Self-care in hibernation

What interesting times we are currently living in! As someone who lives alone and often works from home, I really didn’t think I would be overly bothered with this hibernation business, but I like to be the decision maker of my life and not be told to stay home! The good thing is I have been on a self-care journey for the past few months so I have just amped that up more, it’s amazing what you can find on YouTube! Also this cool thing called Gaia ( like the spiritual version of Netflix) has some great stuff on there.

I have a little routine going, I do a couple of walk/runs daily. I meditate daily. I practice positive affirmations. I read everyday. I listen to podcasts. I play loud happy music and dance around my apartment- dancing like nobody is watching because well, nobody is actually watching. I do YouTube yoga a couple of times a week and I have a little workout session I do at least every second day. The whole time I have my essential oils burning either the Rejuvenate mix or the Goddess mix. Oh yeah I do also work!!

With my hair heading towards my knees and in desperate need of waxing, I’ve decided to take some things into my own hands, determined to come out of this “hibernation” better than when I went in! The hair situation will just have to wait but there are so many other things we can do! I make my own face scrub with raw sugar and lemon and that works a treat. I do regular facemarks and hair masks and “frank” myself! Ok people for those of you who do not know Frank is a coffee body scrub but I personally like the term “frank myself”, sounds sort of exciting doesn’t it!! Oh and cold showers, it’s amazing how those things wake you up first thing in the morning!

Now I have also discovered a little secret that I would like to share with you all. Face yoga! Yes face yoga is a thing. Who knew? Well some of you may have known about this but this is new to me and had me a little intrigued. Alas to say I had to try it and now I do the 8 minute YouTube face yoga session daily! This is something you want to try when you are alone because honestly the things you do with your face make you look ridiculous, however, there are some trigger points which are calming and relaxing and apparently the facial manoeuvres are good for your facial muscles. My suggestion, give it a go.

Let’s discuss the dancing some more. Normally I would only dance you know, when you are out with people, where there’s loud thumping music and a few beverages have been consumed. However, if you have not had the opportunity to just let it all go and dance around your living room, you are definitely missing out! The beauty of this, is it’s like interpretive dance because you can do whatever you want with absolutely no judgement! My recommendations of music for these, let’s call them outbursts, are as follows: dancing queen, girls just wanna have fun, man I feel like a woman and the Rocky theme song (bet this last one threw you). They are all classic chick songs except the Rocky theme song but be honest is it not an inspirational piece of music and the exciting thing with this one is, you can also throw imaginary punches without feeling completely ridiculous! Sometimes I mix the dancing with housework. Sometimes I leap out of the cold shower straight into dance because I’m partially frost bitten and I need to get my blood recirculating. Sometimes I dance whilst cooking, but these moves are more restrictive because of sharp knives and things. The reality is my cooking may actually be better with some dancing queen thrown in!

My mate makes cheese as a hobby, so this as you can imagine has increased significantly! We have dinner once a week, he brings wine and cheese and I judge the cheese and drink the wine. He asks what country should we visit this week and then he cooks something from that country! Last week was French cuisine. We discuss future travel destinations as we had a lot of fun on our Thailand trip and wonder when we will ever be able to travel again! We talk about me being sick in Thailand and suspect I’ve already had COVID-19 and maybe I was the carrier into Aus on the 3rd January (this was before we even knew what this was)! Last week I met him outside to let him into my complex wearing my light flicking showstopper cape that he got me for Christmas! The looks I got were quite amusing but we should do what makes us laugh and smile.

I hope you are all doing things that keep you calm and sane in this current environment. It’s the perfect time to find a new hobby or do some lovely things for yourself. Maybe learn something new? Whatever you do make sure you LAUGH. Make sure you reach out if you are struggling. I have found this writing to be not only therapeutic but also incredibly enjoyable and hope that it entertains or helps in these current times.

Remember no matter what is happening, the sun still rises in the East and sets in the West everyday! And eventually the supermarket shelves will be restocked with toilet paper…