Lockdown Self Care Series: Wait, Locking Down Again?
Depending on where you are in the world, you might be going into or already in another lockdown due to COVID numbers rising, or to prevent them from rising. Regardless of how you feel about lockdowns, at least you can have a little fun at home while staying safe, right?
During the end of the first lockdown in 2020, I heard the term “quarantoned” which at first made me chuckle, and then I was like you know what, I really can leverage this time however I want to.
Turns out, I did want to get quarantoned, I just hadn’t focused on that as it was an adjustment working out at home after having a steady gym schedule.
This was actually the topic of my second “Lockdown Self Care Series” post where I shared about maskne and movement. Adjusting to the at-home gym was tricky at first because I lacked basic things like weights and resistance bands. If you want to read more about that, check out that blog HERE
While, that was the lesson I learned last year, this new lockdown, or impending lockdowns as currently we haven’t been forced to lockdown again, yet, this year I wanted to level up my work/life at home game. So in this blog, I wanted to share three activities that I am excited to expand upon in the time I spend at home, mind you, I live in a very eclectic, urban apartment with no balcony, no yard, and shared with my guy and our cat whose taken over.
Something I did before the lockdown of 2020 that really helped during those first few months was meditation. I started doing more virtual meditations and even created our own guided meditation videos alongside my business partner Natasha, she’s the voice in the videos.
But there was one thing missing, I have my sacred space for my Buddhist practice, but I didn’t have a space to practice this type of meditation. I keep them separate as my Buddhist practice is my faith, my meditation is my mindfulness practice. They are both vital to my well-being, but offer me different aspects of it.
Faith to me, without getting too preachy on my soapbox, is your connection with your higher power/divine spirit/God/universal energy and hopefully, you can practice that faith daily to keep that connection strong, help you work through life’s problems, and help you help others become happier. This is also, from what I’ve heard, why people go to Church, to get that faith refreshing experience.
The purpose of mindfulness practice like meditation is similar, but it is more an inward focus, taking a look into the self and what the body and mind need. It can be reflective, quiet, long, or short. It can include mantras or chants, songs or, movements. Breathing can be involved, you might even be in a room while a person uses a sound bell. There are so many ways to meditate, but the ultimate focus is an inward awareness and overall calm that you can come back to by using that meditative tool when needed. So you can kinda see why this might need its own space away from my faith practice, and why making this a vital part of my day is kinda important.
So when a woman I follow on Instagram was redecorating her meditation corner a while back, I was like OMG, why have I not taken an unused corner of my home and make it my “me space”? I have my office area, we even purchased a new couch so that the two of us and the cat can all sit comfortably, but I didn’t have a spot I don’t work or sleep in. The power of having designated spaces or times to do certain things is more than most of us think.
I remember when I was learning about Feng Shui, I read that there is a belief that the only thing you should do in your bedroom (other than private matters of the heart) is sleeping. So having a TV, being on your phone, working from your bed, all discourage sleep and can affect ones ability to fall and stay asleep. Weird right?! But when you think about it, it kinda makes sense.
This brings us back to having a designated space to practice your mindfull activity, whether it’s meditation, breathing, yoga, or even arts and crafts, having that space just adds to the power of that activity.
“Meditation rooms in the workplace offer a wonderful retreat from the demands and pressures of the workday.”
Creating a clear division of what you do in the spaces in your house is surprisingly important. Think of it this way, we don’t eat in the bathroom (hopefully) and you don’t do dishes in your bedroom, there are areas that are best for that activity and make it easier and more enjoyable, unlike washing your dishes in the bathtub.
The same is true for designating an area for your mindful practice. It will make it easier to practice, more enjoyable, and with a solid intention/purpose when you’re there, hopefully leading to fewer distractions during your practice. I know this is definitely true for me!
Mediation Space/Room Ideas:
Lighting - This is subject to preference, you can have a well-lit space that breathes openness and fresh air, or a softer lit space that allows for quieting down the eyes and mind. Figure out which lighting you want in your space, maybe it’s the bright, daylight because your home is dark everywhere else or you’re an outdoor person. You can also use candles for lighting but be careful with any open flame.
Decor - My favorite thing ever is to redecorate! When it comes to a meditative space though, you want to think less clutter, less shiny objects that can distract the eye and the mind, and more soothing objects like calming paintings or art, crystals/gemstones, plants, maybe some candles, or incense burners, maybe even a humidifier! The idea here is to think calming, soothing, restorative, and design your space to reflect that.
Sounds - Music isn’t always the first thing that comes to mind when planning out a room design, but the ambiance in this space, in particular, sounds play a huge role. Do you want to hear the ocean? Would you prefer a blue tooth speaker so you can play a certain playlist? Maybe you want to invest in some sound bells? Get creative here and explore different ways to experience the sounds you want to hear in your meditative space, who knows it could include a small water fountain!
