Are you one of the many people who have posted things on SNS (Social Networking Services) with hashtags like #socialdistancing, #selfqurantine, or #isolation? Whether your answer is yes or not, I assume these terms are becoming familiar to many of you. I wasn’t quite familiar with these terms until the beginning of March and felt I was unprepared for this expansion of social chaos.
At the same time, I found myself becoming very outraged by the negative impact brought upon us by the pandemic. Why must we spend the rest of the month or year mourning the loss of time and doing nothing? I want to make the best of it, and I believe there are others feeling the same way; trying to stay positive despite the situation.
So, I’d like to share four steps to keep your head up and to stay sane at home during this pandemic.
- Spiritual: Journaling and Meditation
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Those who have already adopted these two habits know how helpful they are for maintaining your well-being. Meditation is always a way of self-reflection for us, especially living in the era where it’s so easy to get caught up in work and validation from others, which leads us to lose ourselves sometimes.
Meditation will segregate you from those external noises and help you face your inner self. Fortunately, you can find tons of videos on how to meditate effectively on many platforms, which requires little time to begin. So, why don’t you get your favourite rug and start today?
Journaling is also a way to keep your mental condition in check. They are effective, not only as a way of self-reflection, but also as a tool to organize your thoughts, clarify your goals and values, and help you realize your core voice. Unlike meditation, there aren’t certain or correct styles of journaling.
All you need is a pen and paper in any form (a plain notebook is the most desirable for me). You can journal by writing words, sentences like a diary, images, or an idea tree—anything that is the most comfortable way for you to organize your thoughts and goals.
- Intellectual: Reading and Learning
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Once you’ve dived into meditation and journaling, I bet you’re now getting to know yourself at a deeper level. When your subconscious needs or small goals you’ve neglected are found, it is time to feed them to update yourself to become a better version of you!
Reading is one of the best complements to your life if you know what you need to read right now. Literature, business books, novels, art, lifestyles books—what genres of books will you read to enrich and prepare yourself for a new journey after this chaos comes to an end?
Learning new things is, of course, one way to enrich your inner value and prepare for new opportunities in the future as well. Learning a language that you abandoned in the 10th grade, studying for qualifications you’ve dreamed of having, or anything that’ll expand your possibilities later in your life can be started today.
By reading and learning new things, you’ll be updated with new knowledge, mindfulness, and skills. This can make you feel a sense of greater fulfillment than watching entertaining videos on youtube or reading comics all day long (even though they are sometimes irresistible!).
- Physical: Stretching and Workouts With a Healthy Diet
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Maintaining your physical health is also a crucial element to staying sane during this period of time. If you’ve been working hard to build up muscles, losing weight or staying lean, don’t let this social situation loosen your guts. This chunk of time perhaps is a good opportunity to improve your body entirely if you stick to healthy habits and diet.
Depending on images of your ideal body, try to choose the right exercise and diet for you. Again, we have good sources on youtube on easy workouts to do at home, healthy recipes that require few ingredients, and more My personal recommendation is yoga, since you can strengthen your body and meditate at the same time.
- Social: Connect With People Through SNS
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The three steps above will nourish your inner self, but we as human beings are social creatures, so connection with people and the outer world is also necessary to maintain our sanity. A sense of belonging to a community or relationship would remind you of your self-worth and purpose in life.
Even though it’s a difficult time to see them face to face, take advantage of having various platforms to keep in touch with friends, family members, and your partners.
When you stick to these habits to nurture yourself and take this opportunity for your self-growth, you’ll be able to bring that positive energy to those you are connected with. I hope these steps will allow you to inspire yourself and others!