Self Care

 

Many of us have been riding out the quarantine for weeks now. It’s all too easy to begin to feel stressed out and even panicked about everything that’s going on in the world. If you are feeling like your anxiety is getting worse, here are some practical tips that can help you to cope with anxiety during self isolation.

Get the News from Trusted Sources Only

If you get news bites from Facebook or Twitter, stop right now! If your newsfeed is anything like mine, it’s littered with conspiracy theories from all ends of the spectrum. Many of the sources are questionable at best. Curate a list of trusted news sources on your tablet, phone or desktop. Unfollow people who consistently post distressing, provocative updates. Make it a point to read at least one well thought out article every day so that you can get only the facts without opinions and commentary. Check in once or twice a day at most. Don’t make a habit of checking #coronavirus updates multiple times a day..it will make you crazy!

Create a New “Normal” Routine

It’s essential to have a daily routine. If you have a set time to do certain tasks, it takes away decision fatigue and mental stress from thinking about what you’re going to do next. Create a routine that becomes your new temporary normal. If you can include some activities that are similar to what your routine was prior to isolation, that will help you to feel much more grounded. For example, if when you were working outside the home, you always ate lunch at 1pm, try to do the same thing now. It will feel more familiar, and will help to reduce anxiety.

Focus on What You Can Control

None of us can do anything about what is happening in the world right now, except to focus on keeping our families safe. Instead of worrying about things that you have no control over, just focus on what you CAN control. This could mean setting up a realistic schedule to do homework with your kids, getting some regular exercise in, cooking more healthy meals from scratch, reading or doing other self-care, washing your hands, and so much more. These are positive things that are good for your mental and physical health, and that you have full control over.

Connect With Others

If nothing else, one of the blessings of our current situation is the ease we have in communicating with others (for better or worse!) Many churches and recovery groups are having regular Zoom meetings. Check in with your friends and family often and that will help you to stay grounded.

Work with a Mental Health Professional

If anxiety is turning into panic, then you might need to talk with a mental health professional. These days,  are many therapists who are able to work remotely that you can talk to on the phone or online, if you are not able to leave your home and visit their office.

This post is part of the 31 Days of Thriving At Home During Social Distancing & Quarantine series!

Do you rely on coffee to get you through the day? There’s no hard with a cup or two of coffee when you get up, or in the afternoon. But when find yourself needing it (even before water!) then it may be time to consider healthier ways to boost your energy without caffeine.

Get Moving With Regular Exercise

For me, I notice a very distinct difference in energy levels and focus when I exercise consistently.Not only that, but exercise can help boost your mood and give you a big hit of energy that lasts for hours after your workout is finished. This is great reason to exercise first thing in the morning, you’ll reap the energy benefits all day long.

Ditch The Sugar

By now you’ve heard all the warnings about the dangers of sugar addiction. Another thing to consider is the highs and lows that go along with sugar intake. Maintaining healthy blood sugar levels throughout the day is a wonderful way to naturally boost your energy.

Are You Sleeping Enough?

This probably doesn’t come as a shock but the better sleep you get, the more energy you are going to have in the morning. If you are struggling with poor sleep patterns and wake constantly, then naturally you will have low energy during the day that is hard to avoid unless you have massive amounts of caffeine. One way to avoid this start a nighttime routine that gets you restful for sleep, go to bed at a decent hour, and try to remove distractions like turning off your phone and keeping the TV off.

If that doesn’t work consider alternative insomnia remedies like herbal tea, homeopathic medicines, essential oils and magnesium oil. It’s also a great idea to look into guided meditations. There’s lots of free ones on YouTube but I personally love the Calm app.

Check Your Vitamin Intake

You also want to be sure you are eating a well balanced diet that allows you to get all the important nutrients you need for proper energy. If you don’t have enough vitamin D in your diet and are not able to get regular access to sunlight, your vitamin D could be low, leading to deficiencies and lowered immunity. You also need other nutrients, including protein and carbs for energy. If you’re concerned, have your doctor check your bloodwork to see if there are any deficiencies that might be leading to lack of energy throughout the day.

