Self-Care Checklist During Social Distancing

It’s easy to lose sight of your own needs when you are in a stressful situation. In times like what we are living through, with most areas under stay-at-home orders, ‘overwhelmed’ can become your new normal. Especially if you are a parent with kids at home, or if you have people you are worried about (in your house or not) your own needs can often take a back seat. That’s why it can be helpful to follow a self-care checklist to make sure you are keeping yourself as stress-free, healthy, and happy as you can.

Of course, the last thing you want to do is make taking care of yourself become a new stressor to worry about. To keep it very simple, I’ve created 5 self-care goals – fitness, wellness, social connection, alone time, and mental health. I’m offering lots of different ideas for easy, small goals you can set for yourself in each category, and the idea is to fulfill just one in each category a day. There’s a self-care checklist for you to use, at the end of this post, or you can just use a notepad and mark down your 5 goals for each day.

FITNESS GOALS

Fitness is so important when you’re under a lot of stress. Moving your body can help alleviate stress, but exercise is often the first thing we give up when we are under pressure. Here are some ideas to either reintroduce, or add to your fitness routine. Remember, just one goal a day is all you need!

• Go for a walk outside. Remember to use the 6-feet rule for socially distancing.
• Find an online workout to try.
• Stretch!
• Try to move at least every hour – set an alarm if you need to.
• Go for a run. Are you a beginner? Check out this guide for starting to run.
• Get some cardio – here’s a short and intense 9-minute workout to try!
• Do an online yoga class, or find a yoga video.
• Walk the dog.
• If you have a fitness tracker, set yourself a daily step goal.
• Turn on some music and dance.
• Find an online fitness challenge to try.
• Got a jumprope you haven’t used in forever? Try jumping rope and try to add time each day.
• Set a time or mileage goal for your daily workout.
• Do a core workout.
• Set yourself a concrete goal to work toward – I am using Strava for tracking and am trying to beat my miles run and walked last month.
• Try this full-body plank workout.
• Go hiking. Try to stick to trails that are wide enough for social distancing if other hikers are around. Here are some tips on hiking with kids.

WELLNESS GOALS

Nurturing your body and treating yourself with the same love and care you offer to others is the main goal of wellness. These are some ways you can focus on your own wellness.

• Drink more water throughout the day.
• Plan your meals in advance – this is also a great way to shop your pantry and limit the amount of grocery shopping you need to do when under stay-at-home restrictions.
• If you don’t already have one, create a calming bedtime routine to wind down before sleep. Try this evening stretch routine!
• Eat more vegetables!
• Make a smoothie of fruits, veggies and a healthy protein like Greek yogurt, or cottage cheese. Here are 20 recipes to try!
• Try foam rolling as a form of self-massage – it’s a great way of relieving stress, increasing mobility and flexibility.
• Make sure you’re getting adequate sleep. Try to set a routine bedtime and wake up time and if you’re not feeling rested, see if you can increase your time sleeping.
• Have a relaxing bath, or take a long shower.
• Wear what makes you feel good – if that’s pajamas, great. But dress up if that makes you feel more like you.
• Think about eating more mindfully and spending time focusing on your food and senses.
• Cut down on alcohol consumption. It can easily become a crutch when under a great deal of stress – set yourself alcohol-free days and try to drink more water instead.
• Use the fancy stuff – the soaps or beauty products you haven’t opened, the special candle, the pretty glasses.
• Try not to skip meals – sticking to a routine can be a comfort when in a stressful situation.

SOCIAL CONNECTION GOALS

Especially when we are staying at home as much as possible, and socially distancing when we are not, the lack of social connection can be a huge source of stress and sadness. There are ways to keep your social support system going even when you are feeling confined.

