Empowering activities during COVID – 19 lockdown
Eugeniia Gul • April 7, 2020
The below recommendations are exactly what I’m doing during the quarantine and I am sincerely sharing with you what makes me feel grounded during uncertain times, which doesn’t mean that I don’t care about the virus. I am like you anxious about a pandemic, I am like you going crazy after watching the news, I am like you depressed about COVID-19 confirmed cases and death cases numbers and yes… I am worried about the future of our world.On this blog post, I’m sharing some empowering home activities, which are focused on healing, self-development and grounding. Share this blog post with people you love and who don’t know what to do during the lockdown.
Read Books
Reading reduces stress and helps you to forget about all the worries you may have in a certain period of your life. We live in uncertain times and snuggling up with a book instead of watching the news can help you to forget for a moment about COVID-19.
Choose a book which most closely matches your needs at the present moment. Are you stressed? Read the books about emotional healing and self-help. Are you struggling with finding yourself? Read autobiography books of the people who inspire you. Reading inspiring autobiography books or stories about imaginary heroes can motivate you to become a better version of yourself and to achieve your goals faster.
Do you dream of starting your own business? Find entrepreneur books which will make it more clear for you on how to establish your company and to live life on your terms.
Listen to yourself, listen to your thoughts and notice what you noticing. You don’t have to ask people for books recommendations; you should listen to yourself because all of the answers you seek are within you. What is good for one is not always good for all.
I highly recommend you to highlight the most powerful and inspiring quotes in the book of your choice, the quotes you like the most will be your guide to life improvement.
Last but not least, the more knowledge you gain by reading, the more clarity you gain about your life. People who read books are nicer, more knowledgeable and more empathetic than the ones who don’t. The choice belongs to you.
Do the cleaning at your home
I am pretty sure that people who have clean homes – usually have an organized life. Have you ever been to the house of a successful person? It’s not messy and the things are in its place. You may say that successful people are rich and they can afford to hire a housekeeper, well, but what stops you from being a successful person and hiring a cleaning lady? Start from small things; create a habit of living in a clean and tidy home in the beginning and then consider an investment of hiring a housekeeper if cleaning doesn’t bring you joy.
Your home is a place where you forget about chaos outside.
But if you come back from chaos to “chaos” (your home) you have chaos at your head. Does it make sense to you?
Meditate
Being 100% honest with you I didn’t believe in the power of meditation till the moment meditation became part of my life. The first meditations felt very strange and unusual – like I was out of normal life like it wasn’t me at all. Afterwards, I’ve noticed that meditation is effective for me at reducing the stress of everyday life. If you want to reduce stress levels, meditation may be the answer.
I highly recommend you to upload a mobile application Tide, that can help you live better, sleep better, breathe and relax (it’s free of charge).
Practice Yoga
The same story is about yoga practice, I didn’t believe in the power of yoga and Bodypump™ classes seemed to be more interesting.
Yoga usually involves paying attention to your breath, which can help you relax. Lastly, I practice yoga at home with my favourite Boho Beautiful Youtube Channel– try the classes with her – you won’t regret and your body will say “thank you” to you in a form of stressing less and being more relaxed. Besides, on the channel, you can find healthy vegan meal preparation, mat-based pilates or fitness workout, and Boho diaries about two yogis wandering the earth together. I love looking at these guys; they are a couple who travel together, work together and look for the meaning of life TOGETHER.
Improve Your Overall Flexibility
There are lots of benefits of stretching – it can not only help increase your flexibility, but it is great for stress relief. When we are stressed – our muscles are tightening up and your goal should be to focus on mindfulness and to enjoy the process. 5-15 minutes of stretching a day, can help increase your flexibility, which is crucial for your overall health. I like to stretch after the workout, I believe that it shortens my recovery time and it reduces muscle soreness.
Create a Plan for your Life – lockdown won’t last forever
Unfortunately, many people don’t know what their life mission is and where exactly do they go in their lives… Honestly? I try not to worry about lockdown so much and to enjoy the moment at home: journaling, planning and visualizing the best version of myself. You can do it too! Think every little detail through:
• Describe where you wake up
• Are you alone or are you having a big family?
• What do you eat for breakfast?
• Who makes breakfast for you?
• What do you do after breakfast?
• Where do you go?
• What clothes are you wearing?
• What people surround you?
And so on and so on – you got the point – write down as many details as possible. Then think for a while… how would it make you feel if you would have such a life?
Create your life vision, make a map of your big dreams! When you are uncertain, you don’t know what to do exactly, thus you feel confused, depressed, miserable and unwanted. I don’t want you to feel this way – I want you to be happy about your life.
Happy people contribute more to our Planet than the ones who are unhappy with their own lives.