Try Adding Chia Seeds To Your Diet

Chia seeds are a powerhouse of energy-producing nutrients, including healthy fats, fiber, and protein. They are a designated superfood with lots of nutritional benefits including Omega-3 fatty acids. They are really easy to use in drinks, meals, and snacks, from topping your oatmeal with them, to adding them to smoothies. You can also use chia seeds to make a yummy chia seed pudding by soaking them in milk or liquid, and then adding any flavors you choose.

When you’re quarantined or self isolated at home, it’s very tempting to sit in front of the TV or Netflix all day, or constantly check your phone for news and social media for updates. Unfortunately this is only going to increase your stress levels. Instead, you should be more intentional about adding self care to your daily routine. This doesn’t have to take much time or money.  Read on for cheap self care ideas to practice at home to help renew your mind both mentally and physically.

Take Social Media and News Breaks

Set some intentional time to read the news one time each day. Don’t get sucked into endless streams of opinions, debates and numbers that you have to mentally process. It’s exhausting. Do not check Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and 10 different news outlets all day long. This is going to lead to anxiety, stress, and panic.

If you begin to feel overwhelmed by everything going on, give yourself breaks away from your phone and computer, or at least log out of social media and watch anything but the news. Consider taking a digital day off one day a week.

Move Around

Exercise shouldn’t be a chore or a punishment for over indulging.. If you dread doing it everyday, change up your routine to something that you enjoy doing. Exercise doesn’t have to feel like work. During this time of being home, focus on making it fun and healthy for both you and your family. If you have kids at home, do it together. Do soothing exercises that are good for self-care, like yoga or stretching, go for walks, and try new workouts at home.

Find Creative Pursuits

One of the best ways to distract yourself from mental stress is to get absorbed in something that you do with your hands. If you’re creative, this might mean activities such as sewing, painting, scrapbooking, crocheting, gardening or cooking. Self-care also means doing something just for you that makes you happy. Maybe you haven’t taken out your crafts in a while, or you have been wanting to play with the art supplies in the closet, but haven’t had the free time. Now is a great time to take advantage of being home and really let your creative sparks fly.

Spa Day at Home

The salons and day spas might be closed, but that doesn’t mean you can’t pamper yourself! This is a favorite form of self-care for many women and one you shouldn’t underestimate. It can feel amazing to paint your nails, use some new skincare products, take a hot bath, or put on a face mask. It’s simple inexpensive, and something you can do to nurture yourself while you’re at home.

Practice Meditation or Mindfulness

Finally, learn to relax your mind and body with meditation or mindfulness. With meditation, you can practice breathing exercises that let you clear your mind from pent up stress and focus on God and peaceful thoughts. Mindfulness will teach you to appreciate what is in the present moment and teach you to become aware of what’s going on around you and your response to them.

If you’ve been struggling with stress eating during this most difficult period of self isolation and quarantine, believe me you aren’t alone. Internet jokes abound about the “Quarantine 15.” I’ve been struggling too, but the ramifications for me are more serious as an IBD patient. I’m in pretty stable shape, do not want to flare right now and definitely do not want to have to take immunosuppressants. I function best on a diet consisting mainly of proteins, vegetables and fruits. But I still go looking for my legal treats which are raisins and baked goods with almond flour, so I’m reviewing some recovery principles and tips to stop stress eating to help get back on track.

Identify Your Stress Triggers

It’s essential to know what causes you stress in the first place. Many times, specific things can trigger a stress response but for some people it can be an overall general feeling of stress. Some examples might be social media overload, watching sad reports on the news, talking to triggering people, feeling bored or overwhelmed. Start journaling how you feel, and note what’s triggering stress, anxiety and a desire to emotionally eat.

Learn to Practice Mindful Eating

Mindfulness is one of the best ways to deal with the stress that all of us are experiencing right now. It can help to start reducing how often you turn to food because of stress instead of actual physical hunger. It’s very simple to do. When you begin to feel stressed out, take a minute to do some simple breathing exercises, relax, and sit with your feelings for a minute or too.

