning, maintenance and repair of our homes and their contents mostly fall on us now.
Productivity resources:
- Identify one meaningful project or key work stream to undertake during this time
- Explore what skills you have that can be delivered remotely. Explore the gig platforms like Upwork and Fiverr
- Take over some the tasks you normally outsource, like cooking and cleaning
- Take on home maintenance or repair projects – most of us have a string of things we’ve meaning to get fixed
- Please comment or mail further suggestions to us
6. Air and Breathing
Spending more time indoors can leave us feeling boxed in and depressed. Good air and breathing is a proven health benefit. One can get air by simply getting out (if that’s safe to do) or try enhanced breathing exercises or even meditation and mindfulness.
Breathing resources:
- Try guided breathing tutorials on YouTube, like this one by Wim Hof
- Try mindfulness apps like Calm and Headspace, not only for breathing but general relaxation and improved sleep too
- Please comment or mail further suggestions to us
7. Self-improvement
One benefit we have during this time is… time. Wouldn’t it be great to come out on the other side of this with new skills and knowledge?
Now is a great time for reading and learning online. This could be through courses like Masterclass or just YouTube, where one can learn almost anything these days by searching the topic.
Self-improvement resources:
- Read! Revisit some of the books you have at home.
- Read classics and other books in the public domain – download these as free ebooks from libraries like Project Gutenberg
- Masterclass offers many great courses by some of the world’s most accomplished leaders from various fields.
- TED offers video talks on fascinating subjects by experts from all over the world.
- Search on YouTube for specific skills you wish to learn. For example How to write a screenplay
- Udemy offers over 100,000 online courses.
- Please comment or mail further suggestions to us
8. Entertainment and Armchair Exploration
Rather than grazing a mix of entertainment and news, be intentional and take in great quality entertainment and information. We can take the time to really listen to music as an activity in and of itself. This is a powerful way to improve mood.
All the regular entertainment channels are available along with many new ones that are being made free during this time. For example, the Metropolitan Opera cannot host live productions now, so they are streaming recorded operas for free. See the link below.
The internet allows us to explore many wonderful things from our homes! Google Arts and Culture offers virtual tours of many of the world’s best museums. And Google Earth has virtual tours we can take too.
Entertainment and armchair exploration resources:
- You can listen to just about any song you have ever heard on streaming platforms like Spotify or Apple Music
- Treat your home like a cinema and block off time to watch great movies and series
- Explore the world’s best museums on Google Arts and Culture
- 13 Breathtaking virtual tours on Google Earth
- Explore the vastness of space with Google Sky
- The Met Opera free live audio stream
- Acclaimed chef Massimo Bottura has started a free cooking show called “Kitchen Quarantine” on Instagram
- Browse some the best stand up comedy specials ever
- Please comment or mail further suggestions to us
9. Familiar Comforts
Many of our familiar comforts lie outside our homes. However, we can still find comfort in the ones that are homebound. Listening to music favourites, reminiscing with old photo albums or eating some of our favourite treats can all help us feel more at ease during this time.
Familiar comfort resources:
- Relive vacations or other milestones by browsing through photos and share them with loved ones
- Fix a time for your favourite warm drink
- Please comment or mail further suggestions to us
10. Playfulness
So much of what we’re currently contemplating is very serious. It’s important that we grant ourselves moments of levity.
Let’s encourage playfulness. Kids should build forts. Adults should share jokes. Pet’s should be given attention.
Playfulness resources:
- Make silly videos to cheer up loved ones
- Use the good china. Drink the single malt you have been saving for a special occasion
- Please comment or mail further suggestions to us
11. Get Creative
The confines of our homes are only as small as our imaginations. Creativity can be a wonderful outlet and a way to take our minds places. An absorbing creative activity can put us in an ultra-satisfying flow state for hours.
Creativity resources:
- Take up morning pages – many of the world’s most creative people swear by it
- Learn creative techniques on YouTube – like how to draw
- Please comment or mail further suggestions to us
12. Sleep
More and more research suggests that we cannot overestimate the value of sleep. When it comes to our health and general wellbeing – even strengthening our immune systems, sleep is essential.
Without as many rigid and early appointments currently, we should maximize our nightly sleep and even work in some naps.
Sleep resources:
- Search for expert advice on how to get a good night’s sleep
- Cut off the disruptive white light of phones and tablets a few hours before bedtime.
- Listen to audiobooks rather than look at screens in bed
- Listen to sleep-enhancing apps like Calm
- Please comment or mail further suggestions to us
13. Smile
These are tough times and fear can bring out the worst in people. If you find yourself in an abrasive social situation, remember that many people are just scared at the moment. Being patient and spreading kindness will help maintain our greatest asset, our social fabric.
Many of us will spend much more time with our partners and co-habitants in this time. Normally we can take time apart to cool off tension. Without that option, we must be more considerate.
Research shows that smiling can make us happier whether we like it or not. And it’s contagious too.
Let’s all be as kind as possible.
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Please do comment with suggestions, we will update this article and publish more on the subjects covered here in the coming weeks.
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