UPKEEP in Isolation

As I mentioned in an earlier post, this time has been really difficult.

Obviously. You already know that.

But before saying anything else, I just want to make it crystal clear that all of your feelings during this time are valid. The mood swings, the ups and downs.. it is okay to feel that way right now and I hope you can give yourself some grace. We humans could have never expected a complete nose dive in our lives like this. Everything we grew up learning and understanding has been flipped upside down. However you are coping, as long as it’s not hurting you, is VALID. Try to not compare your path to peace to anyone else’s.

So ANYWAYS. How do we UPKEEP in isolation? Here are my tips.

1. Don’t be afraid of the phone. I say this because I, very often, am afraid of the phone. Facetime makes me anxious, and what do I even have to talk about!? But I PROMISE you, talking to a friend over Facetime or on the phone will make you feel better, and there is so much more to talk about, and laugh about, than you think. I’ve set a goal to answer every phone call, and to chat with someone I love on the phone at least once a day. I promise you, your friends and family want to hear about your life, and listening to them talk about their lives will also help you to feel less alone.

2. Find out how you self care, and it’s okay if it doesn’t look like a face mask in a bathtub. I’m super into the Enneagram, which is a model of “personality”. Basically there are 9 different types of people, and I am a 3. Aka, I can’t sit still, love to work, and dread any type of “relaxation” or “lazy day”. So self care for me isn’t sitting at home with a glass of wine, it’s creating a to do list, checking things off, and maybe reading a book at the end of the day. Sounds crazy to some, sounds perfect to me. I highly suggest looking into the Enneagram and finding out where you fit, so you can then figure out what type of self care works best fro you.

3. Disconnect where you can. I know that’s a hard one right now, since the majority of our social interactions occur online. But with everything going on in the world, places like Instagram or Twitter can be extremely draining without you even realizing. It’s important to stay up to date on current events, but it’s also necessary to not be plugged into news alerts 24/7. I turned off all notifications on my phone; I also delete Instagram every night around 9 pm. This stops me from doom scrolling before bed, and calms my brain down from the constant flow of information. I HIGHLY recommend deleting your socials before bed. I promise you can download them again in the morning.

This too shall pass, I promise.

and that’s how you UPKEEP,

clair