Cooking for Myself +9 Things I’ve Had to Change My Attitude About Since Quarantine

It’s weird, because before there was a global pandemic, I worked remotely since 2008, so you’d think this wouldn’t be an adjustment for me workwise. 

But, let’s face it, as any personal development guru will tell you, when you find success in one area of your life (they usually use the finances/love/health model) the other areas grow successfully as well.

Unfortunately, it works in both directions. While I had great work/life/health habits before March, once one started plunging down, the other two soon followed. 

In the last month, I had to pull myself out of a dark place. I started one good habit attitude adjustment at a time. Here’s what I found: 

1.    I’ve been eating basically the same 6 things everyday for the last two years because I don’t cook. Enough was enough! I bought some spices, got some internet recipes, and gave myself some variety. You know what I discovered? It’s very loving to care about myself enough to make myself a nice meal.

2.    Even after 3 decades of doing yoga at my gym or studios, my habit went down the drain. It is NOT the same doing it at home, and although I know it’s good for me, buying a hot yoga dome, an aerial swing and watching my friends teaching live, has not helped. I have to be okay with my inconsistency. That said, I need 30 minutes of exercise a day, because when I don’t… the funk comes on, and I don’t mean the musical kind. 

3.    It’s now been 14 months since I suddenly lost my Saint Bernard, Barkley, and while I thought my heart could not make room for another dog, there is a puppy in my near future. Stay tuned…

4.    I can NOT have my laptop in my bedroom. I have a home office where I worked for years. Why this shifted when quarantine started… more about that in #10. Bottom line, I must leave my bedroom to go to work, because it’s the healthy choice.

5.    Water. I live in Las Vegas… I know it’s a desert, and I know I need to drink half my body weight in water minimum. And when I don’t, my body reminds me with a horrible headache that lass at least 14 hours. You’d think that it would take once maybe twice to make the connection… it did, but my attitude needed a major adjustment after my 15th or so headache.

6.    Getting myself outside in nature is a non-negotiable for my mental health. 

7.    For New Years, I deleted over 50 shows from my DVR, allowing only 5 shows… needless to say, there’s been a huge upswing in binge-watching since March. The good news is I am still only DVRing 5 shows, though I have about 50 Hallmark Channel movies recorded which I watch in the background while I work. I think it’s a good compromise.

8.    NO POLITICS/NEWS… I’ve had two horrible dark spirals through the last 8     months, which were HARD to pull myself out of. Both occurred after watching a week’s worth of CNN/FOX (I had to see both perspectives). My body was like Emoto's book The Hidden Messages in Water, the more negativity I saw the sicker my mind and body felt. I am not uninformed, I simply read highlights and avoid those networks like my life depends on it… because it does. 

9.    Video chat has been my saving grace. At first my attitude was that video is not the same as being in person. That is of course true, but now my attitude is, it’s the best I’ve got, and seeing someone through video is so uplifting!

10.The biggest attitude change of all has been mental. Never in my life have I struggled with the emotional ups and downs that the state of the world in the last 8 months has provided me. I have learned so much about my own resilience, battling the dark thoughts, acknowledging that my always “happy/energetic” personality has been shaken to the core. The biggest attitude adjustment I’ve had to make is that I have to own my choice to take care and maintain 1-9 or I will find myself quickly slipping back to a dark place.

Have you struggled with maintain your good habits? If so, what have you done to adjust your attitude?