How to stay sane during quarantine
If being quarantined at home has you going a little (or A LOT) stir crazy, you are not alone. We’ve all been forced to adjust to new circumstances. So, we came up with 9 strategies to stay sane during quarantine despite the limitations.
Hear 9 ways to maintain sanity during quarantine:
What can keep you sane during quarantine
On this episode of Queer Money®, we’re walking you through the nine things we’re doing to stay sane during quarantine. We share the books, TV shows, movies and podcasts we are consuming to stay inspired right now and challenge you to make intentional choices about what to read, listen to and watch during this already stressful time.
We weigh in on the benefits of eating healthy and maintaining an exercise program, offering tips on how to work out without the luxury of a gym—and forgive yourself for the occasional afternoon of Netflix with Ben & Jerry. Listen in to understand how our daily meditation practice is making our time at home more manageable and find out how turning up the intimacy in your relationship can help you stay sane during quarantine!
Topics covered on staying sane during quarantine
These are unique times and not everyone’s coming out of this cacoon the new butterflies we may have hoped to become. It’s all good, though.
Each day’s a new day to start fresh.
That’s why our first piece of advice for everyone is to not beat yourself up for past mistakes, things you didn’t do but should’ve and things you shouldn’t have done but did. No one was fully prepared for this. So, give yourself grace and then give yourself space, as challenging times can lead to some of our biggest breakthroughs.
We talk about the importance of financial forgiveness and how to do it on this Queer Money®:
So, now that you’ve given yourself grace and space, below we share nine fun ways how we’re staying sane during these trying times of quarantine.
1. Read more
In normal times, we try to read a little bit every day. During these times, our reading has increased quite a bit. We get tired of watching TV and movies all the time, especially when our work requires us to be on our laptops all day.
So, when we need a break, quiet time or an uplift, we’ll usually resort to reading something. The books we’ve read or are reading during quarantine include:
- Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind by Annaka Harris
- Becoming Supernatural: How Common People Are Doing the Uncommon by Dr. Joe Dispenza
- The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman
- Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One by Dr. Joe Dispenza
- Playing the Matrix: A Program for Living Deliberately and Creating Consciously by Mike Dooley
For those of you looking for free ways to read books, just as David is, download the Libby App to your phone. If you’re looking for free children’s books, Audible’s currently offering thousands of free children’s books for free.
2. Maintain an exercise program
To be fair, we’re not perfect at this. In fact, we both had hoped to have smaller middles and bigger chests and arms by this stage of quarantine. But, we’re doing the best we can and the best we can do at the moment is good enough. What have we been doing?
We’ve run a little, walked a lot and have done quite a few bodyweight exercises. For some inspiring tips, watch this interview we did with our friend and personal trainer, Aaron Guy.
We do look like we did in our 30s when we were hitting the gym 7-days a week? No. But, we feel better physically and mentally when we do exercise. The more we can maintain that positivity, the better. For more tips and helpful tools to stay fit today and tomorrow, click here for 5 fitness tips for gay men 40 and over.
3. Meditate more
Our daily meditation is slowly becoming a non-negotiable for us. We continue to see how anywhere from five to 45 minutes of meditation can determine how good or bad our day goes. It sounds cliche, but it’s true.
If for no other reason, even a five-minute meditation gives us a moment of calm to start our day. Having that time to be quiet, not think about anything and have nothing influence us is so peaceful.
We’ve mostly done self-guided meditations, but after reading Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself for the second time and after reading Becoming Supernatural, we’ve been dabbling with some guided meditations, and we’ve really enjoyed them. We’ve found the guided meditations to be extra-helpful with our longer meditations.
In fact, last year we talked on Queer Money® about how during one of our lowest points in life and business turned into one of our greatest periods of growth in large part because of our evolving meditation practice. On this episode, we talk a lot about two recommended books above, Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself and Playing the Matrix.
Hear us share our confessions of self-worth and spirituality:
4. Get picky about TV shows + movies
After making a mistake of watching 1917, a somewhat depressing though good movie, we decided to be more intentional about the tv shows and movies we watch. We’re opting for more lighthearted and motivating entertainment, such the Beastie Boys Story, Rewired on Gaia with Joe Dispenza and, of course (who doesn’t love) Schittz Creek.
You can access Rewired on Gaia, along with all of Gaia’s other productions, through Amazon Prime.
5. Listen to uplifting podcasts
You know we love ourselves podcasts, right? We think podcasts are a perfect accompaniment for long runs. With podcasts, just as with movies and television, we’re being intentional with avoiding news and listening to motivational and educational thought leaders. Not only does this help our business, but it keeps us inspired and focused.
- Some current favs include:
- Lewis Howes,
- Ruth Soukup
- Jeff Walker
- Chicane Presents Sun: Sets Podcast
We’ve recently found the Manifest It Now! podcast, which is hosted by two lesbians (whom we hope to have on Queer Money® someday). On another episode of Queer Money®, we talked about the habits of highly successful people, including what we listen to and watch.
Get the simple tips of highly successful LGBTQ people:
6. Manage your social media
Social media can be amazing, and it has its time and place. But, social media, as with news, must be managed. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in all the drama or mindless scrolling that you lose yourself and your sense of peace.
We’ve recently unfollowed several people and pages, as needed, and update our Facebook settings to see positive people and pages first. So, the little time that we’re on social media for something other than work, we mostly see uplifting content. Likewise, we rarely look at comments, especially on our business pages.
7. Eat healthier
In tandem with the exercising we’re trying to do, we’re trying to continue to eat healthily. We typically eat healthy anyway, but we can gravitate toward unhealthy eating and drinking habits during these and other stressful times.
Our diets have a huge impact on how we feel and think, so we’re managing that closely. We’re also being intentional with our drinking. We love a good glass of wine or a martini, but one can lead to another can lead to another and so on.
So, we’re put safeguards in to manage that, which we share on this episode.
8. Get more intimate
Humans release endorphins in a number of ways, and the more positive hormones we can release day-to-day, the happier we are. Thus, we’re cuddling more, we’re giving each other more massages and – yes – we’re having more sex. Sex is a great way to release energy and to pump our bodies with mood-boosting hormones.
It only takes one to have sex. Don’t assume this tip is for everyone else.
9. Be more forgiving
We’ll repeat what we said on the outset, be forgiving of yourself and others. Extend to yourself and other grace.
No one was prepared for this and we’re not all coming out of this Superman, Superwoman or Superperson.
Stop looking back to the past and stop looking so far into the future. Take one day at a time and stay present. Do what you can today, and that’s enough for now.
Get simple tips to identify and – most importantly – overcome trauma on this Queer Money®:
If listening to this episode of Queer Money® makes you want or need to talk with someone who can help you further work through some issues, that’s easier to do now than ever, even in quarantine. Telehealth is becoming more popular and much more helpful.
We often think that yesterday determines today and tomorrow. Over a lifetime, this recurring cycle of beliefs creates limiting beliefs within ourselves that are hard to break free from. It doesn’t have to be that way.
See how to overcome the limiting belief you (we all) struggle with:
Resources for fun ways to stay sane during quarantine
- The Habits of Highly Successful LGBTQ People on Queer Money® EP173
- Confessions of Self-Worth & Spirituality on Queer Money® EP154
- 5 Simple Steps to Financial Forgiveness on Queer Money® EP196
- How to Identify and Overcome Trauma on Queer Money® EP186
- Improve or Build Your Credit Score Course
- Queer Money Facebook Group
- Queer Money on Instagram
- Subscribe on iTunes
- Email [email protected]