Written by Vidushi Singhania
For all of us entering week god-knows-what of the national lockdown, time has started feeling irrelevant and its hard to make sense of everything that is happening around us. As the world deals with the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, and we continue to social distance and shelter-in-place, doing many things we typically took for granted has stopped. The days are weird and confusing as we find ourselves without any of the familiar routines and processes that we structured our lives around.
For some, the lack of routine might be liberating: maybe you’re getting some much-needed downtime with your partner without rushing about your daily lives, or enjoying an extra hour of sleep and a break from your high intensity workouts. For others, a lack of daily routine is disorienting. The same morning routine in which you crammed a shower and breakfast after a workout into one hour can easily stretch into midday, and everything feels like downhill from there. You find yourself in pajamas, eating yogurt from a bowl at 2 pm, and the only workout you’ve had is trying to learn a TikTok dance at 2 am.
If you’re isolating at home with loved ones and all the daily comforts, there’s absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t enjoy slow living, and take this time to simplify, pause, and reflect. However, I do recommend investing energy into creating some sort of daily personal practice; a routine of sorts. Routines are important because they are anchoring – they allow us to function in a groove, providing stability and comfort; the structure helps in reducing bouts of irritation and anxiety.
Maintaining a routine can keep you sane, giving you a sense of control over your day – so important now, more than ever, when pretty much everything else seems outside our control. This isn’t about creating a rigid framework of everything you think should be doing, or putting down items on an ignored to-do list. It’s about making time for small practices or habits throughout your day or week to help you refocus and replenish. And what do these rituals look like? Well, it’ll look a bit different for everyone.
Here are some daily habits that you can turn to in order to promote balance and maintain your sanity:
Maintain basic hygiene I’m all for multi-step self care routines, but even if you do nothing else, maintain basic hygiene (other than washing your hands). Shower daily. Keep up the beauty or skincare routines that you’re used to. Put on make up if it makes you feel good; or don’t, and let your skin breathe. If you have the extra time and you feel like it, try out a new skincare ritual or practice you’ve been meaning to dive into.
Cook and eat nourishing meals With a lack of regular working hours, it’s easy to let food habits slide. Try to maintain your regular eating habits and timings as much as you can, being mindful about eating at the same time everyday and in the same way that your body is used to.
Cooking is an excellent grounding exercise that can help you feel more stable, so why not give it a go? Even cooking one nourishing meal a day / a week can help you give something to look forward to. It doesn’t have to be something extravagant that takes forever. Look at what you’ve got lying in the fridge and pantry and improvise.
Reach out Reach out to friends, family, and coworkers. Create a support group if you’re struggling with something, even if it’s as simple as making a workout group with people who motivate each other to move daily. When you are at a physical distance, staying connected is of the utmost importance. For those who aren’t isolating with their families, or suddenly find themselves in a long distance relationship, this can be exceptionally hard. Make time for video calls, text/chat over the phone, or plan a special long-distance virtual date.
Move, sweat, stretch Workout at home. Go for a short walk if you can – some fresh air and the outdoors can do wonders to uplifting your mood. Enlist a friend and enrol in a virtual class together. Take a few deep breaths every morning when you wake up. Lean into a deep stretch. If you find yourself on the couch on your phone for the fourth hour at a stretch, hit pause, stand up and shake it out. Because we’re spending more time than normal being stationary, a little bit of movement can boost blood circulation and help you shake off a bad mood.
Declutter Do the laundry, wash the dishes, clear your space. Just a little bit of tidying up and putting some effort into making your living quarter look put together (even when you’re not expecting company any time soon) can really help you feel rejuvenated. It instantly refreshes the environment you’re spending ALL of your time in.
When you work from home For some, regular work hours might be a boon. It lets you to keep your life as normal as possible (whatever normal means these days), and gives you something to stay busy with. If you’re working from home, don’t overcompensate because the lack of a social life means need to devote all your time to work. Take breaks, eat lunch away from the “desk,” and hold on to personal time.
If you don’t have a job that you can still do from home, or your job doesn’t provide the same engagement and personal satisfaction, try dipping your toes into personal projects/practices that you would otherwise not have the time for.
Set personal space boundaries Whether you live with a large family, kids, or just your partner, spending all your time indoors with the same set of people can make you irritable and snappy. We all need a break and some distance every once in a while. You might love the extra time with your partner, and enjoy breaking out board games with your family every day, but it’s okay to say no to hanging out all the time. Set some boundaries and carve out time just for yourself – find a quiet spot away from everyone and do something (anything), for you. Even if the only spot where you can get quiet time is the bathroom! Reflect, recharge, and rejuvenate so that you can function at your best.
Don’t force productivity Your Instagram feed might be full of people posting photos and videos from their workouts, kitchen experiments, or new hobbies/classes that they’re making time for. But free time to pursue a hobby or be “productive” is a luxury that some people (especially those who are working from home and caring for kids) just don’t have. Even if you do have extra time, you might be so overwhelmed that you don’t feel like doing anything at all. Your “free time” is just that – free time for you to do anything you wish. Prioritizing productivity, specially in the middle of a pandemic, is the perfect way to burnout.
Take a break Take a break from consuming – news, information, and content. Watching endless negative news cycles, or losing yourself down the rabbit hole of social media is all too easy, specially when you’re spending a lot more time on your devices than normal. It’s good to be informed, but not when it comes at the cost of feeling anxious 24*7. Keep an hour a day (at the very least), for putting your phone down and unplugging. Try an activity that’s phone-free instead. Read a book, play a game, paint, meditate, dance, take a nap!
Get some deep sleep
Amid all the anxiety related to COVID-19 and multiple late-night Netflix binges, you might be functioning on an out of whack sleep cycle. Sleep deficiency can wreck havoc on our health and turn us into frazzled messes. Sleep also affects the immune system, so you should not be compromising on your zzz’s.
While it’s perfectly fine to get to bed a little later than normal, or lounge a couple of minutes longer in bed in the morning, try to maintain some consistency. Having a regular sleep and wake up cycle helps regulate the body’s natural circadian rhythm, and in turn keeps cortisol levels low so you’re not always feeling tired, fatigued, stressed-out, or some combination of the three.
QUICK NOTE
Do you need to practice everything that’s recommended? No! Just pick what fits, and discard the rest. Do what feels right, and don’t hesitate to change them to suit your evolving mood, situation, or need: routines that allow a little leeway to be flexible are the ones that work.
Truth be told, we’re all still figuring out how to deal with this pandemic in our own ways – some days that means going on a cleaning spree and cooking up a storm, and on other days we just want to re-watch old episodes of Friends while eating yogurt from a bowl on the couch. And while these daily habits won’t fix everything, they will make you feel (if only for a short while) that things will be okay, and sometimes that’s all you need.
About the author : Vidushi is the founder and editor of Sprig & Vine, a digital lifestyle publication for modern health and wellness; where readers can find easy recipes, best wellness practices, and holistic health inspiration.
Find her at www.sprigandvine.in or connect with her on Instagram.
