Back to Life....Back to Reality?....
Finding ways to recover
Here we are in the last quarter of 2020. Boy oh boy what a year thus far! I dare to say “what's next” and I won’t since I am not a “glutton for punishment” type person. But what I will say is that this year has placed some major spotlights on our health - both mental and physical. Our world became very restricted to the 4 corners of our homes, our families became front and center (which arguably they should have always been), and we began to work what seemed to be countless hours as one day ran into the next. We lost loved ones, heroes, icons, and legends. We ate our way into submission. We watched everything on Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, and Amazon and I do mean EVERYTHING. We ordered everything and went nowhere. And we emptied pet shelters (too bad it wasn’t the homeless shelters as well).
Some of us ran off to travel destinations and crossed state and country borders. Others stayed in homes and obeyed very strict orders to not leave unless necessary. And for others, the dreaded trip to the grocery store was quite necessary. That can take a toll on your mental and physical health.
As some states return to a hybrid approach to schooling, others are 100% virtual. Some gyms are opening up with limited capacity, while others remain closed. And work? Well, work has shifted for most of us to some or became nonexistent. Nonetheless, we still have to cope in this COVID environment.
So, I ask you, what are you doing to help your physical, mental, and spiritual well-being? Have you dedicated enough space and time in your own life to begin to move into recovery? I don’t know the answer but I will leave you with a few tips that have helped me keep my wig on straight. I am hopeful the tips below help some others as well.
1) Seek Counseling - There is no shame in the mental health game. There are free sites as well as those covered by your insurance. And trust me, your kids need it to. Can you imagine what is going through their little minds right now? Seek counseling for them as well.
2) Turn off social media - I say this as I post an article that will be in some way on social media but I can’t express how much of a difference it will make. Waking up and looking at the “what’s happened now” only stresses your mental more. Try to wake up in a space of peace and calm and meditate/pray/breathe to start your day. It makes a world of difference.
3) Be selective - All news isn’t good news. News outlets are paid to sell stories. The more graphic and shocking the easier it is to sell. Turn off the automatic pings for news updates on your phone and make your landing page something other than news. And then take moments in the day to choose to read what you would like vs being fed it continuously.
4) Go for a walk, jog, or to that gym that reopened - I have gained 50lbs. Yep, 50! Now some of those aren’t due to COVID but most are. After seeing that scale tip over, I finally took back control of my life from the very pandemic that had taken so much from us already. I dusted off my Fitbit, charged it, and found periods in the day to work out. I nabbed an amazing standing desk for my home office to keep from sitting all day. I used A Perfect Plate Chef’s to prepare my healthy meals for the week. I restricted my eating times to certain times of the day so that I wouldn’t overeat I set timers!). I walked Mollie on longer walks and started my day in a much easier way.
Now, I can’t say that the pounds have fallen off but I can say that I feel like I am on the road to recovery.
