Everywhere you turn it seems all you read or hear about is the current global pandemic affecting us: COVID-19. While this virus is no laughing matter and all warnings, government mandated isolation, and social distancing practices should be taken seriously, it’s hard not to let all this devastating news get to you. Having to #stayhome can make you feel down, cooped up, anxious, frustrated, lonely, depressed, or on edge. For some, it can even feel like a prison of sorts, especially if you’re a social person and always like to keep busy, or an adventure traveller hating to stay in one place too long when there is so much in the world to explore.

If you’re feeling any number of these emotions, I understand and I sympathize with you.

A little backstory for you before I get to the good bit (aka how I’m staying sane and coping with self-isolation): I just returned home from a trip to the UK cut short due to COVID-19. I was meant to explore Ireland and Scotland with EF Tours as an adult chaperone for Spring Break. I had planned to go across the pond a few weeks early to do some solo travelling before the tour started and to visit family. In the beginning of March, I flew over, explored Dublin, did a beautiful day tour through Northern Ireland and got to see the Giant’s Causeway—somewhere that had been on my bucket list for quite some time—and explored the beauty of North Wales on my way to Liverpool, where I was to do a Beatles tour around the city. At this point, we hadn’t reached global-emergency-lockdown status yet, though more cases were being recorded. I wasn’t particularly worried, but remained aware of my surroundings and what I touched, etc.

Larrybane, Northern Ireland - Photo: Rose Huet

Smallest House in Britain - Photo: Rose Huet

5 days in, I get a message from my partner saying the school trip was cancelled. I was a little shocked as I felt it was a bit overly cautious to cancel the trip when it didn’t seem serious enough to do so. I was disappointed, but still optimistic that I could continue travelling on my own and get to spend some time with family. I had no idea that in the span of 9 days I would go from organizing my extended solo travel plans to being stranded at Heathrow Airport trying to get home and being told I wasn’t allowed to board my flight home because of my 2-hour layover in San Francisco. Boarding passes in hand, baggage tag on my backpack, they said no. Trump closed the borders to all non-US citizens and residents. I was floored. How could it have escalated so quickly? I spent the majority of the rest of that day waiting in line at the airport to try and confirm a direct flight home. Luckily I got one… the next day. I finally managed—after 4 different attempts, an unscheduled overnight stay in an airport hotel, and 3 cancelled flights later—to get home, having cut my trip short by a week in order to land on Canadian soil before our borders closed as well and I’d be stuck.

Upon arrival, I had to put myself into mandatory quarantine for 14 days in case I picked up anything at the airport. To go from jetting all over the UK, to not being able to leave your house for two weeks straight was a shock to my system. The first couple days were the most frustrating for me, as even simple things like going to the grocery store or giving my mom a hug I couldn’t do. But after a while, I started to calm down, and I also looked at things from a different perspective. I wasn’t being forced to stay at home against my will. I was potentially saving lives by staying home. I started to make peace with the whole thing and my spirits began to lift. I managed to get into a rhythm and a daily routine that really helped. I’ve now officially completed my mandatory 2-week quarantine, but that doesn’t mean life goes back to normal. Everyone is still to remain home and self-isolate. But I’m feeling ok with it. For those of you that may be struggling a little more with all this, here are the 6 ways I’m keeping my spirits up through this whole thing.

1 | Sticking To My Morning Rituals

I’m a creature of habit, and one of the things I really missed while on the road was the ability to have my morning coffee and smoothie. It’s a small thing, but I helps me start my day right. No matter what time I wake up, the first thing I do is put the coffee on, and start to make my smoothie. This is the official stamp on each day that leads me into the next thing I do. After that, I sit by the window and let the sun shine and take the time to enjoy my tasty beverages. Almost like a mini-meditation. I sit quietly with my thoughts and check in with myself on how I’m feeling and what I might want to get accomplished that day. This keeps my grounded and calm.

2 | Doing Some Form Of Physical Activity Every Day

This one took a little bit longer to put into practice. The first few days home I mostly sat on the couch and watched Netflix like millions of others around the world, and that was ok for a while, but it got boring pretty quick. I like to keep busy and engaged more than just eyes on a screen. I started to plan mini at-home workouts in my living room with my SWEAT app. I love how intuitive the app is, and even if I do nothing else in a day then one of these workouts, I feel accomplished, I have more energy, and my mood is better. I know people always say this, but you actually feel happier when you keep your body active. On days I don’t use the app, I go for a walk in the park by my house. No one is around and the fresh air feels so good.

