Taking Care of Yourself During Quarantine
Dear Em and Lil,
How do you find motivation to take care of yourself and follow your goals during this weird time?
Sincerely,
Stuck on the Sofa
LIL: If you’re someone who suddenly has more free time because of the stay at home orders, your brain might be saying, “time to be overwhelmed with choices!” To combat this, I have coined the following expression: Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. This is a phrase I made up, no one has said it before, and it has nothing to do with weddings.
Something old: This is a great time to pick up an activity you used to do and always meant to start again. Maybe you have a prompt-of-the-day journal that you’ve written in about twice, or an audiobook subscription you’ve been paying for monthly since your free trial ran out. Or maybe you have a nearly-full container of dental floss. This is a great time to practice a habit you already have all the props for, and to remind yourself why you used to love something by doing it for 20 minutes a day.
Something new: Do something that challenges you. For me, this would be to only eat chips every third day. This will be satisfying, I promise. It will, right? Right?
Something borrowed: A lot of what’s on social media right now is people making all kinds of beautiful art, food, and creative exercise solutions. You can definitely gain inspiration from others, but be choosy. Practice finishing things you started, so when you do “borrow” an idea, try to stick with it.
Something blue: Umm… this one is um… drink water, and go outside once in a while to look at the sky.
EM: Let’s say that you have wanted to learn to play guitar for your whole life. It has been a couple of weeks since the quarantine has started… and you have not so much as strummed a chord. You have been staring down your guitar and it has been staring back up at you. In fact, sitting in the same room as your guitar has really started to weigh on you while you are doing the things you actually like. It has been a lot harder to enjoy watching The Office while giving yourself a french manicure because that damn guitar keeps looking up at you from the corner of the room.
You know what I think? If you actually cared about playing the guitar, you would have picked it up by now! Quarantine isn’t keeping you from pursuing your true interests, it may just be helping to show you what you truly care about (by making it clear what you don’t care about). What a blessing! Instead of forcing yourself to learn Free Bird, take a moment to ask yourself, “what do I actually like doing with my time?” Start channeling your time into the activities that bring you happiness and say goodbye to all of the hobbies you wish you cared about.
