Tips for Keeping a Schedule During Self-Isolation

Hello, My Fellow Isolation Gang, schedule

I hope you’re doing okay and keeping safe during this difficult time. I completely get how everybody’s emotions are all over the place right now and our anxiety and mental health is taking control and that’s okay, we are only human.

This month’s blog post is going to be tips and ideas on how to make it through quarantine, especially if like myself you have received a letter and a text saying you are high risk and have to stay in for the maximum, I know how mentally frustrating that can be. I like to see the positives out of everything however, even a bad situation. We will never get this sort of time again in our lives, where everything is put on hold. The positive from us having this lockdown is we can start to achieve the things we didn’t have time to before and work on finding ourselves again. The world itself is healing and it is amazing. Mother Nature is rebuilding everything that was destroyed, polluted. I do hope that after the lockdown we can continue to appreciate these small little things and be grateful a lot more.

Keeping a schedule…

There are many things you can do whilst on lockdown, I have made myself a schedule to keep to and I give myself Sundays off. I have dated my schedule for just over 2 weeks and when I have completed that I will make another, it’s really easy to make and you can do this on the computer, or with a pen and paper.

I have the following on mine:

1. READ

Even if it’s one hour a day of sitting in the garden, or in a quiet place and reading a book you’ve always wanted to read or haven’t finished yet. I will be doing book reviews on my Instagram every time I have finished a book in case any of you are stuck on book ideas. There is no right or wrong on what to read. I know a lot of people like reading self-help books and that is absolutely fine. I love a self-help book BUT if you want to just zone out into another world its fine to read a novel. I loved reading the book version of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. I have always wanted to read Pride and Prejudice, so this is on my list. I am however currently reading a book on my favourite Drag Queen, Bianca Del Rio.

2. WORKOUT

It is important you try to work out once a day 30-60 mins at least. By doing this your body will release happy endorphins and leave you feeling so much better and in a positive mood. I have been posting a new workout video every Tuesday for those of you who want to follow you can click here and subscribe to my YouTube channel. My workouts consist of bodyweight exercises, legs, arms with weights, resistant bands, stretching and burlexercise dance workouts. For those of you who don’t know what burlexercise is, it is a show girl/boy dance-based workout and I am a fully qualified instructor on this.

3. EMAILS/TEXTS

If like me you let your emails and text messages pile up, this is the time to try and get into a frequent routine where you are answering them and on top of things. Spend at least 1 hour of your day replying to your messages or getting emails you mean to send out sent. Trust me, you will feel so much better for it.

4. PODCAST

For those of you who don’t know, I have started a new podcast called ‘Natter with Natalie’ I am so excited to have been able to do this. I am still learning how to edit correctly and things like that, so my podcasts will be out fortnightly, sometimes featuring guests. I am talking everything: positive, hot topics in trend now, body confidence and IBD and stomas of course. You can listen here and click follow so you don’t miss an episode. I am sorry there is no music for this one as I am still getting the hang of it. I shall be a pro in no time. I have this on my schedule so I can take time if needed in the day to finish editing and playing about with the app to get a hang of things.

5. YOUTUBE

I love YouTube, if like me you find yourself at strange hours of the night binge-watching all sorts of videos, then why not change it to using it for learning a new skill? I want to take an hour a day to learn some things I have always wanted to learn. I want to learn how to do my eyeshadow properly, how to cornrow my hair, so this is the perfect time to sit down and learn. There are so many different videos on YouTube, so you be sure to find one that works for you.

6. LOA/MEDITATION

Law of Attraction is a very big part of my life, it helped me with depression when I was very low. Spend an hour each day to write down 10 things you are grateful for, 10 ‘I am’s’ and also to script on the things you want in life, remember to script it as if It is already yours, be very detailed. Mediation is key also. I have just started to get back into mediation as I found I was starting to lose myself a little. I like to do this in the morning before I start the day; one app I have been using at the moment is Oprah & Deepak, you can do a 21 day free guided meditation. I get that our minds run crazy when mediating and it just takes practice, so why not let now be the perfect opportunity? Just a tip, when scripting and writing your affirmations the universe does not respond to any negative words it gets confused so instead of writing something like ‘I am not going to get unwell’ write something like ‘I am safe from sickness’ or ‘ My health is amazing’. ‘NOT’ is a negative word.

7. REVISION

Lastly on my schedule is revision, I am training to be a Personal Trainer as fitness has always been a huge part of my life and for those of you who don’t know, it is the only reason I am here today. I spend an hour or just over a day on revising ready to take my online exams.

These things are on my schedule because they benefit me. You can put whatever you want on yours, it just gives you a routine again and a reason to get up in the mornings. I use Sundays doing absolutely nothing. I binge watch Disney Plus, for any of you who haven’t watched the Descendants yet on Disney I really recommend all 3, it is amazing! I also slob about and maybe eat a cake. THAT is okay, it is allowed. Don’t get me wrong there may be some days you don’t feel like doing much, that’s also okay, even if you do one thing on your schedule that is an achievement.

Other things to do in lock down is trying not to read too much news articles. I rarely check or watch the news because it stresses me out, I have to protect my mental health. If like me you read things and get stressed or anxious or worried, then try to avoid anything like that. Unfollow anything on Instagram that has negativity and that isn’t going to benefit you and replace them with positive and inspiring accounts. Check-in on your friends, you never know, they could be feeling really low also in this difficult time. You can get the Zoom or House party app and have loads of you in one chat. Me and the girls are having a Quiz Zoom party night and have a dress code, it’s just a bit of fun and gives you a chance to dress up and socialize. You can make a Tic Tok account and join in on the fun. Not going to lie, I am addicted.

I hope these sorts of things are useful to you and you find some fun things to do to pass the time. Remember there is no right or wrong way to do anything. I would love to hear some of your quarantine routines, post them to your Instagram with the hashtag #Selflovebynatalieamber so I can share them to help others who may feel a little stuck right now.

Remember to clap every Thursday at 8pm for our Amazing NHS staff who are going above and beyond for us right now. More importantly, remember to give our thanks to them we need to do our bit and stay home, stay safe, and keep washing our hands.

See you next month

Lots of love

Natalie-Amber,

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