Self-Care in Lockdown – Pandemic Series

29/04/2020
Self-care-during-lockdown

Self-care is probably one of the most important things EVER. You need to take care of yourself before you can worry about anything else. So, I have written a post all about the different things you can do during lockdown to either have an all-out self-care day or schedule some of these ideas into your daily routine.

Talking about a daily routine… It’s hard to feel motivated to do anything at the moment, but having a routine will motivate you and you will find yourself achieving more of what you want. Yes, you can still schedule Netlfix into your routine, don’t worry.

Including some self-care into your new daily routine at home will help you feel better about yourself. It will also ensure you are taking the time to look after your self; this means your physical, and mental self.

I have written a post about how to stay healthy during lockdown here!

Self-care-in-lockdown
Photo by Jen P. on Unsplash

Planning Your Self-Care Day…

I briefly touched on having a daily routine in the introduction. So, here is a brief outline of a daily routine and how to create one! You do not need to plan something for every hour of the day, however, you can if you want!

Having a daily routine really depends on what you want to achieve. If you have loads of goals to reach, or you’re still working from home, then your routine may be slightly different from others.
If you are furloughed on lockdown, then having a daily routine really gives you something to do, and you won’t get so bored with everyday life…

I have created a super simple FREE downloadable for you…

You can create three to four bullet points of things you want to do during different times of the day:
For example

Morning
– Wake up at 8 AM
– Get ready
– Go for a walk / have breakfast

Afternoon
– Yoga 12:30 PM
– Healthy Lunch 1:30 PM
– Read/study/learn 2:00 PM onwards

Night
– Dinner 5 PM
– Bath and pamper 7 PM
– Go to bed 10 PM

Once you have downloaded, or if you create a different type of daily plan – Please comment at the end of this post to let me know!

Self-Care Things You Can Do

There are lots of things you can do during lockdown to enhance your self-care routine. Self-care doesn’t just mean having a bath and painting your nails. There is much more to it.

Self-care is anything that can improve your state of mind and how you feel however works best for you.
Not all of us like putting on makeup, or plucking our eyebrows, or running 10k to feel better.
(Can’t wait to get mine threaded though…)

I have written a post about 22 things you can do during lockdown, that may help with ideas too!

It is all personal preference, and more importantly, it is stuff you like to do, but also stuff that will improve and care for your SELF.

Self-care-at-home
Coffee, Rupi Kaur, and a journal…

Some Ideas and Inspiration

The following are a few (quite a few) things that you can include into your self-care routine…
You do not need to do ALL of them. Ideally, choose three minimum to try out!

Education

Educating yourself whilst you have the free time to is such a good idea, especially if there has always been something you want to learn. This can be from something as simple as crocheting, or even learning a new language.

Some ideas of things you can do:

  • Read books.
  • Learn a new language using your phone.
  • Start an online course.
  • Do your schoolwork (yes, if you are at school or university, then you should probably still do your work).
  • Drawing/illustrating.
  • Anything crafty!
  • Learn how to play an instrument.
  • Complete tutorials online on ANYTHING.

Pamper Time

This is an obvious one! Taking some time to pamper yourself however you may wish is the perfect way to perform self-care. This can be anything that will make you feel better.

Here are some ways to pamper yourself:

  • Have a bath.
  • Facemask.
  • Cut and paint nails.
  • Practice makeup.
  • Scrub, shave, moisturise!
  • Wear something cosy.
  • Light candles.

I’m sure there are so many more things that include improving your personal hygiene but I don’t think I need to list them all!

Exercise

Yes, exercising counts as self-care, as it means you are looking after your body.
Lots of us feel better after working out, especially now we are all having to stay home.
It wakes our bodies up and reminds them of what it can do (not the best at running a 5k though).

I have already written a post about how to stay healthy and exercise at home – you can read it here if you like, or come back to it at the end of this post…

A good idea would be to set yourself some targets.
By doing this you will be more motivated to carry out the task at hand.

For example:

  • Walk around 10,000 steps a day.
    If you already do this, try to add more. I know there isn’t anywhere to go during the lockdown, but you can go for a walk once a day, on your own or with the people in your house.
  • Improve flexibility.
    If you already are flexible, maybe you want to try something new? Push yourself.
  • Get better at Yoga.
    This is one for me… Practice yoga more often in order to improve your poses!
  • Run further and faster.
    Everyone loves a good run at the moment, see if you can beat your times and pace.
  • Do more press-ups.
    I mean, personally I don’t want to do this BUT, if you can do 20, try do 30…

Not only will your body feel better after exercising, but your mind will too, especially when you reach new targets!

Me on my daily walk with the dog…

Screen Time

Reducing your screen time (although proven difficult) allows you to give your eyes a break, and focus on something else. I am majorly guilty of spending too much time on Instagram…

To reduce your screen time, give yourself time slots in the day to use your phone for five to ten mins max.

