What NOT To Do While Sheltering At Home
By Lizzie West
Howdy home-bound people – let’s talk about what NOT to do while you’re twiddling your thumbs at home. With this extra time and only so much we can do for work, organizing, and obviously watching TikTok videos, we all have to remember to keep our wits about us. Some of these are silly suggestions we hope will make you smile, while others are hopefully going to help keep everyone sane while we all work toward weathering this situation together. So – Here goes!
DON’T:
1 – Cut your own hair at home – NO BANGS!
I know it’s tempting but corona-bangs are not a good idea. I know you watched a few Youtube videos on how to do it “right”. Let’s be real – you’re going to do what you are going to do and the only one that has to live with it is you. Just remember that time you cut your own hair when you were 4 – it’s kinda like that.
2 – Spend all day watching the news
We all want to be informed about what’s going on with the world right now. However, sometimes too much of something is not good for us. Spending all your time watching the numbers, whether it’s the stock market or the latest number of infected people, can contribute to fear and anxiety. Pick a time to watch a news broadcast and maybe setup your local news app on your phone to notify you of any breaking news so you’re not in the dark if anything truly important happens.
3 – Eat ONLY junk food
Let’s be honest – with much of the good-for-you food hard to come by at the moment, it can be a little too easy to survive on pop-tarts and hot pockets. At first, it might feel good to treat yourself. After a while though, you may find that you’re feeling less than stellar. On top of that, when you finally do put on a real pair of pants again, they might feel a little restricting. Instead, take a break from the five-meat pizzas and have some fresh fruits and veggies to shake things up and help keep your total health in check. Better yet, experiment with some home-cooked meals and treat yourself with some simpler comfort food instead of the easy microwave meals.
4 – Become a couch potato
Yes – it’s totally the perfect time to catch up on the newest shows – Tiger King, am I right? Maybe you just started Animal Crossing and you can’t seem to put it down. It’s easy to grab a snack and end up eating an entire bag of chips. Basically – binge-ing of any kind can feel freeing with all this time on our hands, but it really just tethers you to the couch and that can affect your health, too. Take a break from watching the feud between Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin long enough to take a walk around the block or do some yoga. You’ll definitely feel refreshed and rejuvenated. Just make sure you stay at least 6 feet away from the nearest person. If you’re stuck on the couch because you aren’t feeling well, try a few of these stretches when you take breaks from the latest show.
5 – Wear PJs all day, EVERY day
In the first few days of sheltering in place, we understandably feel like kids on break. It makes sense we would want to be as comfortable as possible during this time. It seems like a no-brainer to chill in your pajamas all day. You likely have good reason to – especially when you may be dealing with the frustrations of a slow VPN while working from home or the fact that you’ve tried to order toilet paper with your grocery delivery and it’s STILL not available. Visit pity party island for a couple of days but don’t build a house there. Then put on your grown-up pants – literally – to tackle the day. Not only will it make it more acceptable to pick up your dinner from one of our awesome local restaurants in jeans instead of Pokemon PJ pants, but it will help you feel a sense of purpose for the day and be more productive.
6 – Forget to shower & practice general hygiene
Speaking of changing clothes – let’s get real people – basic hygiene is still important, even when you haven’t seen the light of day for roughly 72 hours. Of course, it has been drilled into us all that we need to wash our hands like Lady Macbeth, but complacency can take over at times. You know you’re just going to get another cup of coffee, so there is no REAL need to brush your teeth, right?! Wrong. Do it anyway. Taking a break from the monotony of this new chapter in our lives to take a shower can leave you with a renewed spirit to tackle your work tasks, as well as the dishes and laundry that are starting to pile up.
7 – Avoid creating a routine for this “new normal”
This is an easy one to get caught by. We are assuming this is temporary and things will go back to “normal” soon. That IS the goal here anyway. In the meantime though, make sure you have a plan for how you’re spending the time you have. As you would typically have responsibilities to complete on the job or in school, it’s important to remember those are still valid now. Even if you’re recently out of work, creating a list of goals for the day until you have a way to earn income (i.e. eat breakfast, make the bed, vacuum family room, submit resume online, walk around the block) can help keep you feeling like you have a purpose each day and stave off the cabin fever people are experiencing. Do yourself a favor and treat each day like you just showed up to the office for a busy day of whatever is on the list today. This is also a good time to work on projects for the homefront.
8 – Be impatient with your family/roommates
So – you’re with them all the time now and there is no “me” time, room to breathe, and everyone is hungry – all the time. Tensions can run high in circumstances like these. Don’t even get me started on juggling ALL of this along with keeping kiddos on track with this new brand of homeschooling. Parents – order a cape on Amazon, because you’re all a bunch of superheroes! More to the point, feeling frustrated with your “co-workers” is pretty typical. Take a moment (if you have to lock yourself in the bathroom or a closet for a little zen time – go for it) to breathe and remember, they are likely frustrated and feeling the same things you are. Everyone handles stress differently. Ask for a few minutes to yourself to recharge, or let them know, kindly, what’s going on. Many times that is all it takes to get on the same page and feel heard. Feeling heard can help your mood and patience immensely. *deep breaths*
9 – Live in fear
Lastly – these times can feel pretty dang scary. There is a lot of information (and misinformation) floating around. We are all in this together and we are all humans trying to thrive through this, not just survive. If you can, instead of feeding the fear, try to take some time to read a good book, watch an encouraging video, touch base with a friend/loved one via Zoom/Facetime/etc, or hype yourself up by looking at #celebratedoctors on Tiktok. It’s a good idea to break up all the overwhelming information and numbers with something that warms your heart or makes you laugh.
Oh yeah – And wash your hands…