Hello, I hope everyone’s doing well and taking the steps to de-stress in this stressful time.
1. What is something you did for your body?
Since being in isolation, I’ve been exercising everyday. Whether it is a walk at a park or doing a home workout. I don’t have P.E. this semester so at first, it was difficult to become motivated to workout but once I did it the first time, I felt great and I’ve continued everyday. I like to start off by stretching which is my favourite part because I’m flexible and it’s easy. Then, I’ll do five sets of 20 sit-ups then plank for 20 seconds, two sets of 20 squats with five minutes in between each set. Sometimes, I’ll go on a run with my friend who is one of my neighbours at 9:30 pm when I’ve wasted my day doing nothing and want to get some exercise. In terms of my sleeping patterns, I’ve become a bit of a night owl since coronavirus became more apparent. I haven’t maintained a good sleep schedule as in I’ll go to bed at 3 am and wake up at 8am for school. As for my diet, I’ve continued being vegetarian and I eat what I would regularly eat other than the large amounts of hot cheetos.
2. What is something you did for your mind?
Once again, I’ve been working out and that definitely makes me feel less stressed. I haven’t hesitated to ask for extensions or reach out to my teachers and let them know when I feel overwhelmed. For example, I was and still am behind on my inquiry project for social responsibility so, I reached out to Ms. Martin and we figured out the situation. I’ve been limiting my screen time and have been doing things I enjoy like playing instruments. My piano teacher is very happy because I’ve been practicing everyday and I have started playing my ukulele a lot more. Drinking tea and looking out the window can be relaxing. Sometimes, it’s nice to do absolutely nothing and simply stare at a wall.
3. What is something you did for your happiness?
This is a little bit controversial but I have been in contact with two of my friends. One of them is my neighbour and to be honest, we don’t social distance. I’ve been distancing myself from everyone else and I really need to be able to just be close to my friends. Talking to them on snapchat and other media platforms doesn’t make me feel less lonely and so, I made a deal with my mom to be able to see two of my friends. We usually bring a bag of hot cheetos and some other junk food, go to a park and have fun. This is what has helped me the most because I’m an extrovert and I don’t do well with being alone.
4. What is something you did for someone else?
I have been extremely patient with my stepdad. I can’t say the same for my mom but this is the most significant thing I’ve done. He has OCD and obsessively (as the name implies) fiddles with random things he finds. He has replaced every single doorknob in the house three times in the past month, elongated the doors, made a hole in the balcony for my cat to look out from and put up more shelves than I can count. Usually, this would drive me crazy but I’ve held myself back from moving out and becoming homeless just to escape not recognizing the living room every time I go there.
Thank you for reading all the way to the end.