Quarantine, social distancing, and this amount of uncertainty is new to all of us. I keep moving between contentment and precariousness - a real rollercoaster of emotions. I count myself lucky to love the home I live in, to live with my partner, and to have the company of two little kitties. I’ve also been doing a handful of things to help me through these times, and I would like to share them with all of you.

1. Follow your own rhythm.

   Rather than forcing a specific schedule, allow yourself to follow your own rhythms. It doesn’t need to match anyone else, not even the people you live with. Your daily schedule doesn’t need to resemble what it was before this. Perhaps, ask yourself these questions:

   “Why am I doing this?”

   “Why am I doing it this way?”

   “What is leading me to believe I need to do this?”

   “Does this nourish and support me?”

   “Is there another way I could do this that would feel more natural, helpful, or healthful?”

   Exploring these questions has been a game changer. For a long time I’ve struggled with setting ridiculously high expectations for myself, and it’s been something I’ve been working through intensely the past six months. I feel like it has prepared me well for this time. During this period of quarantine, this honestly looks like treating myself to some well-deserved rest. Why is it well deserved? Simply just because I’m allowing it to be! I’ve been allowing myself to sleep in, wake up without an alarm, and stay up later into the night. I find that the later evening hours are when I am most productive, and this schedule has allowed for the growth of some easy and natural flow into my days. I allow myself to eat when I’m hungry, rather than force myself into eating just because it’s “dinner time.” I allow myself to be lazy, but when I feel productivity hit I go full force. I’ve found a system to move through my days that allow for fluidity, rather than a rigid schedule just for the sake of it. This has worked well for me, and I know that your life may not look exactly like mine, but I do think you can listen deeply to what your rhythm is, and allow yourself the space to move with it.

2. find little bits of fun.

   It’s a serious time that we are living in. There’s lots of fear, concern, and we are faced with very real problems. However, if we allow ourself to get caught up in fear, we lose love. I encourage you to find love, to find light, to find fun. You’re allowed. This doesn’t need to be a big, well-planned, activity - it can be the tiniest moment of joy. Maybe it’s something you haven’t done in a long time (board-games?), or something you’ve never done before. Maybe it’s something you saw on the internet that you wanted to try. Maybe it means creating a bit of a mess, but remembering that you have time and freedom to clean it up!

   My partner and I have made about 1000000000 songs over the past three weeks. We make everything into a song! We sing about our cats, about not having money, about making lunch, doing laundry, and everything else. We don’t necessarily sound good, but we bring some joy and fun into the mundane. We’ve found games to play with our kittens. We’ve decided to do some deep cleaning. We’ve freshened up our home with some painting. I’ve started propagating some plants. We’ve played Super-Nintendo. We cuddle every morning and just talk in gibberish about how cute we are. We’ve found fun. Find the little bits of inevitable joy that creep up in your day.

3. Let the emotions just happen.

   I continuously remind myself that this is new, uncomfortable, and completely unexplored territory. And it’s okay to have moments, days, or even stretches of days that are difficult. Because this simply is just difficult! Create space for the emotions to come up, to be processed, and felt - completely free of expectation or judgement. Learn to welcome all parts of this experience, all parts of you - even if it’s uncomfortable or challenging. The longer we ignore these things, the longer we deal with them.

   One of my favorite ways to welcome in emotions is by imagining a big bubble around me filled with charged particles that are my emotions. The smaller the bubble, the more suffocated I am and the more stagnant my emotions become. In expanding the bubble and welcoming in some ease and breathing room, the emotions have their own space to dissipate. The particles of emotion spread and become less dense. When emotions and experiences can be given their own space, they move, they shift, they dissipate. Through this, you allow yourself to feel lighter and more spacious, too.

4. Meditation every night.

   I’ve had such a hard time falling asleep (…perhaps because I sleep in? Haha). My mind just races and wanders and is so busy that I have such a hard time finding a restful enough place to fall asleep. A saving grace for me has been meditations for sleep. I get all cozy and comfortable in bed, open Insight Timer (a free app!) and search up sleep meditations (my favourite are Nidra practices), and soon enough I’m out! Not only has this helped in the time of sleep, but I’ve also found that the ease has spread into the rest of my days - I breathe more deeply, I have more awareness of my busy mind, and I find myself more easily in the present moment. The biggest piece of advice I can offer with this? LOOSEN YOUR EXPECTATIONS! Meditation doesn’t need to be sitting for hours with an empty mind and a sore back from sitting straight up. It can be folded into the blankets, with your mind full of nonsense and planning, and a snoozing partner next to you.

5. Take what you need!

   Give yourself grace. Give yourself ease. Give yourself forgiveness and kindness. Forget about expectations, forget about judgement. And if you get lost, close your eyes, place your hands on your heart and ask your intuitive, wise self what is needed. Let yourself find nourishment in any and all forms. Find what works for you. Forget about comparison, forget about regular life. Instead, allow yourself to learn in these difficult times about how to love and nourish yourself most authentically.