The Disease That Shall Not Be Named: List of Ways to Keep Sane at Home

Written March 21, 2020

The world has drastically changed since the last time I wrote.  Scratch that, not dramatic enough.  The world has drastically changed in the last two weeks.   A little over a week ago, Ohio Governor Mike Dewine declared all schools be shut down for at least 3 weeks.   And then restaurants and bars had to shut down except for carry out and drive thru service.  And then movie theaters, bowling alleys and other fun germy places had to shut down.   And then salons shut down (side note, I’m curious to see what people do/look like without those services if this goes on long).    A bunch of stores have voluntarily closed their stores and people are obsessed with buying toilet paper.   All because of a disease that shares its name with a beer.   And just to let you all know, I say the name of the disease all the time.  I am not typing it here because I am soo tired of hearing and seeing it…already.  It’s going to be a long journey.

If you are reading this during this time, you are like yeah yeah we know all that.   But what you might not know is that while many people have stayed at home this week except for the toilet paper wars, I still had to go to work until Friday.  Yup.  I drove into work where more than 10 people were congregated (no more than 10 people are supposed to congregate together) to work on a LAPTOP.   So ridiculous.  But I digress.  All that to say, I’ve been out in this germy world this week.   But now that I can work from home, I’ll be trying to stay in as much as possible.    And while I will still be busy with work, I decided to make a list of ways to make the most of this time and keep our sanity.   Many of these ideas come from lessons I learned when I was on maternity leave and I didn’t want to leave the house much with little baby Hannah.

Ways to Keep Sane at Home

1. Get dressed every day.   I know you aren’t going anywhere, but seriously do this.   It’s a mental thing that will help you feel accomplished.
2. Let in some natural light.    Open your windows and go outside if it is warm enough.   Realizing there is still a world outside can help and natural light helps boost your mood.
3. Take some alone time.   If you have kids, but another adult in the house, tag each other out for a bit.   Go lock yourself in a room and put on headphones if you need to.    Even as an extrovert, I need some me time to keep centered.
4. Read your Bible.  If you are not of Christian faith, read a book on your religion or just something positive to keep encouraged during this time.  There are tons of books on positivity.   None of us can control everything at any time, but this situation has made it even more important to find a way to process things outside of our control.  Which leads to my next item…
5. Please don’t shove down how you feel right now.   I have done that in the past with issues and it always comes back up.  It is much better to take a minute while we have more time right now and work through issues than to try to ignore them.    There are a lot more mental health resources in 2020 than ever before and if you search the internet, there are some right now specific to this pandemic.
6. Don’t overwhelm your to do list.  It is so easy when you have more time to say you are going to do everything you have been putting off, but that can lead to disappointment if you don’t get everything done.   Focus on accomplishing things one at a time and make sure you still rest.
7. Drink lots of water.  My husband Andy is the king of this.  If he feels a cold coming on, he drinks more water than I can even phathom drinking.  You don’t have to go to that extreme, but drinking water is always good for you and can help even more now when you want to remain as healthy as possible.
8. Do something you have been wanting to do for a while that doesn’t involve groups or shut down businesses.   Examples can be anything from learning a new skill to binging a show you haven’t had time to watch.
9. Help the community.  Contributing to society can come in so many different forms now.  You can donate time or money to help.  You can help small businesses by promoting them online during this hard economic time.  And if none of this is in your wheelhouse, this is your time to shine.  You can help by STAYING HOME.   There are so few times where staying home and relaxing/binging tv/playing video games, etc. contribute to bettering society.  Make the most of it!