Aroma/Essential Oils - Another fun rabbit hole to get lost down is the world of essential oils. If you planned to have an oil diffuser as part of your meditation space, what oils you diffuse can greatly affect and deepen the meditation process. Check out my Pinterest board Oil Lover for ideas and inspiration when mixing your oils!
I’m excited to revisit my meditation space, and I hope after this you are too! I mentioned plants as part of the decor of the space, but indoor plants serve many functions, one of them being a great indoor self care practice.
It’s true that having plants in your home is beneficial for more reasons than just cleaning the air. They also provide a sense of comfort, companionship (I mean it is alive), and even mood balancing.
There are plants best for the bathroom, plants for the bedroom, plants good for animals, plants safe for kids, there are all kinds of plants! Speaking of kiddos, you can share the joy and fun of growing your own food with your kids! Check out my Pinterest board Gardens Galor for ideas and inspiration for your at-home garden.
Having living plants indoors also brings a little bit of the outside inside, and if you’re looking towards more days of being in your home, bringing the outdoors in can really help one’s state of mind. There are quite a few plants that clean the air, take care of bugs (Venus Fly Trap I see you), and can ward off bad juju. Ok, that last one is an old wives tale that you should keep Rosemary by your garden gate…
There’s literally so many reasons to grow a tiny garden, or a big one if you have the space! I only have two window sills and a small strip of real estate by my front door that has enough sun to grow most plants. I grow some cactuses outside, aloe of course, but it’s not really conducive to a vegetable garden with the lack of sun and soil.
At first, this made me rather sad as I thought I would never have a veggie garden. But ten months into the pandemic, I challenged myself to grow a tomato plant in my bedroom on the windowsill, it has the best lighting, but also one of my cat’s favorite perches. I have grown tomato plants before when I was a kid with my mom in our backyard, but I hadn’t been too successful since then, and that was in backyards not in a pot on a windowsill!
To my surprise, not only did it grow REALLY well, my cat liked to sniff it but other than that, left it alone. It did only yield one tiny tomato, but the experience and mild success were enough to help me feel like an accomplished gardener. One valuable lesson I learned was that I needed to put a support cage around it before it started to fall over. Another thing I know now is that it helped give me another thing to look forward to every day, to see the progress of my little plant. Overall a great experience I would do again!
“I always see gardening as an escape, as peace really. If you are angry or troubled, nothing provides the same solace as nurturing the soil.”
For more gardening inspiration, check out my other Pinterest board For The Back Yard. If you want to add some life (literally), color, and oxygen boosting support to your home space, go visit your local nursery or even Home Depot and pick up a fun new plant friend! Definitely check out the Pinterest board I linked earlier in this post too for even more ideas and lists of great indoor plants!
This is a great idea for winter too! If you get snowed in, or aren’t heading out the movies, bring the movie theater to you! Making a whole event out of it, or even a regular weekly event can help bring everyone together, give something to look forward to, and create a brief escape from being home.
“The best way to watch a movie is snuggled up with you.”
Whether you are a family of five or a dynamic duo with your best fur friend, making a movie night is fun and in my book, necessary. Now, you don’t have to build tiny drive-in cars like the image above, but there are some cool, subtle things you can do to level up your movie night.
Leveling Up Movie Night:
Pop That Corn: Level up your movie theater food by giving good old popcorn a break for the night. Check out my Pinterest board FOOD for tons of ideas of small bites and snacks fit for any movie.
Theme It: Pick a genre of movie (action, sci-fi, romance) and theme your whole movie experience around it! For romance movie night, have a bottle of Champagne, a dish with berries or chocolate, and maybe a pizza shared for two. For action movie night, depending on the movie, you can have energy drinks or a coffee cocktail, maybe a martini if it’s a Bond kinda night, and finger foods that can be eaten on the run! Once I had a Bramstroker’s Dracula night and made spaghetti, red wine and served it by candlelight, it was surprisingly creepy!
Watch Party!: Invite friends virtually and watch the same movie but from your homes! If you don’t want to video chat each other, send a text to see where they are and then make moments in the movies times when you text each other a picture reenacting that scene/actors face, finish that line - send the first part of a movie line with what you would say after, or you can always make it a drinking game. That doesn’t mean the drink has to be alcohol, it could be small shots of hot chocolate! Check out my Pinterest board Drinks! for more ideas on fun drinks to make for your movie night!
Try some of these ideas and add some of your own! I love the idea of making some everyday task really intentional and special. I know I am definitely going to add some of these to our movie nights and make them more staycation date nights!
I gotta say, this blog has been really fun and inspiring to write! I realized as I wrote this that some of these things I don’t do so much right now, like intentional movie nights and getting back to my plants. I am looking forward to a meditation room one day, for now, I will practice setting up something small in my living room for my midday mediation.
How will you implement some of these? Head over to my Instagram and send me a message! I’d love to hear from you and get some more ideas on how to level up my lockdown self care game! Until next time. be good to your skin and even better to your whole self!
xx eri