If you live in Melbourne / Victoria, you’ve most likely had enough of sitting around on your own because of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
Many people are struggling with the challenging situation of working from home and home schooling, and many are dealing with anxiety, depression and loneliness.
In this post I’m sharing some healthy habits that I’ve been doing to keep me sane during the second lockdown.
Tip 1: Plan Your Day Ahead – You Need Structure
I was told I needed structure… Really??? YES you do!! The habit of planning ahead is one I learned a few years ago when I had my own tour company which was very quiet during the winter months. During these times I was out my usual routine and didn’t really quite know what to do with myself. Don’t get me wrong, there was plenty to do in the business, but the usual tours were on a weekly basis, not a daily basis. This opened up a whole lot of time for me, but I didn’t quite know how to plan it back then.
Now I know that planning my day ahead is what keeps me sane. We human being need structure in our life. Think about it, from the moment you wake, to the moment you go to bed, you usually have things planned in a structured manner. You follow a certain routine, from waking up, getting our of bed, brushing your teeth, to having a coffee and getting ready for work. During the pandemic there’s nothing worse than thinking it’s a weekend. If you keep your usual morning routine, and get dressed for work, there is not much room for error. However, if you trick your body into thinking it’s weekend, and you have a slower morning routine and you stay in your PJs or tracksuit, this is asking from trouble…
The clothes you wear for work, are associated with you going to work. So if you want to be working from home, dress as if you’re going to work. Not only will you trick your mind into a different approach, looking after yourself is also a must for showing self love and caring for yourself. Sometimes when i feel down and don’t feel like dressing up and looking after myself, I remember that time when I worked as medical receptionist and a very old and very sick lady came to the reception desk in her most beautiful clothes, wearing make up, her hair done, her nails done and a matching hand bag. I looked at her and thought “Wow that’s how I want to be when I’m older”. Well groomed, well looked after and doing the very best I can each and every day to look after myself.
A tip for planing your day ahead, can be as simple as journalling the night before. By planning your days the night before you reduce decision fatigue, and preserve your willpower for your deepest most meaningful work. After all: “A good day starts the night before”. Here’s another good quote “A plan is a guide for daily execution. It’s your reliable system for making progress”.
If you don’t like journalling in the evening, you can also plan your day first thing in the morning. You don’t have to be journalling, you can simply write down a few things on a piece of paper, or a napkin. Here’s what you can include in your day for example:
- Wake up, wash my face with cold water, scrape tongue, brush teeth
- Journalling, planning my day ahead
- Coffee and reading something inspirational
- Breakfast, take my supplements
- Shower, get dressed for work
- Start work from my home office (see following tip)
- Have lunch break and call my mum
- Continue working from home
- Afternoon break, walk around the block, and think of healthy recipe I can cook tonight
- Finish work, play with my dog, go get groceries, cook a healthy dinner
These a just a few examples, but managing your time is essential. If you don’t plan your day, the day will get away from you and you will almost feel as if you’re not in control.
Take back control and remember that YOU decide how you spend your time, whether it’s a pandemic or not. Start looking at the positives, and start using your time efficiently so that you can use your talents and skills towards making this world a better place.
Tip 2: Have A Dedicated Work Space
Whether you live in a small studio or a larger home, whether you live alone or share with a roommate, when working from home it is essential to dedicate a specific space for work.
When you usually go to the office, there is a certain space in the office that’s associated with doing (deep) work. There’s a certain space in the office that’s associated with having meetings, and then there’s a space where you’ll have social interactions. The idea when working from home is to replicate this setup. You’ll need to associate a place with an action.
Although this can be challenging as we might not have access to a board room, an office cubicle or a tea room, you can certainly setup areas in your home that can be associated with different tasks or actions.
After you have planned your day, and once you are ready to start your work, make sure that you do your work at for example your desk (not on the bed, or not on the couch). Associate your desk with work, and if you have a video conference meeting, simply move yourself to a different area. Even if you don’t have a lot of space in your home, you can easily turn your chair to face the other way, or you can also replace the background (or foreground) of where you are located. This can be as simple as hanging up a piece of wall art or nice cloth. This way, you are “creating” your own different spaces for different things.
