First: What is Social Distancing?
With the spread of coronavirus (or COVID-19), the Center for Disease Control & Prevention has stressed the importance of social distancing. But what exactly is social distancing?
The simplest way to understand it, is to see it as a conscious effort to put physical distance between yourself and others, in order to “flatten the curve”, or reduce the risk of spreading the virus to others. That means cancelling large social gatherings, limiting social outings, and restricting the amount of time you spend out in public.
It doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to be shut into your house 100% of the time. Keeping a distance of six feet between you and others is also a form of social distancing that allows you to navigate public spaces conscientiously.
Why Does it Matter?
The communities with the highest risk when it comes to COVID-19 are the elderly and immunocompromised people. Social distancing is the way our communities as a whole can come together (metaphorically) and take action to protect those with the highest risk. It isn’t that the CDC thinks everyone will contract the virus and become deathly ill–it is that if we all limit our social interactions, we give the virus less opportunity to pass between unknowing carriers and vulnerable populations, slowing the spread.
Slowing the spread (or “flattening the curve”) not only helps to protect vulnerable populations, such as the immunocompromised or the elderly, but it also helps to make sure health care providers aren’t overwhelmed, that medical resources don’t face critical shortage, overall ensuring better care for those infected.
How Can You Take Care of Yourself While Social Distancing?
With the shift to social distancing, many people are working from home for the first time ever. Others are indefinitely on break from work that can’t be done from home. In either case, you’re spending more time at home than ever before.
So much time at home, or alone (or both) can cause increases in symptoms of depression and anxiety, so it is crucial to cultivate some sort of self care routine while following social distancing guidelines.
There are five key components to self care while social distancing. Those are:
- Move
- Make
- Rest
- Connect
- Nourish
Let’s break them down:
Move:
Social distancing doesn’t mean you have to sit on your couch all day, getting bored stiff. While some communities are on complete lockdown (like in the Bay Area), others are simply restricting the different ways in which community members navigate public spaces. Which means, to a certain degree, you can still go out!
Things you can do to move your body while social distancing include:
- Take a walk: Taking a walk around your neighborhood, or in a nearby park, is an easy way to get your body moving, while still maintaining appropriate social distance.
- Get food or coffee to go: See what policies local shops and restaurants are putting in place. Many places are open for take out or delivery, while their dining areas remain closed. If you’re feeling an itch to get out, call your favorite local restaurant and place an order for takeout. Then walk over and pick it up!
- Stretch: If you don’t want to risk going out at all, you can still pay attention to your body while at home. Set aside a few minutes each day to notice how your body is feeling, to stretch, to walk around your home, or to do some yoga.
- Play with a pet: Remember that your furry little friend is happy to have you home! You don’t have to break a sweat to be active, and playing with a pet can be a great way to distract yourself from any COVID-19 related stress AND get moving at the same time.
Make:
We’re used to being productive creatures. Many of us have daily routines structured around work. Which means that now, in a potentially work-less day, we might now have any idea how to spend our time!
While you certainly don’t need to write the next King Lear (despite all those tweets going around about Shakespeare writing it while quarantined) keeping your mind stimulated is a great act of self care! Things you can do to “make” while social distancing can include:
- Trying a new recipe: Is there a cookbook you’ve been ignoring? Flip through it and find something that looks good. Do you have all the necessary ingredients? Why not try and make it?
- Try a new craft: Have you been saying you want to learn to knit for months, but have never actually sat down and tried? This is a great time to give it a go! Pull up some tutorials and see how far you can get.
- Decorate or rearrange your space: Get creative with your space! You might be stuck in there for a while, so shift some things around, see if it changes the energy for you. Is there a different layout for your bedroom furniture that makes you like the room more? Have fun with it.
- Learn something new: Download Duolingo and learn a new language, or join SkillShare and take a class! Do your friends have skills you’ve been wanting to learn? Have a daily skype call with them where each day one of you teaches the others something new!
Rest:
Of course, just like any other time, rest is a crucial part of self care. This can be:
- Physical rest: give yourself down time to take a nap, get enough sleep at night, listen to your body when it tells you it’s tired and weary.
- Social rest: Is your phone going off every three seconds and stressing you out? Set aside a chunk of time each day to be without it. Put it in another room, and let that be you-only time.
- Emotional rest: Staying up to date on news is great, but it can be emotionally overloading if you’re getting constant updates. Give yourself one or two times a day to catch up on what’s going on in the world, and then let yourself disengage the rest of the day.
Connect:
Try thinking of social distancing as physical distancing instead. Just because we need to keep physical space between ourselves and others, doesn’t mean we need to cut out social connections all together! Things you can do to stay social while social distancing include:
- Skyping friends: Do you have a regular happy hour or movie night with your friends? Don’t stop the tradition, just take it online! Queue up a movie to watch together, or get a drink and a snack and cozy in to chat and catch up.
- Write letters: Of course we have all of the technology needed to stay virtually connected 24/7 but writing a letter to a far away friend can be a fun way to stay socially connected while still taking time for yourself.
- Get an email thread going: Create your own good news feed! Whether with friends, family members, coworkers, etc. start an email or text thread to share pet pics, book recommendations, funny memes, etc.
- Start a virtual movie club: Do you and your friends all have different tastes in movies? Have each one of you pick one movie that you all watch and then come together online (Skype, Facetime, etc) or on the phone to discuss!
Nourish:
This one is a combination of all of the previous four, and it is pretty self explanatory. In your day make sure you are doing one thing that:
- Nourishes your body: eat foods that make you feel good and make you happy. Move your body and give it rest.
- Nourishes your mind: Try something new, read a book, etc.
- Nourishes your soul: Connect with someone else, call a friend, do some journaling, snuggle a pet, etc.
You may have to engage in a little bit of trial and error, but finding a new self care routine for social distancing can make all the difference. Find what works for you and stick to it!
Pivotal Counseling Center has therapists who can help you work through stress and anxiety. We have locations in Woodstock, Illinois, and Lake in the Hills, Illinois. We also offer online counseling, to make therapy easy + accessible while social distancing. If you are in need of someone to help, please consider giving us a call at (815) 345-3400.