It doesn’t mean starving yourself, but it helps you to recognize if you are actually hungry or just reacting to stress. Being more mindful is a wonderful way to start reducing how often you turn to food because of stress, and not physical hunger. When you start to feel stressed, take a moment to just take some deep breaths, relax, and sit with your feelings for a few minutes. This doesn’t mean you are going to deprive yourself and not eat, but first understand if you are hungry, or your brain is just reacting to the stress.

Most of the time we tend to stress eat because it’s a quick fix and a way to numb out what we’re feeling. But if we can learn to just sit with the feelings in a non-judgmental way, we’ll find that they will pass.

Don’t Deprive Yourself

If you’re on an extreme diet or skipping meals, you’re more likely to turn to food first to deal with stress or anxiety when they occur. You’re so hungry that you’re ready to eat anything, and might stuff down as much as you can to mask what you’re feeling, possibly leading to an all-out food binge And it probably will be the most convenient, unhealthy option.

Is It Emotional or Physical Hunger?

It’s essential to learn the difference between emotional and physical hunger. This is where learning mindfulness principles can really help you to understand if you’re actually hungry, or if your brain is looking for a dopamine hit. Here’s a few ways that you can tell the difference:

Signs of emotional eating include hunger coming on suddenly and for very specific comfort foods like carbs. It may lead to mindless or even binge eating. You might be eating even though you’re not even hungry. And worst of all, you feel sick and awful afterwards.

But if you’re physically hungry, you’re probably looking for a nourishing meal with some protein and a vegetable, maybe a small amount of bread. You’re satisfied when you’re full.

Easy and Healthy Comfort Food Ideas

What’s the Best Way to Eat for You?

Low carb and keto diets are everywhere right now. They’ve certainly helped lots of people but may not necessarily be the right thing for you, especially right now. You might also want to take a look at the Mediterranean Diet, Weight Watchers or something else. I personally follow the Specific Carbohydrate Diet to help manage my ulcerative colitis symptoms. It’s a healthy whole foods diet with lots of comfort food ideas (but I still have to be careful!)

Don’t do anything extreme right now. Some people might appreciate the distraction of counting macros, others might get really stressed out by out. Look and see how you might make your existing diet healthier. Look for ways to incorporate more fruit and veggies into your daily diet, using whole grains (or possibly eliminating them if they cause you trouble). Once you’ve identified the best way of eating for your individual health, you can then work on creating some healthy go-to comfort meals and snacks for you and your family.

The first thing you should do is consider what “healthy” means to you during this time. It is an important detail, because they will determine what kind of swaps or comfort foods you want to choose from. Maybe healthy means adding in more fruits and veggies, enjoying whole grains instead or processed grains, cooking more from scratch, or more specific options like low-carb or low-fat. Once you know this, you can work on finding the best healthy comfort foods for your family.

Healthy Food Substitutions

Begin by creating a list of your favorite comfort foods. What sounds best to you right now? It could be pizza, meatloaf, mac and cheese, grilled cheese, brownies cookies or ice cream. It really doesn’t matter what it is. Once you’ve done this, you can start researching simple swaps to make your meals healthier but still enjoyable.

An easy example to start with is by adding a few veggies alongside your scrambled eggs, or inside a grilled cheese sandwich, or add to a pizza. You can make amazing pizza crusts, cakes and cookies from almond and coconut flour that won’t spike your blood pressure. Experiment with “faux” starches instead of potatoes such as cauliflower, rutabagas and squash.

Make Your Favorite Comfort Foods Healthier

Think about what you can change about what you’re eating right now. Instead of having a taco plate with the all the works including rice and beans, why not just have the meat, cheese, veggies and avocado? You’re still having a taco experience, but with more nutrition and less bulk.

Instead of trying to take things away from your comfort dishes, focus instead on what you add in. You don’t have to take the shredded cheese and sour cream from your tacos, but what if you added shredded lettuce to them, and then have a side salad or other vegetable side dish? You are still enjoying your favorite tacos, but also having a lot more nutrition in your meal.

Start Cooking from Scratch

Hey, we’re all at home with time on our hands right now! It’s a great time to experiment with new recipes. I’ve become pretty home bound because of my chronic illness issues and I’ve used some of the time to try out amazing healthy dishes that have helped to stabilize my condition. Your overall health will be so much better!

