It’s week 4 of lockdown, and I’m finally starting to find my footing. While my stress level is still pretty high most days, I’m making it a point to stay productive, doing things I enjoy to alleviate stress, tackle back-burner tasks and more.
Here are 10 things I’m doing during lockdown:
1. Making time for self-care. Right now, this means getting in a good stretch each morning using the yoga ball that’s been sitting in my garage since my last pregnancy. My favorite stretch involves sitting on the ball, walking my feet out until my back is fully supported, then stretching my arms overhead, reaching as far back as possible–although basic, it feels AMAZING on my entire trunk and serves as 3 minutes of quiet meditation before starting my day.
2. Zoom chats with family and friends. Most of us aren’t able to see our loved one’s outside of those we live with, so making time to check-in face-to-face is a great way to keep loneliness at bay. I come from a big, tight-knit family where we typically see each other once per week at a minimum, so being able to check in via Zoom has been a nice way to get in the quality time we’re missing out on.
3. Going for walks. Whether it’s around the block or just running around our backyard, getting some fresh air at least once per day has been a welcomed change of scenery.
4. Deep cleaning and organizing. I typically do a standard house cleaning ever other week, but I’ve started tackling other parts of the house that don’t get much attention. Closet clean-outs for the whole family have been really eye-opening, as well as de-cluttering spaces that are often overlooked, like the kitchen pantry and my kids’ toy area. Next-up: purging clutter + organizing the garage!
5. Slowly getting through the list of TV shows and movies I’ve been wanting to watch over the past few years. Just finished West World with my hubby, and although I’m usually not into sci-fi I can’t wait to start season 3 this week!
6. Date nights on the couch with my husband. We haven’t had a real date night in over 6 months, so spending time together over a TV show, movie, or just chatting has been a really nice way to pass the time on weekdays when the kids are asleep, and on weekends.
7. Diving into Pinterest for fashion, home, hair, makeup and design inspiration.
8. Getting through the stack of magazines piled up on my desk. I used to have a subscription to pretty much every fashion magazine, but haven’t found time to actually read through a couple years of issues, so it’s been great to catch up after all this time!
9. Learning Hindi alongside my son. When Dave and I first got engaged I was on a mission to learn Hindi (his native language) so I could one day teach our kids to speak it as well, but life got in the way and I never got around to finishing Rosetta Stone. These days I’m having fun learning alongside my son, 6, who’s loving being my teacher!
10. Writing. For the past almost 10 years, the only writing I’ve done has been on this blog and my social channels. My love of poetry and journaling fell to the wayside after marriage, but lately I’m enjoying getting a few things down on actual paper versus as a note in my phone.
TAGS: lockdown, wellness