Disclaimer: This blog post was written on the 8th of October 2020 and it’s based on how I was feeling then. I no longer feel down (like before) but due to a poll I ran on Twitter earlier, it was voted that I should publish it anyway, just for public documentation ❤
I haven’t been feeling my best lately and I’ve just been a bit overwhelmed by a lot of things and I realized this whole lockdown affected me in some ways. I got home from school in early March and I do not resume school till November, so, 8 months of being at home, not doing anything majorly productive with my life. I tried as much as possible to improve my consistency in publishing blog posts, but unfortunately, that did not work out.
If you read my blog post here, you read about how I’ve been dealing with staying at home. It never really got better, to be honest, it might have even gotten worse and I am being pushed to the brink. All I can do is count down till I leave.
Like I mentioned earlier, lately, I have become so overwhelmed by a lot of things and generally just felt weighed down. It got so bad that I couldn’t even bring myself to do some things that I used to enjoy like blogging and writing stories. That is why I decided to take a break from blogging again.
I decided to start a self-care journey because I realized that I need to take care of myself both physically and mentally.
Below are some of the things I have been/will be doing to aid myself in this journey.
1. Sleep Early
I know you are thinking as early as 8 pm or 9 pm but no, I mean like 11:30-12 pm. Yeah, I know you must think I’m crazy or something but trust me that’s progress. Normally, I sleep around 1-4 am, now that’s crazy and I realized it’s not healthy at all. I realized that I cannot remember the last time I slept before midnight. So, I am going to try my best to start sleeping sort of early from now. God help me
2. Reconnecting with God
This is something that I am extremely desperate about and I am enjoying this journey. I wake up every day to a ‘verse of the day’ bible quote on my phone, using the Bible application. I am yet to dive into the app and discover other features but I will get into that. I do not want to speak much about this right now as I am still figuring things out but best believe that one day I am going to speak extensively on it. If you have any tips for me as regards building a stronger relationship with God, please let me know.
3. A Break From Blogging and Writing
If you know me and you’ve kept up with this blog, you’ll know that I take way too many breaks. Some, unnecessary and some, necessary. The recent break I took was extremely necessary. I told myself sternly, that I was not going to think about my blog and my book projects and I’m just going to relax. Honestly, I did not relax. Not willingly, but they would not let me relax in this house. But I realized that sometimes, just don’t think about it and just live in the moment. There’s no rush.
4. Read Books
I am also not going to say much about this as I may or may not have an upcoming blog post on this. Update: I did end up writing a blog post on this smh. I read a couple of books to keep me busy and also to just get back into that reading culture.
5. Turned My Focus to Other Things
So, the new semester hasn’t even started and I’ve already organized my courses, picked tentative project topics and even researched my courses. Why? because I need a distraction. Focusing my attention on other things has left me no time to be sad.
6. Made Things Right With People I Care About
There’s nothing worse than being on bad terms with people that mean a lot to you (ok there may be worse things but let’s move on). I have put in the effort to hatch things out and cleared the air so at least I have one less thing to be sad about and I’m able to share my feelings with someone again.
That’s all! By doing these six things, I have been feeling a lot better. There’s still a long way to go but I know it will be fine in the end.
Do you have any special activities you do to make yourself feel better when you’re down? Please share.
What does self-care mean to you?
How do you practice self-care?
Cup of Tee 