There’s been a lot of really inspirational posts coming out with creative things to do while in isolation, lots of video calls and workouts happening all over the world. For some people, it can be overwhelming and add to a feeling of pressure, that you’re not doing things the right way. The honest truth is that there is no right way, or wrong way, to handle social isolation. None of us have lived through anything like this before! We’re all making it up as we go along. What you see on social media is someone’s highlight reel. You don’t know what they’re doing for the other 22 hours a day, if they’re struggling or crying or feeling overwhelmed, too.
It’s a lot to keep moving forward as if everything is normal and this is just a temporary hiccup. Your parents, siblings, grandparents, teammates, their families, coaches… everyone is trying to find a new way to be normal. When it’s all over, we’ll have to find a new way to adjust to a changed world, and we’ll continue to do that together.
Until we know what the future holds, sometimes it’s the little things that remind us we’re still people, processing this upheaval and waking up every day to face what comes.
So, every day, try to do a few simple things to remember you’re a human who owns more than one pair of sweat pants!
- Have a shower.
- Brush your hair.
- Put on fresh clothes.
- Make your bed.
- Allow yourself to disconnect from screens (it can be really peaceful!).
- Go outside or open a window, breathe in the fresh air.
- Sit down to one proper meal.
- Check-in on one person each day. It can be as simple as a text, or as personal as curling up on the couch with your mom. It’s up to you to see how you feel that day.
You don’t need to do all of them, or any of them if you don’t want to! All we want you to know it’s that sometimes it’s enough to get by; you don’t need to be extraordinary today, tomorrow, or next week. You just need to keep your head above water.