3 | Making Mini To-Do Lists

I know this might sound silly, but this also really helps me feel better. When I first got home, I made a list of all the things I wanted to get done while in quarantine so that I could stay busy. This wasn’t a crazy list and I limited myself to doing one task a day. Some of things on it were as small as ‘Make a soup with leftovers’ or ‘Re-organize t-shirt drawer’ or ‘Empty/sort through one box in storage.’ Tasks would take anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour or two of my time, but afterwards, I got to cross it off my list with a big red marker. For someone who likes to be organized and stay on top of things, this was (and is) so satisfying, and I feel productive every day, if only a little bit.

4 | Having Virtual ‘Hangouts’ With Friends/Family

Naturally, if you’re a social butterfly one of the hardest things about being in quarantine is not being able to spend time with the people you love, so this one I found especially important. Scheduling video chats or phone calls with my friends and family made the time pass in a much more enjoyable way than just sitting around doing nothing on the couch. Group chats on the Houseparty app are really fun because you can play online games together and fill that social-distancing void you might be feeling. You get to laugh together and enjoy good company while staying safe at home. This one has really helped bridge the gap between feeling alone and feeling close to your loved ones.

5 | Having Puzzle & Wine Nights

Like I said before, I love to stay busy, whether it be with my hands or brain or both. I’ve always loved puzzles ever since I was little, so doing puzzles has been a great way for me to keep my fingers moving and have a good time. And I don’t just sit quietly slowly piecing things together. I get a glass (or bottle let’s be honest) of wine going, turn up the music and sing along while searching for that next puzzle piece. My partner and I also like to buy puzzles that remind us of our travels. We make a whole day of it searching online for puzzles with scenes from the places we’ve been. We just finished a beautiful puzzle of Dubrovnik, then reminisced about all the good times we had in Croatia. It makes it special and brings back happy memories and helps you to forget what’s going on in the world for a little while. Escape is necessary sometimes, so escaping in fond memories has been one of my favourite things to do.

6 | Putting Together A Reading List

I love to read, and you can generally find me with a book or two in my possession, no matter where I am. Given that I have much more free time these days, I decided to put together a list of books I’d really been wanting to sink my teeth into, and crossing them off one by one as I finish them (see a pattern here? I like lists… a lot). I’ve made a list of 50 books I’d like to get through while the world is in lockdown and I have no where to go, and so far since my 2-week quarantine began, I’ve read two of them. Averaging a book a week (which I could ‘up the ante’ to be 2 a week) I have enough books on my list to last me 6 months, assuming this whole business continues like they say it might. The more time I have to read, the better as far as I’m concerned, especially if I’m reading a book on a place I’d like to travel to next. Just because I’m stuck at home doesn’t mean I can’t travel plan for the future does it? I didn’t think so.

7 | Learning New Hobbies

Now is the best time to learn that new thing you’ve always been curious about but never had the time to pursue. That’s exactly what I’m doing. I’ve decided I’d like to learn how to garden. Those of you that know me personally know that I love plants and nature and all things green, but sadly, I have a ‘black thumb.’ I’ve never been able to keep plants alive for very long, much less have them thrive and grow in any way. I forget to water them, don’t rotate them for even sunlight, don’t add fertilizer or do anything to the soil, and I certainly don’t know how to put a garden together with plants that won’t attack each other and compete for the nutrients in the soil (or whatever it is plants do that aren’t meant to be planted together). It’s always interested me, but I’ve never had the time. Now I do. First Step: Keep my one and only my houseplant alive. Next Step: Learn how to make a little terrarium with succulents and things. From there? Who knows? Wish me luck folks!

We’re all in this craziness together, and we’re all feeling the effects of it in different ways, some harder than others, so I hope that if you’re going through a rough patch or two, this post can help give you a little boost in positivity or spark some ideas in you to move forward and keep your spirits up too.

What are you doing to stay sane during this global lockdown? Share your tips and tricks below and spread the love and light around!