At the start of the pandemic, my anxiety skyrocketed. I live in New York City and it was devastating to watch our beautiful, lively city spiral into destruction. I became anxious about everything: my loved ones’ health, my job, our future plans that would undoubtably be put on hold and the realization that things might never be the same. I was in living in full-on-fear mode and as much as I tried to bottle it up inside of me, my mental health was suffering. While I put on a brave face during the day, I would wake up with panic attacks. My anxiety stems from feeling out of control, and the pandemic set it off to a degree I haven’t experienced in many years. I knew something had to change.
My strategy was very fake-it-til-you-make it, I called it “Bubble of Self Care.” I prioritized my self-care like I never had before and found ways to control my environment with routine, which is crucial now as things are so volatile.
My Bubble of Self Care was comprised of many little things that all added up to help pull me out of my ruminating thoughts. Your bubble might look very different, but I hope some of this might be helpful to you.
Find your routine
Outside of work, get on a schedule of enjoyable activities that are just for you. I pack my schedule with nightly activities that I can look forward to. I take a weekly virtual ballet class with a former instructor, Wednesday nights are for my “TV Club” meeting (think book club, but for TV) where a friend and I watch a reality TV series episode by episode and analyze it into a pulp. Right now, we’re on season 3 of Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica (highly recommend rewatching this series!). And then I pepper my schedule with classes throughout the week, often through Brooklyn Brainery, which hosts new, one-off classes taught each day by experts in the field. My favorites have been courses on Doomsday cults, Pom Pom making, history of Victorian Spiritualism. I’ve been going to their studio for years for classes and find their online classes just as fun. We also have taken several excellent virtual cooking classes with Chef Nini Nguyen, and we now have the skills to make Japanese Pancakes, Old Fashioned Donuts, Bananas Foster French Toast and Jambalaya. Essentially, create a schedule of things that are enjoyable to create a routine of joy. Each day can drag on and feel like they blend into one another but having something to look forward to can help tremendously.
A change of scenery
My husband and I live in a one-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn with a combined living/dining/kitchen. As you can imagine, to us, quarantining in a suburban house seems luxurious. However, something we did early on is that we moved our furniture around to new spots in the room. It didn’t even look good, but having a change of scenery helped things feel fresh.
Get dressed
This sounds simple but start each day by getting dressed. Go a step further and get excited about what you’re going to wear. Pick out your clothes the night before even! When the quarantine started, I didn’t know how to function, and I actually spent the first week working from bed in my pajamas wearing my glasses. This did not feel good, but I didn’t know how to cope. As soon as I started to get dressed again, it made me feel like myself. I even bought some fun costume jewelry from Bauble Bar (lots of big earrings!) to wear to make myself feel a bit fancy. During the workweek, I am in the habit of wearing shoes while I work. I know I am just dressing up for myself and my team to see me on Zoom, but it truly feels different than my pajama days.
Self-care rituals
While I haven’t been wearing a lot of makeup lately, I have been prioritizing my skincare routine and finding new regimes for general body wellness. I use a dry brush each morning to promote circulation, lymphatic drainage and exfoliation. I look forward to this every day. I use my gua sha tool throughout the day while I’m at my computer. I have been using self-tanner (these Isle of Paradise drops are my fave!), which elevates my mood, and I also play around with a lot of false eyelashes.
Stay active
Working out has absolutely helped my mental state. Before the quarantine, my gals and I would work out together several times a week at Pilates and yoga studios. It really sucks (for lack of a better word) that we can’t do that anymore, but it’s onward to the next best thing. I joined Obe, a virtual fitness platform, which has live classes with energetic instructors in an aesthetically-pleasing pastel studio. While working out in my living room isn’t the most inspiring, I bought a few new workout sets from Fabletics and Gap to make me feel a bit more excited about working out. Aside from clothes, I bought a yoga mat spray from Moonbeam Body Therapy that not only smells heavenly, but also naturally sanitizes my mat. Another way I mix it up? I love to practice yoga at night and light candles all around my room (little votives are perfect!) to elevate the experience. And if you’re really missing that class interaction, sometimes my friends and I will Zoom each other into our workouts. We have also found dance classes on YouTube to learn early 2000s music video dances. A favorite was a Pussycat Dolls routine that was equally terrible and hilarious. Search YouTube for N*Sync and Britney music video dances.
Get creative
I find a lot of joy in crafting and have (too many) projects going on at all times. I am not super talented, but there are many projects that I’ve done that I’ve really enjoyed. I bought a kit of polymer clay on Amazon and I started to make tiny desserts modeled after my favorite Instagram bakery cakes. I have been making (and selling!) daisy bracelets with seed beads, water-coloring, and general drawing. I also bought a vintage pattern on Etsy and plan to sew a dress. Needle-felting is also a very fun activity and gets a lot of stress out as you repeatedly are stabbing yarn to form shapes. Find a creative outlet that works for you!
Daydream
Carve out time to daydream about your happiest memories, or better yet, re-read your diary or old blog if you have them. I’ve spent several afternoons reading my old diaries (I’ve kept one consistently since I was 11). On that note, start a diary now if you haven’t already. While it’s absolutely devastating, we are living in history now, and years from now, we’ll look to the records we’ve kept of this time.
For me, staying busy. present and in-control is key. I deliberately wrap myself up in a blanket of self-care every day. It took a few weeks for me to feel the change, and it wasn’t linear, but I am miles away from where I was at the beginning.
How have you been coping during this time? Have you struggled and then found a routine or ritual that works for you?
