New Rituals
One day, everything changed and we were all tasked with switching around our everyday rituals and learning how to do things differently. For those of us touched with a splash of OCD (guilty!), this was a gargantuan challenge. But we think we can speak for most of us when we say that some of the things we changed actually worked out for the best. We asked around and took notes of what everyone was doing, and we found 5 new rituals that many people seemed to have added to their little tool kit of life that are definite keepers.
Self Care
In a time of heightened stress, everyone is agreeing that we need to be kinder and gentler with ourselves. We heard a Mental Health expert on the news last week encouraging people to do whatever it is that brings them a little joy. And “it’s OK to do nothing,” has reverberated across the instaverse in a new world that now values wellbeing and is finally coming to see that the rat race was never sustainable.
Creative Exercising
While some of us have always been workout gurus, some of us have been slower to join the workout train. But this is a time when lots of people have made an extra effort to up their exercise routine as a way to release endorphins, create diversion, or counteract the effects of being home more. And it has gotten extremely creative. Turns out that a pillow, a chair and two bottles of water are all you need for a full body workout!
Checking In
Community is everything right now. We have all been called to think about the collective whole and about pockets of our community that might be experiencing a particularly hard time. “Check in on your loved ones,” is another sentiment being expressed the world over as the effects of isolation hit closer to home. So today, everyone is “checking in”: on their family, on relatives, on friends … on the neighbor you never normally speak to.
HAVING ONE TIME IN THE DAY WHERE, NO MATTER WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON, WE DROP EVERYTHING, SIT DOWN AND CONNECT, IS A GOOD THING.
Dinner Time
All of a sudden, simple tasks have become meaningful opportunities to connect. Dinner time is one of them. Sharing a meal with someone, sometimes even virtually through a screen, has taken on a sacred role in providing a space for meaningful connections at a time when we have been told to reduce interaction. Having one time in the day where, no matter what else is going on, we drop everything, sit down and connect, is a good thing that we should always do.
Hygiene
This is a biggie. And be honest … many of us have never before washed our hands for 20 seconds, or taken a bath religiously after coming off the road. But many of us now understand this concept of invisible germs and how they spread, and we have had to reconsider how we keep ourselves and surroundings clean.
So all in all, most of us are now kinder to ourselves, fitter, more compassionate to others, check in with loved ones way more, create meaningful interactions…even if over a bowl of spaghetti, and … smell better! These are all great additions to our routines in our opinion. Let’s continue to accentuate the positive. Be good neighbors. And spread the love.
xoxo,
SS