The One Thing You Have to Do in Quarantine

We’ve been in quarantine, what? 8 years? I thought so. And in that time frame, there has been A LOT of content popping up everywhere imaginable telling you what to do or not to do during this weird time of quarantine. We’ve been given the gift of time! Here are 80 things to add to your to-do list that you already had. GENIUS! I’m going to add just one more.

Listen to yourself. That’s it. Just listen to yourself. You don’t have to lose all the weight, write the next great novel, deep clean your entire house, or do everything that’s been on your to-do list. If you are itching to do those things or get started on them, more power to you! But I wanted to give you permission.

Permission to relax. To just be, to figure out how to cope. I struggle with two different mindsets that unfortunately also battle each other. One is perfectionism. The other is procrastination. My brain is wired to procrastinate because if I didn’t give it my all, that’s why it wasn’t perfect not because if I did try I couldn’t be perfect. Make sense? Doesn’t to me either but that’s where I’m at.

Maybe you’re the same or maybe you’re just also exhausted by the noise coming in every day through our various types of screens. There are so many people doing good and I think it’s amazing that they’ve figured out a way to help during this time, I really do. But I’m tired of the ” — is going live!” or these 1000 workouts are being offered free online! More than ever I’m beating myself up for the things I’m not doing.

Everyone’s situation in this is different so let me clarify what mine is. I’m incredibly blessed to still be employed and able to work from home. But what that means is I’m still living my life as I always do. The biggest difference is that I’m doing it at home instead of going into the studio. Which means that I’m constantly surrounded and able to do all these newfound to-do list tasks. I could sweep or do that load of laundry or clean out my closet or whatever in theory but the reality is, I’m still working 9-6. It’s unrealistic to think I can do everything with the same amount of time I had before.

If that’s you, I want you to hear me. Listen to yourself. If you feel like you need a break, take one. A nap? Grab a blanket. Do you need to work out to burn energy? Or sit in the sun? What do you need in this moment? Tune in to what it is YOU need and honor that. I’m usually a person that wants sound on all the time. The tv, a podcast, music, whatever. I live alone so always having something fill the space makes me feel like I’m not alone. Strangely in this time what I’ve been craving the most: silence. Seems weird to me but I honor it. And it gives me the brain space to process. There is so much information, opinions, classes, etc out there that it has filled my brain space and I don’t have any more room to process. I started giving myself silence and in turn room.

If you want to partake one everything being offered and you want to partake in everything being graciously offered, then do that! But I’m giving you permission that if you need a minute, take it. If you’re not being productive in the way everyone thinks you should be during the quarantine, that’s okay! It is productive to journal or sit outside or take a nap. Listen to what YOU need, create your boundaries, and take a deep breath. The only thing you should be adding to your to-do list is to take inventory of where you’re at and come through the other side. When we get out of here, if you’re your best self or the self that got through this scary and consuming time, that’ll be enough.