5 Tips to Help You Navigate Shelter in Place

In the Bay Area, we have been sheltering in place for two days now. Many of the things that gave our lives structure and predictability have been disrupted. For many of us, kids went to school and parents went to work, Monday through Friday. Now, some of us are working remotely and students are finishing the school year via online classes. Sheltering in place may be a welcome break from our mundane routines. What happens after days of being "stuck" at home? 

With a lack of structure and routine and the constant barrage of statistics and news about the Coronavirus, a.k.a. Covid-19, our lives seem to have taken on a surreal quality. We may begin to feel unmoored and untethered. Being in close quarters for a long period of time with the same people, without routine, alone time, and contact with others can take an emotional and psychological toll on us. At times, we may feel distracted and unmovitated or irritated and anxious or overwhelmed and scared. 

These feelings are natural and expected. We have never experienced a time quite like this one. We do not know how to think or feel during this chaotic time. Below are 5 tips to help you navigate:

1. Create a schedule: Consider creating a daily Monday to Friday routine for yourself and your family, including a reasonable waking time to start your day, a few hours of work for yourself and schoolwork for your kids, exercise, etc.
2. Practice self-care: Ensure you have some alone time built into your week to relax and practice self-care, doing whatever replenishes you (while maintaining the shelter in place order). Knitting, reading, crafting, yoga, painting, gardening, listening to music, and meditating are some examples.
3. Go outside: Get out there and get some fresh air and be in nature. Perhaps you want to go to the beach or for a hike or a walk in your neighborhood or take your family camping, as long as you maintain social distance. 
4. Reconnect: Revive the art of phone conversation and create a new practice of meeting people via video for a chess game or Happy Hour. Call old friends whom you keep meaning to call. Check-in with your neighbors and family, who live across the street, across the country or across the world. 
5. Practice compassion: Be gentle with yourself. Be aware stress and anxiety may appear as irritation, and expect friction to arise in close relationships. Practice empathy.