Boost Your Mood During Quarantine

Sometimes it gets really hard to boost your mood during quarantine. Nobody’s perfect, but keeping a positive attitude certainly makes things better. Here are some of my tricks.

I’m a pretty positive person. I pride myself in almost always being able to see the bright side of a situation. But I’m not perfect. And this whole social distancing/quarantine thing is challenging. Really challenging. But that doesn’t mean it’s not doable… but it does require some effort.

It’s really easy to fall into that stay-at-home-not-getting-dressed pattern. But this does not make you feel good. Seriously, the novelty of not wearing a bra or pants with a waistband can wear off really fast.

I speak from experience. Learn from my mistakes. The first few days of this new normal had me a bit out of sorts. I felt mood swings like never before, I had some anxiety, my temper became a bit short, and my head a bit fuzzy. THEN, I changed things up.

Here’s What Can Help Boost Your Mood During Quarantine

1. Get Dressed

Don’t sit around in your robe or your pajamas all day. Yes, you can lounge a bit longer than usual in the morning, but for the love of God, if wearing a bra makes you feel better, put a bra on. Give your sweat pants a break. Wear a shirt with a little shape to it. Listen, I’m all about the comfort and in normal times I can be the queen of yoga pants,  but now when you are stuck inside and are working from home, this is not the best choice. You can wear your cozy, soft clothes that don’t look like PJs or sweats. I can’t state strongly enough how much this helped me.

On a related note, if you feel better when your hair is done, do your hair. I so want to be someone who likes what I see in the mirror when my hair dries naturally, but when I’ve done that several times lately, I’m not so happy with it. So, I started drying my hair. It’s 10 minutes out of my day and clearly I have the time.

2. Make Your Bed

I’ve always been one to make my bed every morning. And now is no exception. One day, I didn’t make it because I was in one of those “why does it even matter?” moods… big mistake. It doesn’t feel good to walk into your bedroom later in the day and have the bedsheets all balled up. It sours your mood. So, make the bed. I mean… really… what else have you got to do?

3. Eat Immune Boosting Foods

Don’t swap out healthy foods for unhealthy crap just because you are home all day. Look, I have snacks all over my house. And it would be really easy to grab something unhealthy. But… it will NOT make you feel good. Treat your body as a temple. It’s never been more important than it is now to use food as fuel. Every time you put something in your mouth is another opportunity to boost your immune system. If you are not sure how to do this or what this means, you can download my free ebook on Boosting Your Immune System right HERE.

4. Move Your Body

I am not an exercise lover; I always wished I was but I am not. However, in the past I would sign up for regular exercise/movement/yoga classes because I know myself and if I am signed up for a class, I am too responsible not to show up. So now I really have to work at it. This is my rule: 2 days on and then I’m allowed 1 day off. I force myself to do some type of on-line workout class for 20 to 30 minutes in the mornings. I do it for 2 days, and then, if I really don’t feel like it on the third day, I give myself that day off. So far it’s been working and I do have to say that I really feel much better on the days I move.

5. Hydrate Yourself

Drink lots of water. Drink lots of green juice. Just do it… your body will thank you.

6. Meditate

I was taught RPM (rise. pee. meditate). I recommend this. Get up in the morning. Pee. Sit your butt down in a comfy quiet spot and just focus on your breath for 20 minutes. Set a timer if that will help you not open your eyes until the 20 minutes are up — this way you don’t have to peek at the clock to see how much time you have left. This will center you. If you do it regularly, it will calm you when you need it most.

7. Take Care Of Your Digestive System

I know I have this listed as number 7, but really this is one of the most important things you can do to boost your mood during quarantine. The key to immunity is in your gut. If things are moving properly, you stay much healthier. So, if you usually take probiotics, make sure you keep taking them now. If you usually take digestive enzymes, keep it up. Eat foods that are kind to your digestion. Warm foods are better than cold. Fresh foods are better than processed. Chemicals are bad. That’s a huge over simplification, but if you want more info, you can download my free ebook all about digestion HERE.

8. Do Not Watch The News All Day Long

Really. Limit this. After the first few days, I realized how anxiety-producing this habit is. And anxiety and stress actually lower your immune system. Yes, we need to stay informed, but do not overdose on the news.

9. Don’t Watch TV All Day Long

This is similar to #8 above, but now I mean regular, entertaining TV. Wow, it’s so easy to fall into that I’m-gonna-binge-watch-everything-here-on-the-couch mentality. This isn’t good for anyone. Binge watching is fine. But we need limitations. Set some. I have made a rule for myself that the TV does not go on until at least 3:00 in the afternoon… this has been much easier to stick to than I though it would be and boy do I feel better than when I turn on the set in the morning.

10. Connect With People

Use modern technology to your benefit. FaceTime and Skype are perfect now. Actually seeing a person’s face and having an albeit technology-fueled face-to-face conversation is a great way to boost your mood during quarantine.

11. Read A Good Book

What’s the definition of good here? It’s different for everyone… but, reading a book that makes YOU feel good is the way to go. For me, that means I will leave my book club’s more cerebral reads and substitute them for beachy type reads.

I hope everyone is well out there. Stay safe. Stay happy. Stay positive. And just reach out if you need me. I’m here.