Coping with Quarantine:

Self Care Central

Welcome to the first installment of a weekly newsletter that I will continue to send out through the rest of our time in quarantine. This newsletter will focus on self-care and ways to maintain your sanity during this difficult time. I will include links to videos, articles, and worksheets that I hope will help you manage some stressors. I hope you are able to find comfort and peace during quarantine. 

Start your morning off right:

         When you get up in the morning what is the first thing you do? Get a cup of coffee? Do a workout? Chase your kids around the house?

         What would it look like to sprinkle a little bit of self-care into your morning routine? Consider throwing a calming or uplifting activity into your morning routine. This week you can follow a link to a Ted talk on YouTube, a morning yoga flow, and a guided meditation.

Ted talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCvmsMzlF7o

Yoga: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7xsYgTeM2Q

Guided meditation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cLfBgMuv6U

Feeling out of control?

Let’s talk about grounding. One of the easiest grounding exercises you can do is to tune in to your senses. Follow the guide below and repeat the steps as many times as you need to.

5 things you can see

4 things you can touch

3 things you can hear

2 things you can smell

1 thing you can taste

You can also do some simple exercises like being mindful during activities, like brushing your teeth or simply laying or sitting on the floor and feeling where your body connects. Notice how the ground is holding you up and you are simply weighing into in.

Weekly Reflection:

Consider spending some time this week thinking about your self-care. Setting time aside each day for self-care can be so beneficial to your emotional wellbeing. Self-care is not something to do only when you’re feeling down, it is an active process to keep your mind and body strong. What are your self-care goals and how can you start implementing them into your day?

Coloring/Creativity:

You can color to help calm your mind and re-center yourself after a stressful situation. Use your coloring as a way to meditate and calm your mind and body. You can google “adult coloring pages” to print some out if you don’t have a coloring book. And if coloring is not your thing, find a different outlet to be creative. You can paint, knit, or build something. Just get creative with it! Creativity helps your mind focus and can be instrumental in developing problem solving techniques. Creativity has also been shown to help people cope and adapt to uncertainty, something we all could use a little bit of.

What is earthing???

There’s a new technique out there called “earthing.” You may have heard about it and wondered what is this and how can it help me? Earthing is a term that refers to physically connecting your body to the earth. It is believed that just as the sun give off vitamin D to make us feel better, the earth also gives us what we need. Earthers suggest kicking your shoes off and squishing your bare feet into the earth.  It is believed that by doing this you can restore peace and balance to your body. If you try it, let me know how it works!

I hope you found this little newsletter helpful. If you have questions, comments, or a topic you would like me to cover in a future article, do not hesitate to reach out! I would also love to hear feedback on any of the techniques you tried!

-Be well

         Jessie