The COVID-19 pandemic is no fun at all. But thankfully, you are not genuinely stuck in life. You have the opportunity to slow down, take a look at your life, and become a better version of yourself.
Yes, it is going to be hard, but it will be worth it in the end.
I’m saying this because that is what I am thinking about these days. For instance, there’s all of these self-care to-do’s that I’ve ignored in the past. My excuse was that there is no time for anything. It was a great excuse to a certain extent. We all had to drive here and there, quickly scramble to get ready for work or social events and push forward in our daily lives.
Many of us truly did not have the time to slow down and improve ourselves. Thankfully, now, we do have the time.
It is up to us to decide what we do with that time. Do we sit around in our loungewear, hang out and take a break? Sure, that’s fine. Some of us need to have those days, some a bit more than others.
Then there’s those of us who must catch up with people we love but haven’t connected with in a while. Just because we can’t communicate with our friends or family in person doesn’t mean that we’re cut off from the world. There’s still Zoom calls, and other ways to connect online and interact.
Let’s talk about self-care and how we can take advantage of these intriguing times we live in today.
Meditation
The first element of my days during the current pandemic is to wake up, stretch, select one of my T-shirts, and meditate.
But why?
The first reason is that I have the time to do so now. Secondly, I find that this relaxes me and helps place me into a state of calm. This state of mind is beneficial because it starts my day off in the right manner.
But the fact is that I’m not new to meditation. Yes, it is true. I’ve tried with a few friends a couple of times and even did it regularly for a while before I stopped. So it wasn’t weird for me to start it up again, I knew what to do.
If you don’t know what meditation is, let me simplify it for you. Meditation is simply the practice of turning to a regular mental tool like mindfulness to calm your mind and increase your inner awareness.
The idea here is to improve your mental clarity, inner peace, and maintain a stable internal environment. There’s no special attire or anything in my practice. I usually wear some joggers while I practice mindful meditation.
It really does improve my day and helps me to gain more out of each moment. Further, you might wonder why I’m talking about meditation, how does it help you to get fit?
Let me tell you.
With peace and clarity of mind, I can de-stress and focus on what matters. I feel as if my mind is clear and that I can move forward in my day without anxiety. This gives me a tremendous boost and helps me to become more productive and wholesome.
When I start with this practice, I can then move on to the next great habit, like actual exercise. This brings me to my next point of exercising each day.
The Daily Exercise Habit During Lockdown
With mindfulness and meditation, I can start peacefully and realize that I must treat my body well and move around for a bit. This is why I’ve started a simple exercise habit.
I don’t do anything too crazy, and I don’t even need to go to the gym. All I do is stretch a little bit, put on some sneakers, and go for a walk.
That’s it.
My walks will go for 30 minutes or so, and sometimes I go twice a day. There’s no significant difficulty here for a reason. My day’s main focus is not to exercise but to take care of the various aspects I’m responsible for in life. A walk helps to break up the day, re-energize, and stay in a mindful state.
These are small habits can boost my days substantially.