Mental, Physical, & Financial Wellness during Quarantine

Right now, the entire world is sort of, well, paused. Businesses are closed, school is no longer in session, and those of us non-essential employees have been told to work from home. For an extrovert, I did not take this too well at first. How many days will this go on? I thought. If I can't go to work, can't go to the gym, can't go hang with my friends, can't explore the city or visit a new museum, then what am I doing?

Before I continue, let me set the stage by saying I am a person who has been conditioned by our fast-paced society to believe that productivity = self-worth. However, this is not the case and is something I am working on unlearning everyday. Throughout this period of self-isolation, perhaps the best thing we can do for ourselves is to be present. Meaning, acknowledge the entirety of our mind, body, and soul. Acknowledge all feels that we would typically push aside during the hustle and bustle of everyday life. For me, a lot of thoughts have crossed my mind over the past week of quarantine, both positive and negative.

This past month for me has been in a cycle of "I need to do something... no I don't! I deserve to do nothing! ....But I'm not content doing nothing... but why do I feel like I need to do anything at all?!!" It's all very dramatic and a natural part of my indecisive libra. The bottom line is, if you want to do something with your newfound free time, do it because it will bring you comfort and joy, not because you feel pressured to be productive.

Recently I was feeling particularly... ambitious, so I wrote down all the aspects of my own life I wanted to pay close attention to and nurture during this time. For someone who's life is normally go go go, it's a serious blessing to have all of this time to focus on me. Just because I need to stay home doesn't mean I can't take care of my body and mind, it's actually quite the contrary. As a close friend put it, this quarantine can be an opportunity for mental, physical, and financial growth. To get to my point, below are all the ways I've begun to invest in my own mental, physical, and financial wellness during this time at home. They are all free, easy and accessible to most!

Mental Wellness

Meditate daily. Meditation is proven to enhance overall health and wellbeing. If you are coping with some anxiety around COVID-19, I would strongly suggest a daily mediation practice. If you are new to meditation, try a short 5 minute meditation on youtube. Or you can download an app on your phone, like Headspace or Insight Timer.

Get creative. If you're like me, my typical schedule left me with no time to be creative. When we're focused on creating something, our attention is shifted from worrying and can actually calm our nervous system. This is why I created this blog, I needed a creative outlet! For you, that may look like drawing, painting, dancing, singing, taking pictures, etc.

Physical Wellness

Get Outside. If you are in an area that does not have a shelter-in-place order, go for a walk. If you are isolating at home with a partner or other family members, they can go, too! The idea is to get your heart rate up for at least 30 minutes each day, whatever that looks like for you.

Do an at-home workout. There are SO many fitness companies offering free and accessible at-home services right now. Peloton is offering 90 days free app trial that you can use to do workouts at home. They have a ton of workout videos ranging from beginner to advanced classes in yoga, cardio, strength, and bootcamp. Big fan of their yoga flow videos for beginner yogis!

Instagram. Instagram fitness accounts are blowing up with at home workouts, because guess what, they are quarantined, too! Simply search the type of workout you're looking for on Instagram, you'll find what you need in no time!

In the wake of my mini crisis about being able to move my body while quarantined, I created this at-home workout calendar and hung it right on my fridge! Each day I lookup a workout on either the peloton app, youtube, or Instagram and get to work in my living room for at least 30 minutes.

Financial Wellness

Create a monthly budget. If you haven't created a monthly budget for yourself I suggest doing so! You can create a simple monthly budget in an excel or word doc by starting with your net income, then subtracting needs (rent, utilities, bills) and wants (food, drink, entertainment) or get fancy and use an app to create a budget like Mint.

For my monthly budget, I use the 50-30-20 rule. This "rule" puts 50% of my income toward necessities (rent and bills) 30% percent toward my financial goals (debt and savings) and 20% is allocated to wants, like dining and entertainment.

Redo your budget. Right now, I am spending WAY less money than I normally would, so I completely revised my monthly budget for the time being (don't delete the old one!) By doing so, I re-allocated money I would normally spend on going out to eat, drinks at the bar, and transportation to things like paying off credit card debt, student loans, and my savings account.

As an FYI to those with federal student loans, the Department of Education announced there will be a 0% interest rate on all federal loans for at least 60 days. You also have the option to suspend your payments for those 60 days. (Head's up if you're part of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness plan, you still need to make the monthly payments to qualify).

Work on securing that pay raise or new job. What is that next step you've been wanting to take in your career? Why would you wait until you're back in the office to focus on getting there? Take the time you have now to update your LinkedIn profile and your resume. Additionally, write down any new responsibilities or skills you've developed throughout the past year or as a result of the pandemic. Look up some dream job postings and assess what experiences you don't have yet. That way, when we return to work, you'll be armed with tangible evidence of how you've grown in your position and what more you'd like to learn.

I hope that you've found these tips helpful in the midst of all that is happening in our world. I should also reiterate that doing NONE of these things is perfectly OK, too. Sometimes during stressful stretches of life all we can do is sit on the couch consuming reality TV and our favorite foods (like me, right now). No matter what you choose to do to, take care of yourself and those around you. Sending you the most positive vibes I possibly can.