What a week, huh? I’ve really been using exercise lately as a great support for my mental health. No, I don’t feel like doing it before I start but I truly enjoy the benefits afterwards. It also helps improve the quality of my sleep: I fall asleep more quickly and sleep more soundly when I fit exercise into my day.
Look, I know things are chaotic right now and I’m not going to tell you that exercise is going to solve all the problems, but I will tell you that it can help you manage your stress, anxiety, sleep issues and overall mood and those are benefits we need right now. So however you can find a way to exercise- do it, perhaps like
this guy who ran a marathon on his balcony.
If you are having a tough time and need more than exercise here is a list of other resources to assist with your mental health:
National Institute of Mental Health.
I’m really trying more and more to limit my intake of news. My goal is to stay informed so I do catch the evening news but I’m trying to limit social media and not having 24-hour news on in the background when I’m home.
Focus on what you can control. I realize that I can put my phone down, focus on my kids, get exercise, cook healthy-ish meals (emphasis on the “ish”) and make sure I get decent sleep. Although we can’t control other people or their actions, we can control our reactions. And when I’m taking care of myself it seems to be easier to control those reactions. (See paragraph on exercise above)
When it doubt, clean. I have no idea why but lately finding an area in my place to clean, or a cupboard to go through gets me in the zone, it’s like a strange form of meditation. It needs to get done because I haven’t cleaned much in the past few years as I haven’t been inside this much. Now there’s no excuse. I put on a podcast or playlist and go. I’m never bored when there are things to clean, and in our house there is always something to be cleaned.