Ways To Make The Most Of Quarantine & Reject The Quarantine Blues

I think just about everyone has had enough of 2020. It’s brought some really big highs and some really big lows. I know personally I had so many high hopes and plans for 2020, even a couple of trips planned.

In order not to get totally bummed about 2020, I had to really change my mindset and the way I was thinking about Quarantine. Below is a couple of tips I used personally to kick the QUARANTINE BLUES in the butt.

Find Something You Love Doing

During this quarantine, I tried many different things to stay busy. One thing I found is that staying busy is not as important as finding something you love doing. When you are simply staying busy it easy to waste time, but when you are doing something you love that is another form of selfcare.

Doing something you love can bring out a whole other form of happiness you did not know was there. So try that thing that you maybe did not have time for before the quarantine or that thing that you always said you wanted to do, you never know that could be the one thing that changes your life.

Get Active

This quarantine really brought out my active side. This time has really made me be intentional about being active because it is so easy during this time to curl up on the coach and binge watch Grey’s Anatomy or some other show on Netflix.

There were days where being active really set the tone for my days. I noticed when I would go for that walk or hike or be active in some kind of way my mood was better and so was my eating habits. A 15-30 minute period of being active is better than not being active at all. 

Eat a balanced Diet

Being stuck in the house during quarantine it has been really easy to just eat and eat because I was bored. Breakfast always set the tone for how I would eat for the rest of the day. If I had a good healthy breakfast I was more likely to eat very healthy throughout the day and if I had a lot of sugar for breakfast I would honestly eat what I wanted to eat for the rest of the day.

Knowing that I was going to be in the house, I switched out a lot of my processed food and sugary snacks for more fruits and vegetables, swapped out my sugary drinks for more water and green tea. Once my body became acclimated to all the healthy things I was intaking rather than the sugar I once was eating my energy levels and mood changed. I noticed I felt better and was a lot happier.

Remember a change no matter how small still counts. 

Get Some Sun

There were days where because I was working from home, I wasn’t really going outside just to take my sons to their grandmother’s house. I rarely was getting any sun and my depression was definitely starting to kick in. If you feel yourself becoming depressed, go for a walk around your neighborhood, or maybe go to the park. Even just sitting on your front porch can make a difference.

Schedule a time everyday where you drop whatever you are doing to just go outside for 15-30 minutes to get some sun and fresh air. It can make all the difference sometimes.

Be Still

If you are anything like me than your mind literally goes from one thing to the next. During this quarantine I have really gotten into meditation and yoga to help me relax more and learn to be a little more still. I noticed that just taking about 10 or 15 minutes a day to be still helped to control my anxiety and focus on one thing at a time.

Find something that helps you quiet your mind for just a few minutes a day. Sometimes after a little break our mind can function even more efficiently than it would if you hadn’t taken those few minutes. 

No Excuses

If this quarantine did nothing else it gave me so many excuses of why not to do something. I told myself at the beginning of quarantine when I had to get my mindset right that I wasn’t going to waste this time with excuses. That included working out or getting out and being active.

There were times when I had to workout in the garage with my 4-year-old and my 4-month-old down there with me. There were times when I would have to use my 4-month-old (now 7-month-old) as weights because he wanted me to hold him when I was trying to work out. I could have sat at home during the quarantine and done nothing at all, but instead I decided to start my own health coaching business.

Remember that excuses are only the limitation that you set for yourself. In the words of Beyoncé “I don’t like to gamble, but if there is one thing I am willing to bet on, it’s myself” and that’s what I did. Minimize the excuses during this time and maximize your potential.