Self-Care During Lockdown

Hey, my beautiful Pelican Lovers, hope you’re staying safe as we are yet again in another national lockdown.

So last month on my Instagram I asked you what you wanted me to write about, the replies included some really amazing topics and I can’t wait to share them with you at a later date. This month, however, I wanted to be that positive friend in this not so positive time. I wanted to remind you of the importance of checking in not only on others but also yourselves. I know you may be sat thinking, how do I check in on myself? Well, that can be lots of different things from having a long hot bubble bath with your favourite book to watching that film or starting that series you keep telling yourself you’re going to get round to doing. Basically, just some self-care time for yourself.

You will have days in this lockdown when you just feel rubbish, or you feel like your life is at a standstill and you’re not getting far on – whatever it is you may be trying to get done. That’s okay! The whole world has felt this way this year, it’s absolutely fine. If you feel rubbish this is a big sign to push you to do something for you that makes you happy.

Sometimes coming off social media for a while also helps. If like me you get anxiety with all the negative news headlines then mute those sort of Instagram pages and stop watching the news on the TV for a while. I actually haven’t watched the news for a little while due to this. Remember, a lot of news articles write what they know will scare, or shock people and keep people clicking through, do not let it affect you. The same goes with articles that say ‘We have an injection that is 90% immunity from Covid’ yes that is amazing news but do not rely on this and get your hopes up. Try to stay focused on the present, the now.

Be cautious of the TV programmes you watch when your mood or anxiety isn’t at it’s best. I find if I do watch something negative for example a serial killer documentary or horror film when my mood is already low it just adds to it and sometimes this can cause nightmares and more stress. I like to watch uplifting things when this happens, a bit of screen time that takes you away from the world for me this has been ‘Emily in Paris’, ‘Gossip Girl’ and ‘Once Upon a Time’.

If you do have days when the most you can do is get out of bed to brush your teeth, that’s also fine. I have days where I can be so productive, then days where I can’t even get out of bed. Little acts of kindness don’t have to be what you do for somebody else, but also what you do for yourself. It really is important you make time for yourself to give your body and soul the love it deserves otherwise you will be running on low fuel and you will just crash. You need to remember you are top priority.

I find writing down five-ten things I am grateful for each day helps, for example, you can write how grateful you are for your health, or how thankful you are for the food you eat. When we do these little things, we really do then realise just how lucky we are we then start to realise, hey it is a little rubbish right now but at least I am alive. We do have so much to be grateful for and sometimes having lockdowns can help us to remember this. This is an opportunity for us to take the time without the rush of the world to get to know ourselves again.

Checking in on your loved ones is also a must. A simple ‘Hey how are you?’ text message can go a very long way. Remember just because somebody is posting on their socials looking happy and positive doesn’t mean they always are. You just may make somebodies day with that one sentence. Maybe even if you’re feeling up to it arrange a call with that person for a good catch up or even a Zoom or Skype call.

It is important for us to remember we are all in this together. If you haven’t heard from somebody for a while don’t see it as a sign they don’t want to hear from you, they genuinely could be struggling, so you reaching out, however, it may be could really help them.

Lockdown is especially the time where we should put our stubbornness to the side and be supportive. Lockdown will also show you who your real friends are, if you have friends who know how bad your anxiety gets and they haven’t bothered once to reach out to you then you know they are not real friends.

I am always here if you are reading this blog and just need somebody to talk too.

Stay safe

Love

Natalie-Amber

Follow Natalie-Amber on Instagram