How to Stay Motivated in Quarantine
Hi friends! Times are weird right?! Shelter in place orders, mandatory mask-wearing, and quarantine boredom is making us all a little queasy. Talking with my friends and coworkers the last few weeks, I am realizing now more than ever how important it is for us to spend our time wisely. I put together a list of tips + tricks that have been helping me stay motivated during this crazy time:
1 // CREATE A SCHEDULE
I can not emphasize how important this is! Having a schedule/routine you follow during the week can totally transform your lazy and sluggish feelings to feelings of accomplishment as you tackle the day instead of letting the day tackle you. I don’t know about you but if I give myself all day to do something, I will take all day to do it. Bringing me to my next point…
2 // MOVE YOUR BODY
Movement is medicine. Read that again. In times like these, we NEED to be intentional about moving our bodies so that we can release stress/anxiety and get our minds right. For me, I workout first thing in the morning. It allows me to not talk myself out of it because the day gets away from me or I get distracted. It sets the tone for the day that even if I don't necessarily WANT to do something, I did it anyway. And DANG— that is a good feeling to have first thing in the morning! One thing I am loving right now to help keep me moving is the Peloton app. It has all different workouts from cycle, outdoor running, strength, yoga, etc! And its free for 90 days! Can you say score?!
3 // TURN OFF THE NEWS
Might get some heat for this one, but watching the news on a 24/7 loop is not going to do anything for you but declare war on your peace of mind! I am a firm believer that our minds were not created to know about every horrible thing going on in the world. It is simply too much… especially with everything going on right now.
I do know we need to be up to date with what is going on with the world so here is a solution I have been using. What would it look like for you to set aside 30 minutes in your schedule to watch the news or scroll your favorite station’s feed? Desginating that time in your schedule instead of letting the news be on in the background of your house all day long will prevent the doom and gloom of the media from being the soundtrack of your quarantine. Another pro-tip would be to schedule a yoga or mediation session right after said “news time”. You will need it, LOL!
4 // TO-DO & PROJECT LISTS
Even if you are working from home like me, I am noticing that I have a few extra hours a day that are unclaimed. What an amazing opportunity for us to do those things we’ve wanted to do forever but never “had the time” to do! I’m looking at you closet, pantry, junk drawer organization! Make a list of the projects you want to tackle each week and put them into your schedule (see again #1). If you have been wanting to simplify your closet for months but have been putting it off, once it is exists in your schedule you are less likely to turn to Netflix and actually accomplish it. If it’s not on your calendar it doesn’t exist. Writing it down has a certain kind of magic!
5 // NO TV UNTIL AFTER DINNER
Ok this one may sound crazy but hear me out. You have your schedule. You have things you want to accomplish. You want to OWN this time of quarantine and come out the other side on FIRE. You wouldn’t have made it this far reading this blog post if you wanted to be mediocre. So listen up… the TV in my house during the week does not turn on until after dinner. Why?! Because I am human and if there is a choice between Real Housewives of Beverly Hills or cleaning out my closet we both know what I’m going to choose. By removing that distraction I am so much more productive and at the end of the day I feel like I owned the day instead of the other way around. Call me crazy but try it for a week and I promise you you’ll thank me later.
GUYS— we can do hard things. This time is tough but we are tougher. Let’s step into our callings and live full out even in quarantine!