Do you have any tips to help stop or reduce stress eating? I’d love to hear them!

Self love has become a major buzzword in recent years. Some might consider it a sign of selfishness or narcissism and while that may be the case for some people, it is still very much needed for busy and often struggling women.  So how to practice self love? It can simply mean that you make your own health and wellbeing a priority, even if you only have a few minutes a day to do it.

Many women in our crazed digital times struggle with overloaded schedules, family responsibilities and work. In my own case, self love never entered my mind. I wanted to be a good mom in the face of many challenges including being a special needs mom as well as a sober mom in long term recovery. That meant lots of self sacrifice which was supposed to be a good thing.

But I didn’t know how to properly handle the stress that came along with it. As a result of a toxic childhood, I was accustomed to holding all of my emotions and feelings in. I never let people know what was going on. I couldn’t get to meetings because of parenting responsibilities. I struggled with anxiety, depression and emotional eating. Now, I strongly believe my lack of self love and self care lead to the development of the autoimmune health struggles that I have today.

Signs You Need More Self Love

• Feeling constantly stressed out
• Extreme emotional ups and downs
• Frequent colds and flu
• Struggling with assertiveness
• Holding on to anger and resentments
• Losing interest in hobbies and activities you used to love
• Personal care suffers – bathing less frequently, letting yourself go

How to Practice Self Care on a Budget

Make your daily hygiene a daily priority. When life gets busy or you’re feeling depressed, your own self care can wind up on the back burner. Taking some intentional time to take care of your personal needs can be just the boost you need to pull yourself out of that dark place. Simply taking some time out to have a soothing bath can lift anyone’s spirits.

When you start taking better care of yourself, you look and feel better. You won’t cringe when you look at yourself in the mirror when you know that you’ve been taking time for yourself.

Get organized

Do you procrastinate about getting the laundry done and find yourself going through piles of clothes to find the least offensive item of clothing? Take a few hours to catch up on your laundry…your own clothes and bedding. When you’re done, go and take nice, hot shower. Then go and put something clean and comfortable on from the clothes that you just washed. The wonderful feeling of clean clothes against your clean body as well as clean bedding will be an instant boost.

Now move on to your living and workspace. When life is busy it’s very easy to get caught up in the hustle of daily life and home organization winds up on the back burner. Having a cluttered environment gets very stressful over time. Make a priority of spending some time every week to declutter and tidy things up. You might take a few minutes every day to get rid of useless things that are just taking up space. Once the clutter is gone, you’ll feel far less stressed as you go through your daily life.

Improve Your Diet

Healthy food and snack options abound these days yet many women still struggle with emotional and binge eating, usually with the unhealthiest food items that are sitting in our pantries even if we’ve bought salad and veggies that week. You might want to consider purging your house of foods that could set off a binge. Shop for healthier treats, or set aside a few hours once a week to make yourself some healthier options that you can just grab when life gets busy.

Are You Sleeping Well?

A good night’s sleep is essential. This is the time when your body repairs and rejuvenates itself. If getting to sleep or staying asleep is a struggle, you’ll want to reevaluate your habits. Some things to consider:

• Don’t consume caffeine later in the day.
• Be mindful of what you watch before bed. If you’re easily stimulated, don’t watch crime dramas before bed!
• Don’t eat after 6pm.
• If you can, turn off the tech a couple of hours before bed. Read from a physical book.
• Practice some gentle yoga or other exercise to signal your body to calm down
• Use guided apps and meditations to help calm your mind down and induce sleep.

Take Up a Hands on Hobby

Physical hobbies like cooking, baking, crochet, needlepoint, painting and model building are great ways to creatively express yourself and reduce stress.

Don’t Forget About Exercise

Exercise should be essential for everyone, but many people avoid it because they haven’t found something that they like. If your thing is going to the gym for a sweaty cross fit or power yoga session, then go do it. But if this isn’t your thing, or you just don’t have the time, there are lots of other ways that you can get some quality exercise in. It could be as simple as going for a walk or hike, or finding an exercise or yoga video on YouTube that you can do in the privacy of your own home.

