Self Care in Strange Times

Are we used to the new normal yet? Are you cool? You've read all the books you planned to, started a new diet, meditate and workout daily... only eating local produce, no? Cool. Doing exactly what you feel you need to do for you in the moment now? Good. Lockdown Life is weird and strange and fun and calming and awkward and guilt ridden and lonely and some days just pretty cool and nice to live a new way.

The online world is booming, we are all connecting more and more, zoom quiz nights and facetimes that we probably had overlooked having before. People going mad for tik tok and a shift in what we are all sharing. But we are still sharing, and even though yes, we are all living through the same crisis, we are not in the same boat. Some people are in cruise-liners, others in row boats. Those in yachts are bobbing past those barely keeping afloat. Same storm my friends, different vessels. So what someone else is doing to keep it together may not be the same for you. Regardless of what you see other people doing, now is not the time to live up to what others are doing.

Personally, I have found enjoyment and therapy from more destructive things than what we would normally class as "self care". Same result though, I took a sledge hammer to a wall, I felt better. This weekend I learned how to the fell a tree, I felt better. (Note both the wall and tree had to go!). My point is it's as ok to scream into a pillow as it is to make a facemask from pinterest. Meditation is good, so is taking your feelings out on a punch bag.

It is a strange time, and now more than ever we have to find what helps us deal with it, and do it. Of course, reach out and talk to friends and family, eat as well as you can , get some sleep, get exercise, and make sure you are looking after you.