Coronavirus Self Isolation, Lockdown, Quarantine – Whatever level of official measures your country is at in regards to the COVID-19 outbreak, the message is fairly clear: Stay at home.
But staying at home can be a problem for many. Not physically, that’s easy – just stay at home! No, it’s the mental side of things that can get a bit hard. We humans are social creatures, and we’re not used to staying cooped up in the one place for too long these days.
Here in the UK, we’re on lockdown, only allowed to leave our house for a short time each day for exercise, and to get groceries approximately once a week. Apart from that (in our household, anyway), we’re at home, as I am on maternity leave currently and my fiancé is working from home.
The urge to stay in pyjamas all day and watch one mindless Netflix show after the next, day in and day out, grows stronger and stronger for us all in isolation. However that can just feed into a negative mental health cycle that’s then hard to break free from. So let’s discuss some of the ways you can try to avoid a complete swan dive into depression during COVID-19 isolation.
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Create a new habit
You have 24 hours in a day, and at the moment you’re home for… all of them. Why not use a small section of that time each day to add something new to your routine?
It could be a mealtime ritual, like starting to eat at the table as a family rather than everyone eating at different times and in different rooms. Maybe it will be related to exercise, such as doing an online workout for 15 minutes every day. Or it could be a new beauty or self care treatment you add to your morning or nighttime bathroom routine.
For me, I’ve started going on a daily walk with my fiancé and our baby daughter in her pram, using up our allowed “outdoor exercise time” in that way. We love it. No iPods in, just me and Dan chatting and taking in the sights around us (we change up our route each day so that it stays fresh) while Ada usually falls asleep in her pram (double score!).
I’ve also been trying to practice yoga every day during isolation. In previous years I’d practised it quite a lot, but fell off the wagon somewhere along the way. This time in lockdown has given me the chance to pick my practice back up, and while I haven’t been successful in practicing EVERY single day, I’ve done it almost every day and feel all the better for it, both physically and mentally.
Pick up a new hobby, or invest time into a current one
From knitting to gardening, to cooking to DIY home improvement: there are so many hobbies you don’t need to leave your house for. If you have a hobby already, you can be productive during isolation by indulging in said hobby as much as you wish. If you don’t have a hobby, have a brainstorm and think about if there are any you’d ever wished to partake it.
I’m a huge reader, however since having a baby my reading had fallen by the wayside. I’m now making a conscious effort to read books instead of having the TV on whilst my daughter is breastfeeding or contact napping on me. In fact, we’ve been only having the television on to watch the morning news, then it goes off for the day until the late afternoon or early evening when we watch the news again. Once Ada is in bed we allow ourselves some Netflix binge time, of course.
But for me, I’ve always preferred reading over the screen. Currently I’m reading The 4 Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss, The Gentle Parenting Book by Sarah Ockwell-Smith, and am re-reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. Yes, all non-fiction, which is strange, I usually have a fiction novel thrown in there too (taking suggestions, by the way!).
Educate yourself
From non-fiction books, to documentaries and even online courses, there is so much information easily accessible in the world. And now, if you want to, you have the time to go through some of it.
There may be a topic you already are educated on that you’d like to progress even deeper. There may be something you’re interested in that you’d like to know a bit more about, and you may even have the urge to get a whole new qualification during this time.
Whatever it is, you have the time to do it now during isolation, so what’s stopping you? Give yourself and your brain a chance, and jump into learning, if that is what you desire.
Some recommendations I’d give for some self-education in topics I personally find interesting are the documentaries Cowspiracy, The Game Changers, Blackfish, Forks Over Knives, Earthlings, Land of Hope and Glory, What The Health, Dominion, Food Inc, The True Cost, The Story of Stuff, Minimalism, Before the Flood, A Plastic Ocean, and Trashed.
Books I’d recommend are The China Study, How Not To Die, Zero Waste Home, Plastic Free, and This Changes Everything.
Work on your relationships
Even though you may be physically distant from most of your loved ones, that doesn’t mean you can’t use this time to nurture your relationships with them. Jump on a video chat to friends and family, send long messages to each other, play virtual games and quizzes, ask each other all the questions about each other that you don’t know the answer to but feel as though you’d like to.
For those loved ones you live with, set down some time each day to do something special for your relationship – it could be having a deep conversation, it could be a simple unwind of the day, it could be playing a card or board game together.
Whatever it is, just make sure you’re giving it – and therefore, them – your full attention. It is times like these when we realise what is most important, and seek to hold our loved ones closer (especially when we cannot).
Taking the time to strengthen those bonds with your tribe may help you all get through isolation with a smile on your face – and come out the other side with a newfound level of companionship.
Do nothing “productive“
Sometimes, the most healthy thing you can do is simply survive through the day. It’s ok if you didn’t do anything productive today. Isolation can be so hard on your mental health, and so it’s 100% alright if all you did today was Netflix binge and eat “too many” snacks (in my opinion, the limit does not exist, but hey).
It’s ok if you didn’t shower, had three margaritas for breakfast and then laid on the couch all day – go you! You survived!
I mean, that’s probably not the best thing to be doing if you’re doing it every single day, but if it’s what you needed to do today to see you through isolation without having a mental breakdown, then I’ll give you a round of applause.
Give yourself the freedom to do what you need to do to get through each day – and be easy on yourself if it doesn’t seem inherently “productive”. Keeping yourself alive is productive.
Be kind to yourself, this is a difficult time and it’s ok to feel a bit lost. Give yourself some love.