flask's guidelines for living in the pandemic

things got real, didn't they?

maybe you're working from home. maybe your kids are suddenly at home. maybe you're out of work.

look. this is hard on all of us. we are all of us facing increased challenges in our physical and emotional lives. some of those stresses will be obvious, like when you don't know where your next meal is coming from, and some will be subtle, like when you just can't get it together to do things and it takes you two hours to brush your teeth because you can't muster up the energy. some days you're going to be a competent human and some days you're not.

in order to help you organize your thoughts, i'm providing you with a handy list of things to try to do each day.

1) grooming- try every day to brush your teeth. if you are able, also get dressed and maybe have a shower. give yourself extra points if you trim your nails or make yourself look especially nice.

2) nourishment- try to eat enough food on some kind of schedule so that you're taking in an appropriate amount of fuel to keep you going. if you are able, prepare or order in nutritious meals, at least one every day. if you make bad choices because you are sad or sick or can't afford better, be gentle and remind yourself you're doing the best you can. if you go off the rails and stress-eat an entire box of girl scout cookies, congratulate yourself on having supported the girl scouts.

3) exercise- try to do some of this every day, either inside or out. if the weather is nice and you can go for a walk outside without violating your local distancing guidelines, do it. even if it feels like a hassle to put on your outside clothes and a mask. if you can only exercise indoors, try to make some time to do some kind of indoor workout. you will fell better if you can pull this off, i promise.

4) maintenance- try to clean, repair, or put away ONE thing every day. if you have the energy to do a whole bathroom or mop the floors, awesome. but if you can just do one thing, you will have DONE A THING. this is important.

5) learning- try to learn something every day. learn something new, practice a skill you already have. if you have the energy for it, set yourself a goal, like ten minutes of guitar practice, or one educational video on epidemiology or one page of a nonfiction book.

6) creating- have something that is not your job that you can be working on. create, make, do. try to fit in some time every day for it, but if you don't get to it today remember to call it a day off and relax. it's to give you something to do, not to drive you crazy, ok?

7) amusement- read something, watch something, listen to something that makes you happy. play a game if you have the luxury of having someone to play with. have the best fun that you can. do not make yourself earn this. consider it fundamental.

8) help- do something, no matter how small, that will make someone else's life easier today. if you are able to do this, it is a moral imperative. if you are not able to help someone today, maybe you can offer someone the opportunity to help you. maybe this is on THEIR list, and they haven't checked it off yet.

9) sleep- you're probably not sleeping as well as you used to, plus your body is trying to recover from some heavy stuff. living through a pandemic takes energy out of you whether you realize it or not, and your body catches up and heals best when you're asleep. so yeah, sleep extra and if you don't have to be anywhere at any specific time, try sleeping until you wake up.

so those are my guidelines.

and remember, just like in your pre-pandemic life you will always plan more things than you can reasonably get to. leave yourself emotional space for that. you might come out of this thing with a sparkly clean house, a lean physique and a mastery of four new languages, but just count yourself successful if you get through a day without falling all the heck apart.

one day.

one day.

one day.