"Self-Care" in an Uncertain World

Almost across the board, I have seen an increase in overallanxiety in my clients as the coronavirus takes over the United States. As morebusinesses close and people are forced to stay home, routines will be upended,family dynamics will intensify and normal life will be put on pause. In timeslike this, self-care is so incredibly important because it is easier to focuson the chaos, the anxiety and the stress than to take a pause to focus onourselves.

Self-care is a topic thatis thrown around in popular culture and usually entails taking a nice warmbath, meditating or doing your nails. Now, all of these things can certainly bean act of self-care, but I want to expand our definition to include things thatare not necessarily calming, but still very necessary in terms of keepingourselves healthy. Things like opening up a window while you work from home,setting a limit to the number of minutes you spend on social media or creatinga schedule for you and your family to adhere to, are all acts of self-care.They help you set boundaries, feel in control during a confusing and chaotictime, and allow you to continue to function outside of your normal routine. 

Change is incrediblydifficult to tolerate, and right now it feels like the world as we know it hasliterally come to a halt. While it may seem challenging to determine what youneed right now, it will be important to take some time to think about it. Bringyour family members into the discussion to figure out how you can worktogether, especially as we don’t know how long this will last. This does nothave to be a time of disconnection and I’m challenging everyone (myselfincluded) to find new and creative ways to self-care and connect with others.

Some other ideas forself-care:

• Onlineorder a huge puzzle to work on continuously over the new few weeks. This can berelaxing and a different way to use your brain. You can do it alone or withothers, and at the end, you’ll feel like you’ve accomplished something whilequarantined!
• Getoutside! Some fresh air can be really helpful, as long as you stay a safedistance away from other people. In the DC Metro Area, everything is startingto bloom, so try to use some mindfulness as you walk outside and notice howbeautiful the world is.
• Followa meal plan. Whether you have an eating disorder or not, following a regularmeal schedule will be really helpful to maintain some semblance of normalcy.
• Samefor sleep! Try to maintain a relatively normal sleep pattern so that you feelmore rested every day.
• Forother mental health professionals, you can use HeadSpace for free using yourNPI number. We need to remember to take care of ourselves too!
• Donateto a local food bank if you can afford to do so. Not only will this be helpfulfor others who are struggling right now, but it will hopefully make you feelless helpless about the situation we are in.

Kate Burns, LGPC is aLicensed Counselor in Olney, MD proving individual counseling to those witheating disorders, anxiety and trauma. Please contact us today if you would likea consultation.