One of the things I’ve been asking these days just being at home, “What would the new normal be?”
It’s hard to say. It’s very uncertain. No one really knows right now.
But I’d like to prepare for what that new normal might be. One of the most practical preparations is to BE HEALTHY. What does this mean? Not just the physical body but overall.
This time has really helped me to do a detox not just with the food I eat but in all aspects of my life. Before this COVID pandemic happened, I went through burnt out, stress, anxiety – whatever you want to call it. It was a battle I had to fight and deal with for several months. And the moment I decided to quit my job was when this COVID started to become an outbreak.
I neglected to make time to process thoughts in my mind, take care of my body, cook & eat healthy food, exercise and rest my mind. When I work, I really work hard that I become hard on myself also. I’m grateful that I can do this right now. Not everyone has the luxury to do this. So, I will use the time I have right now to be better so that I can also be a better influence and be usable for the community of what’s ahead.
What have I been doing for the past days?
- I’ve been a gym member for years now but I never get to maximize my membership. So now, I’m catching up with exercise at home. I found this really good YouTube channel called – Faithful Workouts. I like the workouts because encouragements & devotions are part of it. It’s body & soul workout.
- I enjoy cooking especially for people but when you are cooking for 1, sometimes, it’s better to just buy cooked food. But, because I neglected healthy eating last year and really ruined my diet, I now have to cook and try to eat healthy. It was difficult in the first 2 weeks because I overate. And with so much “quarantine” food, you can’t help but just keep eating. Now, I have adjusted and I’ve cut down on my meals already. I do a one full meal for brunch then a light meal late afternoon.
Some easy ways to make sure you have nutrients in your meals:
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- Oven Roasted Veggies are healthy and so easy to prepare (bell pepper, carrots, onions, broccoli, squash, yams, etc.)
- Turmeric Tea – it helps boost immune system. I always make a batch and I try to drink a cup a day.
3. Do one chore at a time. As I don’t work, I have a lot of time to clean up. So, I don’t rush into finishing everything all in one day. I take my time in cleaning. I’m so used to multi tasking that I’m really learning now to do things one at a time. It’s really hard to unlearn and it takes a lot of discipline.
Some examples:
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- I organized our bathroom cabinets on a day. I organized our kitchen cabinet that stores all our food containers on a different day. I cleaned my bedroom cabinets on another day.
- I wash dishes once a day, I just pile up all I’ve used for the day then do one washing.
- I take my time doing laundry – coz this is not really my favorite thing to do. So I take my time! LOL
4. Detox the mind. During the start of the outbreak, I was watching news like crazy. I would be on the news for almost the whole day. I would be on social media reading all related posts to COVID. I decided I had to put a stop on it. It wasn’t doing me any good anymore especially that I feel so limited not being able to really do something, it became frustrating for me.
Here are the things I’ve been doing:
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- I watch the news only every night – I watch the recap of Global News for Canada and government updates for Philippines.
- I deactivated back my Facebook account.
- I read my devotion book daily.
- I read Book of Psalms for my quiet time.
- I’m doing the Daniel prophecy series from Bible Youversion app and do some deep dive.
- I listen to a lot of Christian songs when I do chores.
- I watch video messages & listen to podcasts of Tim Keller & Ravi Zacharias.
- I read book & articles with Biblical principles.
- I rest my mind – looking out to my window, looking at nature.
- I pray – talk, whisper, pour out my heart to God.
5.Get connected. Always talk to someone – family, friends. Pray for or with people. Encourage people. Be a listener. Just stay connected. Be part of a support group like for us, we have our discipleship group.
Hopefully, I will start doing online classes & training so that I will also grow and learn more in my line of work. This is something I need to work on as I’m not really a fan of online classes.
How about you? What practical ways have you done to be a healthier you?
If you’ve read this and you need prayers or just need someone to talk to, feel free to comment and I can definitely pray for you or talk to you.
Let’s use this time to become a better version of us! And always remember, God loves you so much!!
Princess Pepay 