Self-Care and the Corona Virus Kriste Peoples

By Kriste Peoples

Self-Care, Support and the Coronavirus

I haven’t always been good about asking for support – and I still wouldn’t call it my superpower. But I’m getting better, thanks to a couple months’ worth of forced physical distance and emotional rollercoastering – and having good people to go the distance with.
 
Here are few things I do, places I go, what I reach for sometimes:
  • daily stretching and meditation (most days)
  • occasional howling at 8 under an open sky
  • running and/or walking with friends
  • sleeping on soft sheets with windows thrown open
  • pausing for ‘no good reason’
  • expressing my love and care and fear and pain
  • dancing down the hallway to my own singing
  • giving myself permission not to be doing stuff every minute
  • writing stories (chipping away at my book)
  • herbal tea, seltzer, earl grey with bergamot
  • audiobooks / hardcover books / softcover books
  • bad behavior and hollering when I have to
  • good music floating through my rooms
  • cold water with citrus
  • colorful toenails
  • soul music
  • deep listening
  • dreaming
  • good shoes
  • elastic waistbands
  • fabulous earrings
  • foul language
  • poems to mull over
  • essential oils
  • belly laughs
  • intermittent snacking
  • lots of veggies and fruit
  • talking with wise teachers
  • moving slowly because why rush
  • crafts, crafts, crafts! (I probably own 12 scissors, people!)
  • incense and candles; they’re calming and smell so good
  • greens! veggies, houseplants, trees outside my window
  • being kind to myself, especially when I’m feeling over it all
  • telling the truth, even when it’s uncomfortable
  • not holding back, as much as I’m able
  • happy tears, sad tears, rage crying
  • touching the earth with hands, feet, body
  • embracing my awkwardness
  • letting myself be enough as is
  • letting people help
  • belly breaths
When I’m able to see it, I have a lot more support than I imagined. How about you? What’s working?