don't lose your head

Last week, I wrote about my personal "plan of attack" for maintaining a social life when connecting & interacting with friends beyond the digital realm is now impossible. This week, staying in the vein of adapting our lives in the wake of Covid-19, I want to share some things I've been doing (or will be doing) to keep my mental health in check:

• Moving my body as much as possible - for me, this means doing a mix of workouts spread out throughout the day; walking in the backyard as I FaceTime friends or family or take work calls; taking advantage of my permitted 1x daily hour of exercise (walking) away from my place of residence

• Getting outside as much as possible - in addition to the outdoor "body moving" activities I cited above, I try to spend some time every day working in the yard; when the weather allows, I work outdoors, planting myself and my laptop directly in the sun as best I can. If I were stuck at my apartment in Paris, I most likely would have spent all hours of sunshine sitting out on my small balcony, even if it meant donning my long winter coat - the sun truly affects my mood immeasurably. Even if your access to the outdoors is limited to the windows, I encourage you to stick your head out there as much as you can throughout the day and take in as much fresh air and sunshine as you can.

• Practicing gratitude daily - each day, I try to come up with at least two things I'm thankful for (if I really have my act together, I'll write these two things down in my journal so I can reflect on everything I've been thankful for over the past week).

• Trying daily to think about things that I am looking forward to in life, post-corona - this is a little hard because in talking about something I am looking forward to doing once life has returned to normal, this sometimes makes me immediately lament the time where I could do said thing whenever I wanted - BUT, I think the good outweighs the bad here as I almost always finish this "exercise" on a positive note, usually excited for the time when I can do whatever it is I've thought of for that day.

• Limiting news & social media consumption - there were a few days last week where I did a total news & social media blackout, and it did wonders for my mental state (which had taken a total nosedive following the official lockdown that went into effect for France last Monday). I've been less extreme since, allowing for occasional updates of the news (and even then, I try to limit my consumption to things on which I must be informed, i.e., something that will directly and immediately impact my day-to-day); where social media is concerned, I check posts and stories of friends regularly enough, and have started again posting my own stories here and there when I have something positive or happy to share.

• Limiting contact with people that have a tendency to be overly negative, and nipping personal moments of negativity in the bud as quickly as possible - I won't lie, this one is really hard - but I have found it to be something that is oh-so-essential to feeling "OK" and remaining level-headed in this time of uncertainty.

• Eating as clean as possible - not only is your body "what you eat," but your thoughts are, too. Eating things that make my body feel good make my mind feel just as good, if not better. I try to get in as many vitamins and minerals, pure sources of protein, healthy fats, and healthy carbs each day - sure, some days I fall short in a certain area, but overall, it is "so far, so good." I should also note that, for me, this includes wine

• Keeping my mind active - when I am not working (which I am very grateful to be able to continue doing), exercising, getting some fresh air, catching up with friends or family, I keep my mind engaged by practicing my French (whether through reading, doing some grammar exercises, or having a nice lengthy chat with my friend's wonderful, non-English-speaking mother-in-law) - if I didn't have continuing to improve my French as an outlet, I would probably be well on my way to becoming a sudoku master or something of that sort.

SO, there lies my list - as with ways to maintain my social life, I expect for this list to grow in the coming weeks...and that brings a big old smile to my face.