Tip 3: Start Looking After Your Health
It’s easier said than done, but now is REALLY the time to start looking after your health. There are many people talking about changing your mindset, which is exactly what I’m heading to, however to help you along the way, I’m here to tell you that there is no better time than right now, to start looking after your health. We are bombarded by the media as to how many people are dying each day from COVID-19, and I hope this is a good reminder for us all to start taking back control. I know it is hard when others take away a certain freedom, however it is your choice as to how you respond. Respond pragmatically, and start taking control of the things that are within your control.
Instead of focusing on the things you are unable to do, change your mindset and focus on all the good things that we can do, for example:
- We are in safe country (not a warzone) where we can exercise/walk outdoors without bombs going off, without people smugglers and without toxic fumes.
- Most of us have the ability to walk or move around without major pain or disability.
- Most of us (especially if you’r reading this right now) have a digital device such as a phone or laptop to use for education and entertainment purposes. There are many people and children in the world who don’t even have pen and paper.
Get Outside
There’s nothing nicer than getting outside of the house, feel the cold air on your skin and feel the breeze through your hair.
Whether you consider yourself an outside person or not, now is a good time to go outside. Not only because there’s not much else to do, but getting outside will give you a change of scenery plus you’ll be getting some vitamin D (yes even in Winter). Ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun can stimulate production of vitamin D in the skin [1]https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/skin/basic_info/outdoors.htm.
Kris Kresser said: “Vitamin D is critical for health. Virtually every cell in the body has a vitamin D receptor, which, when bound to vitamin D, can influence the expression of more than 200 genes (1, 2). Vitamin D promotes calcium absorption in the intestine and maintains calcium and phosphate levels in the blood, protecting against osteoporosis, rickets, and bone fracture (3, 4). It also regulates immune function, cell growth, and neuromuscular function (5, 6).”
Start Walking
Also, getting outside for a walk is good to get the blood flowing. Start walking, and without listening to music, a podcast or to the radio, focus on being quiet and focus on contemplating. Fact is that walking greatly enhances creative thinking [2]https://www.arthurholm.com/aristotle-wearables-joy-walking-meetings/.
The ancient Greek philosophers were particularly enamoured with walking while talking, teaching and collaborating. Raphael’s fresco “The School of Athens” (pictured below) depicts Aristotle and Plato walking while discussing hot topics of the day with their followers, holding their books which undoubtedly contain the very first meeting notes.
>> More information: The Story Behind Raphael’s Masterpiece ‘The School of Athens’
Get Healthy From the Inside Out
Although you think you may be limited in the amount or type of physical activity that you may be able to do during lockdown 2.0, you can focus your energy on putting the right nutrition into your body.
Expand your comfort zone and discover some new recipes or foods that you can try to heal the body. Not only will the kind of curiosity fuel creativity, it will also give you some ideas to cook some new meals and try something you’ve never attempted before.
Tip 4: Learn, Study, Read – Challenge Yourself
Now that we don’t have distractions of going out for dinners, hanging out with friends, or going to dance class, there’s a great opportunity to start studying, growing and challenging yourself. It’s often that difficult times make us stronger, as cliche as it sounds, it is definitely true. Not only have I discovered this myself after being very ill and in an induced coma but I’ve seen this in many of my clients I have coached.
>> Read my story on being in a coma
>> Going through tough times makes you stronger, study says
With all that extra time freed up, don’t just sit there in boredom, challenge yourself and start exploring what topics or areas you like. You can start learning about a specific topic, you can start researching the area of interest and find interesting articles, movies and books about it.
Recently I’ve become really intrigued by bio hacking, anti ageing, DNA, and functional medicine and got myself some great books such as Lifespan by David A Sinclair and I recently received “The Telemore Effect” by Elizabeth Blackburn PhD.
I also did some research and found some very interesting movies / documentaries which I’ll give a go. Here are some of my favourite health movies / documentaries:
Human Nature 2019 (available on Netflix)
Take Your Pills 2018 (available on Netflix)
Prescription Thugs 2015 (available on Netflix)
Final Thoughts
Don’t get me wrong, yes being in lockdown is hard. However this obstacle in your life is just here to make you stronger, to discover who you really are, and to put your thinking onto a different path. A year from now, you’ll look back thinking, wow, I got through that!
Be kind to yourself and treat others the same way.
Stay safe and keep looking after each other as much as we can.
Caroline
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