Work with a life coach on your Goals
What do you really want for yourself?
Hopefully, you decided on what you want and made a dream map, but if you still have difficulties with setting the action plan for achieving your big goal – consider talking to a professional life coach. A life coach can help you to get over your challenges, to formulate an action plan and to make a significant change in your life (if you are ready for it)! From my experience, the majority of people want money and success but they are not ready for it. So, it’s a good question to ask yourself whether you feel that the moment is NOW or you need more time to get ready and to be more crystal clear on what you really want for yourself.
Plant the Flowers
Speaking about the contribution to our Planet and living a happy life: people who live around nature feel much happier than those that don't. The plants help you feel less boxed in, especially now when all of us are staying at home during the virus. Btw staying at home – you contribute to our world A LOT because you can be infected or/and spread the virus. Staying at home – you save your life and lives of other people. Many of us know it – not all of us do it.
Coming back to the plants, plants make you think of the outdoors and you can have a sense of peace around them. Without forgetting to mention that planting flowers have a positive impact on you, our environment and it increases your feeling of well-being (now it’s all about your well-being, positive energy and patience).
Benefit of an online therapy
Sessions with the psychologist are for crazy people or for people who value personal growth?
My old Ukrainian close-minded way of thinking tried to convince me that sessions with psychologists are only for crazy people and for people who have mental health issues... but it’s wrong! So my lovely friends, do not allow society to convince you in their beliefs...form your own opinion!โ
Remember one thing from the person who has sessions with the therapist every Friday for 3 years already - therapy is about growth and creating opportunities for positive change. So give yourself this gift!
Therapy is not ONLY for problem-solving, overcoming anxiety and depression, but it's also a way to build relationships with yourself and to welcome emotional wellness into your life. You don't have to “be crazy” to benefit from therapy. Find a professional who will help you to get feedback on whatever you’re feeling and saying and again, do not ask everyone around you to find a therapist for you – do it yourself! I will repeat what I’ve mentioned before - what is good for one is not always good for all.
Set life priorities
People who know me in real life say that I love to overthink and to find a sense in everything. Well, good that they noticed that and said it to me, but it actually doesn’t affect my life and I accept myself unconditionally: I prefer people who think than who don’t think and don’t care at all. Last two weeks, I was analyzing why the virus causes a global pandemic, why now, why people are isolated at their homes, why people forgot how is it to stay at one place for so many hours a day with the family members? Then I’ve realized that the quarantine can actually help all of us to set the priorities in life (or to reset the old ones).
I honestly believe that the key to a happy and successful life is to get really clear on your priorities and stick with them. My life priorities are the balance between my family life and career, but unfortunately, before the quarantine, I preferred to work longer hours than to spend those hours with my husband or friends. Life priorities are like GPS to keep you on course. Let me be honest with you, I didn’t stay the course…I failed… and I neglected the most important things in life: love, quality time with people I love and my health, what about you?
I’ve realized, that every action that we take and every decision that we make will put us one step closer or one step farther away from our goals. The best guidelines to keep in mind for me is the book 7 Habits of Highly Successful People
by Steven Covey (I recommend you to read it twice)
To be back on track – we should take good care of ourselves and people we love. Hopefully, my honesty and obvious but so important activities during COVID-19 will make you rethink about what matters for you in life the most.
Don’t live in fear. It eats your soul and sucks your positive energy. Live in love.โฌ
Choose love.
Now, let's just be the observers (catch your emotion and decide how to act next). Who do you see in the picture below?! I am assuming that you see a fast walking stylish woman who wears bright clothes (she is not afraid to be seen), holding a planner (you may think that she likes to plan and values her time. In the reality, it's her product, and she published it probably because she plans everything ahead). She SMILES, which makes you feel safe to say "Hi" and start the conversation. LOVEMARK RULE N1: Let your personality speak louder than the words about what you have to offer.
๐I am a Ukrainian woman living in Los Angeles spreading my love, knowledge, and experience with others who are like me: want to be happy, and fulfilled… BUT it wasn’t always like this. ๐I struggled for years with anxiety, suicidal thoughts, self-hate, and false belief of being unlovable, or lovable but CONDITIONALLY (my childhood was pretty f*cked up and I had to grow up fast). ๐I established my 1st business at the age of 18 in Ukraine and made more money than I made in the USA in the first 2 years of immigration. I invested the money I made IN myself: I immigrated at the age of 21 to a foreign land where I knew nobody to obtain my Master's Degree. ๐Before immigration, I'd been into emotional&physical abusive relationships with an alcohol addict (you attract what you think you deserve). ๐For 23 years of my life, I was overcompensating my childish misery with labels, diplomas, money, and achievements. I had a dream to work in the UN just for the working title (it calls overcompensation).
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