Living in Oregon, the winter weather is not kind to anyone. It rains all day long, and the cold, cloudy weather makes everyone want to stay inside all day. It also does not help that we are going into month 10 of stay-at-home orders. To help myself cope with the weather and just the world shutting down, I decided to research habits. I learned that in just 21 days, you could form a habit. Here are just three examples of three daily habits that have helped me cope with everything 2020 and 2021 had to offer.
- Make your bed every morning.
There are many benefits to making your bed every morning. I found that if my bed were made, I wouldn’t want to take a mid-day nap. I also found that my bed was a distraction. There were countless hours that I would just lay in bed and scroll aimlessly through my phone. With a made bed, there is no temptation to take a nap or even lay down. Seeing a made bed in my room also encouraged me to become a tidier person in general. This small act in the morning can improve your mood for the day and improve your production level for the day.
- Take your vitamins
For a very long time, I would on and off-take daily vitamins, I would buy a bottle of vitamins, and as soon as they ran out, I would never buy another bottle for at least a year. The lack of sun in Oregon and the stay-at-home orders really put me into a funk. As a result of this funk, I decided to try taking Vitamin D. This then sent me down a whole rabbit hole of researching different benefits of vitamins. Now, almost religiously, I take four different vitamins a day. Adding vitamins to my daily routine has really improved my mood and overall health.
- Stick to a workout schedule
Finding time in the day to workout is a struggle for many, including myself. But something that I learned over quarantine is that working out is important for your body’s health and mental health. I found that the best time of day for me to work out was in the evening because I had enough time to work during the day, and yet it was still light out and felt safe for me to go on a run or go to spin class. Finding the right time in the day and sticking to that schedule is crucial because working out takes discipline, and that discipline is found through a routine schedule.
I hope that these little habits of mine are helpful to all of you. Whether you live in gloomy weather such as Oregon and feel the winter blues, or you are just feeling the COVID blues, I urge you to try these three little methods. Making my bed, taking daily vitamins, and working out has been crucial to my mental and physical health over these past few months, and I wanted to share the wealth.