Remember that studies have shown for ages that getting some exercise can be a great way to help your deal with stress and improve your mood. You’ll look and feel so much better. And the endorphins that you get from physical activity can also make it easier for you to sleep.

Wake Up Early to Start the Day Right

How do you begin your days? Do you sleep until the last possible minute and then hustle out the door to your car or bus or subway? That’s a lot of stress to begin the day.

Instead, try setting your alarm clock earlier. Use the first minutes of the day to meditate, read some devotions or poetry and possibly do some gentle yoga. Don’t look at your phone until after you’ve done this! Spending those first few minutes of the day focusing on your mind, body and spirit will make all the difference in the way you handle the rest of the day.

Journaling for Self Love

If you’ve been struggling to find more focus and clarity in your life, journaling is one of the most therapeutic things that you can do for your mental health and practice self love. Writing in a journal daily helps you to learn more about yourself and process your feelings. Here’s some simple ways to start a daily journal practice.

The List Journal

A list journal is an easy and non threatening way to begin your new journaling habit. Getting started can be as simple as a brain dump or a bucket list. You can also create a list of accomplishments you’ve achieved recently. This will give you a good sense of positive things you’ve done lately and will boost your confidence.

Start a Gratitude Journal

Do you struggle with chronic discontent and find  yourself becoming impatient and envious about the things you wish you had? For some people, it’s easier to focus on what they don’t have instead of what they actually have. Taking some intentional time every day to write down a few things you’re grateful for can help to put things into perspective.

We all need a gentle reminder at times that life hasn’t dealt us the worse hand, though it may seem that way on some days. But even in the worst of times, there is always something to be grateful for. Try to write down what you’re grateful for this month, this season or this year.

Create A Free Thought Journal

Don’t let journaling become one more regimented to do task, or you’ll never get to it. Sometimes you may want to just free write and say whatever is going through your mind. This type of journal is typically called a free thought journal. This type of journal can help you to get rid of the mind clutter and clear your head. Jot down your random ideas and thoughts. Be unfiltered, you’re the only one who is going to read it!

Later on, you can always go back and review what you’ve written down to help push you closer to clarity about the situation.

Journal to Chronicle Your Emotions

If you’ve been journaling for awhile, you know that it’s pretty enlightening to revisit the past to see what kinds of emotions you were experiencing in your life years ago. The written word is honest because it was written during the moment those things were being experienced instead of trying to recall from memory years later. This also will help you to find clarity about difficult events.

Writing to Create Intention

Dedicate some time to creating a vision board or journal.  It will help you to visualize where you want to go and set a course for your life. When you don’t set an intention or target, you won’t know if you’re doing all of the right things that will make your dreams a real possibility.

Set Boundaries with Toxic People

This may be the hardest part of self love to implement, especially if you live or work with toxic people. If you have to keep contact with them, learn to set proper boundaries and don’t let them invade your space. Step away when you need to. Cut off uncomfortable conversations. Don’t feed into someone else’s anger. If you’re struggling with resentment, try a simple lovingkindness meditation to release the negative emotions.

Evaluate Your Use of Social Media

Our phones and tablets area a daily necessity aren’t they? And they do have their benefits. But it’s so easy for them to take over our lives. Instead of being present with our family and friends, cleaning the house or working on a hobby, we mindlessly scroll Facebook and Instagram, or get caught up in the argument of the day on Twitter. (Yes, I’m very guilty thank you very much!) Here’s a few quick tips to get started:

• Don’t begin your day with your phone..and shut down a few hours before bed.
• Set limits to your social media usage. Consider removing the most offending apps from your devices.
• When you’re online, remember that you don’t have to attend every argument that you’re invited to. If you see something that bothers you, just scroll on by. Don’t engage with trolls who are just looking for attention or to start drama. If someone on your list repeatedly posts things that trigger you, just unfollow them for awhile.
• If you’re really struggling, consider a social media detox.

Do you have any favorite ways to practice self love or other self care tips to share? I’d love to hear them!