Self-care in isolation
Now that most of us are self-isolating and practicing social distancing, we’re all adjusting to a new normal. While this is a stressful time, it is more important than ever to practice self-care and look after ourselves, and there are a few things we can do to tend to our physical and emotional needs.
We asked our supporters to give their best self-care tips for isolation during this uncertain time, here’s what they said:
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Try something new
“Take up a creative hobby, like journaling and colouring, something you can look back on to remember the challenge you overcame.” – Laura
“Being cooped up at home is the perfect time to try that thing you’ve always put off doing. Try and learn something new every day, even if it’s just a single word or phrase in a foreign language.” – Neil
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Stay positive
“Remember that every passing second, we are moving closer to coming out the other side. Keep the faith and stay positive!” – Paul
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Keep active
“Use the daily permitted exercise and make sure you get some fresh air. I go for a walk every day and try to do the 10,000 steps. I enjoy watching the trees greening up and admire the flowers.” – Carol
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Stick to a routine
“To make sure you aren’t wandering around aimlessly, have a structure in place so you can have a routine” – Tanya
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Decluttering and organising
“While the pandemic may leave us feeling out of control, a great way to combat this is to focus on things that you can control. To help stop my mind from worrying and to help me feel more relaxed, I enjoy decluttering and organising my home and making a nice relaxing space to unwind in.” – Lindsay
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Stay calm and relaxed
“If you have a garden, take up bird watching! At this time of year they are nesting and can do with a little help from us with feeding. It’s very relaxing to watch them.” – Sally
“Take time to look after yourself. Even if you’re confined to one room of your house, you may still be able to do some meditation, yoga or even some basic physical activity while watching an exercise video.” – Laura
The Living Well Centre have provided some useful Living Well resources for you to access from home, including meditation videos, information on how to manage breathlessness and tips on keeping active from our Therapies team. You can access all of these here.
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Stay in touch
“Keep talking – whether it’s video calls, text messages, voice notes, joining forums or joining conversations on social media, make sure you keep talking to those that you love. It’s so important to stay social and not to shut yourself off from everybody.” – Lizzie
There’s always someone to speak to, even if it’s not face to face. At St Catherine’s, we offer counselling and emotional support to help you find strength to face your challenges. To find out more about emotional support, please visit our resources here.
Additionally, if you need extra support in your local community, whether that’s telephone support, foodbanks, welfare or mental wellbeing, you can access help in your community. To see our full list of additional support in the community, please visit here.
And do connect with us on social media if you can and aren’t already following our channels. Find us on Facebook here , Twitter here and Instagram here, because our online community is a source of great strength and companionship for our collective supporters and our staff.
