We all need a little self-care right now. With US election anxiety still rife two days after the polls closed, and now the UK has entered its second national lockdown.
Winter is coming and I’m sure most people’s underlying SAD condition (Seasonal Affective Disorder) is going to be fierce.
The days are getting shorter, darker and colder and this second lockdown isn’t going to be the Joe-Wicks-jumping-around-my-living-room, I’m-going-to-come-out-of-this-with-a-new-degree kind of lockdown like the first one turned out to be.
So what can we do to help ourselves get through this second lockdown? I’ve come up with some ideas below that can help you to feel better in 5 minutes, 15 minutes and 60 minutes or more.
Put those feet up, boil the kettle and give yourself some well-deserved me-time.
IN 5 MINUTES
- Make a cup of tea or hot chocolate
- Take a quick shower
- Make a hot water bottle
- Listen to your favourite, or an upbeat song
- Light a candle or 10
- Write down 10 things you are grateful for
- Meditate or practice deep breathing exercises
IN 15 MINUTES
- Have a bubble bath
- Put a face mask on
- Call your family or friends
- Paint your nails
- Go for a short walk
- Stretch
- Do 15 minutes of meditation
- A quick HIIT workout
- Make some lists in a bullet journal
- Watch some funny YouTube videos (did someone say Gemma Collins best bits?)
SPEND AN HOUR OR MORE
- Reading a good book (all my suggestions here)
- Reading a magazine
- Watching a good Netflix series (Gilmore Girls is very on-season right now and very wholesome watching)
- Watching a movie
- Listening to your favourite band’s album
- Facetiming with your best friend
- Having a zoom call with a group of friends/family
- Going for a longer walk – listen to music or a podcast (my favourite Influencer Marketing podcast) or your own thoughts
- Creating a vision board of your dream future
- Cooking a new meal (we recently purchased the Mowgli cookbook to experiment cooking our favourite Indian food!)
- Or ordering in from your favourite takeaway (Maggie Fu in Liverpool anyone?)
- Baking some banana bread (the lockdown 1.0 favourite)
- Organising your wardrobe (take it one section at a time, otherwise major stress)
- Reading some blog posts
- Turning off from your phone
- Or having a follow-refresh – unfollow those who don’t bring you joy
- Colouring in with an adult colouring book
- Designing an entire bullet journal (very therapeutic)
WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER… OR ARE WE?
Boris may preach that we can all get through this together and that we are all weathering the same storm, but are we really?
I’m lucky enough to be living in a flat with my boyfriend in a city centre, working from home during the day and having everything I need to get myself through the next four weeks.
But others out there – your neighbours, your friends, your family members – they could be struggling whilst furloughed, some may have lost their jobs and others may have just lost hope.
Where we can, we need to support our local traders, our local independents, our food banks and our local charities.
We’ve seen the amazing work that Marcus Rashford has been doing campaigning for kids to have free school meals and the government’s complete lack of care and humanity. Our local restaurants and cafes have come together to offer free kids meals during midterm and lockdown, and offering their premises as drop-off points for food.
SUPPORT LOCAL
As it comes around to Christmas-time, the Christmas shopping will soon begin. This year, avoid Amazon and the large retailers. Find local shops, traders and suppliers that you can support instead.
I’m going to make a list of local Liverpool/UK and local Irish independents that may be helpful for your Christmas shopping, so keep your eyes out for that!
No one needs to be putting more money in Jeff Bezos’s pockets and we need to help those around us more than ever.
Stay strong this lockdown!
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