For example;
You could spend ten minutes in the morning, afternoon, and evening.
OR you can shorten your time overall by not endlessly scrolling and only using your phone for productive reasons. Like uploading to social media, engaging online etc.

You can also download apps on your phone that will either lock your phone for a set time or give you rewards for not spending so much time on it.

Communication

You’re either at home living with someone at the moment, or you’re living alone… Either way, having some communication with others is important.

Being around the same people every day can sometimes get a tiny bit heightened, especially with everything that is going on.
Take some time to call your friends, facetime them, check-in.
It’s nice to talk about how everyone else is doing, and whats going on, rather than having the same conversation with everyone at home!

If you are living alone, the same rules apply. Pick up the phone and contact your family or your friends. This is so you don’t become lonely, or feel isolated, during isolation…

Even just talking to people online can help boost your spirts!

Diet

I have already spoken about eating healthily in previous posts, so I won’t touch on it too much. BUT the good thing about self-care is that you can allow yourself to indulge…

Who doesn’t love to eat an extra slice of cake or pizza? Or a whole easter egg?

Use this time to do some baking, or create meals you have always wanted to try.

An important factor for your health is to make sure you are staying hydrated though… I like to drink infused water because it makes it taste nicer, and its fun (also looks yum too).

Different infusions you could try are;

  • Lemon
  • Cucumber
  • Berries
  • Mint and Lemon
  • All of the above combined!

You can find lots of recipes for infused water on Pinterest too, they all have different benefits!

No Bad News

The news can be really overwhelming at the moment… There is so much BAD NEWS going on all the time, it can become really draining, and increase your anxiety.

I have spoken about this before but, as long as you know the rules of what to do during the lockdown and whilst COVID-19 is still about, then you don’t need to keep watching the news.

Simple as that, just don’t watch it!

Instead, you could use this time to search for some good news! There are tons of positivity websites that constantly share good news from around the world.

Here are a few!

Clear Out!

Use this time to clear our your space. Yes, your bedroom could probably do with some self-care too.
It feels SO good to have a huge clear out, and there are lots of benefits to this.

Not only will you be clearing your space so that it looks nicer and its cleaner, but you will also find tons of things you don’t actually want or need anymore. There are two things you can do with this stuff:

  1. Give it away to charity
  2. SELL IT

You can sell your unwanted items online to make some money. OR donate the items to people who need them. So not only have you earnt some money from having a clear-out, but you have nice clean spaces to be in at home.

Don’t tackle the whole things head-on though, take it in parts.
You could do this;

  • Start with your wardrobe and drawers.
  • Clear the clutter from shelves.
  • Empty the bin and get rid of all the rubbish.
  • Change your bed.
  • Sort out your books.
  • Go through the paperwork.
  • Hoover, dust CLEAN.
  • Finished.

Or, if you haven’t got anything else to do, then maybe spending a whole day dedicated to each room in the house isn’t a bad idea. Your brain will literally feel lighter when you’ve finished.

Something You Enjoy

Finally, spend some time doing something you enjoy. This can be absolutely anything.

Treat yourself to spending some time reading, or playing games, or dancing around your room.

Self-care is all about doing what will make you feel as though you have looked after your self.

Self-care-at-home-during-lockdown

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There you have it! A whole post of things you can do to look after yourself and perform self-care at home during lockdown. I would love to know what else you like to do, so comment below!

Thank you so so so much for reading. Don’t forget to follow me on social media to see updates!

You can also subscribe to the blog to get an email every time I post!

  • Reply
    ⚡️Kate (@thelittlecrunch)
    29/04/2020 at 6:35 PM

    Such a lovely and informative post. Self care has always been on my priority list. I can’t stress enough how important taking a step back to look after our own wellbeing is.

    Thanks for sharing such lovely advice and I love your photography too. I’m about to go follow on you Insta!

    Kate | thelittlecrunch.co.uk

  • Reply
    Bexa
    30/04/2020 at 11:38 AM

    This is a brilliant post with so many fab ideas! You are right, self-care can be a whole variety of activities, we just need to find the things that bring us happiness. I love doing yoga, being creative with my bullet journal and have recently started playing my guitar again. Thank you for sharing these suggestions Charlotte, hope you are having a good week! <3 xx

    Bexa | http://www.hellobexa.com

    • Reply
      Charlotte Dawson
      30/04/2020 at 6:34 PM

      Thank you for commenting!
      You are exactly right, its the things that make us happy!

  • Reply
    andoutcomesthegirl
    02/05/2020 at 10:23 AM

    Very interesting post Charlotte! I really liked the printable as well 🙂
    Silvia | http://www.andoutcomesthegirl.com

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