• Use social connecting apps to stay in touch with friends and have virtual dates. There are so many available now, like Zoom, Houseparty, FaceTime, Facebook Messenger, Google Hangouts, Skype, and I’m sure more.
• Text friends and family to check in often.
• Remember when we used to use phones for calling? Go old school and have a phone conversation with someone.
• Depending on the level of your state or area’s shelter-in-place policy (some allow outdoor exercise, some don’t), you could meet a friend for a walk 6ft or further apart. Just make sure you pick somewhere you can do this easily (a wide road or trail you can walk on either side of), and be mindful that you will have to allow for people passing you, by hanging back and one of you walking 6ft behind the other. But it can be done!
• Use social media – it’s a great way to keep in touch with family and friends you could normally see and hug. Post photos and updates, chat with friends, and do all the silly challenges if it helps you feel connected!
• Have a watch party – you can do this with friends on Facebook, or Netflix has just released the same feature, where you can watch shows and movies with your friends. Otherwise you can watch something together with friends and have a group text going at the same time.
• Come up with a challenge with a friend or family member – right now my partner and his dad are competing to see how many miles they can ride in a month. Or you could have a bake-off, or both try cooking the same recipe.

ALONE TIME GOALS

Of course, to have balance, you need those social connections AND you need some to yourself. If you happen to be staying at home alone and all you’re getting is ‘alone time’, then think of these tips as ways to lean in to alone time and make it feel like a treat rather than something to suffer through.

• If you live with others – you can always try headphones. Put on a podcast, audio book, or your favorite music, and disconnect from the noise around you.
• If you are able, have a designated ‘do not disturb’ space in your home where you can retreat for your alone time without being interrupted.
• Read a book, or re-read an old favorite. Use this opportunity to catch up on all the reading you’re always saying you have no time for.
• Use your exercise time outdoors as your alone time and try to connect with nature (or disconnect completely with the headphones trick again!)
• Take a nap.
• If you are at home and co-parenting, make sure you set up a plan where both parents have opportunity to be alone and not be with the kids for a period of time every day. Trust me, this is key! You will both be better parents if you have had alone time to recharge.

MENTAL HEALTH GOALS

When you’re feeling cooped up, it’s easy for boredom and malaise to set in. Fight that feeling by focusing on engaging curiosity, learning, or by taking care of your spiritual or psychological health.

• Start a gratitude journal, where every day you write down something – no matter how small – for which you’re grateful. Or you can just start your day thinking about what you are grateful for.
• Meditate.
• Experiment with relaxing breathing techniques – you can find many guides to different breathing techniques online, or try these 3 breathing techniques for relaxation.
• Use a walk as a form of moving meditation – try to be hyper-aware of your senses and use them as you walk to stay present and be mindful.
• Read more – anything but the news for mental health!
• Take an online course or certification in something you’ve always been interested in, but have never had the time to try.
• Pray.
• Most churches are also offering live streaming services if you are missing your congregation.
• Find a new podcast series to listen to, or Ted Talks.
• Try writing a journal, or notes about how you’re feeling during this strange time.
• Do crosswords and number or word puzzles.
• Listen to an audio book.
• Try Tai Chi or yoga, as a way of combining fitness and spirituality. You can also find a guided Yoga Nidra class online.
• Try learning a new language! There are lots of apps and online courses to try.
• Play board games with your family (although, fair warning, in our house Monopoly always ends in tears or tantrums!)
• Volunteer, if you feel safe doing so. Organizations like your local food bank, Meals on Wheels, or other community services may be looking for delivery people, drivers, or other assistance.
• If there is a topic you have always wanted to know more about, start researching it and see how much you can learn.

I hope this idea of having a self-care checklist is something that helps you navigate through this stressful time. Remember, this is meant to make you feel better and take care of yourself, so if you try this checklist technique and it feels overwhelming, now more than ever is a time to give yourself grace! It’s okay to not feel okay when we are living in this isolated way, with a scary pandemic happening worldwide. However you can help yourself by taking care of your own health, in all aspects, is worth it. Stay safe and well, and #stayhome!

CLICK HERE to download a pdf of the self-care checklist below!