It is just as easy to turn towards bad habits as it is to stray away from good habits. We often forget that taking care of ourselves is what enables us to care for others. Most of us have probably fallen victim into developing a bad habit during quarantine. I, myself, contracted the less popular virus during this quarantine, known as self-sabotage. I picked up habits that put me in a worse position than the stress of quarantine already did. However, I overcame them with determination and a goal in mind. I wanted to truly care for myself.
Throughout this quarantine, I have picked up habits that prevented me from being happy and excelling at what I wanted to do. One of the habits I developed was laziness. I fell behind at school and turned towards procrastination whenever an obstacle was in my way. The famous phrase “I’ll do it later.” was actually more along the lines of “I’ll do it when I want to.” I also disregarded the hobbies I used to enjoy doing. This meant exercising, reading, and photography. My new hobbies were stress eating, procrastinating, and watching youtube videos.
I knew I was not caring for myself when my habits affected those around me. Particularly, my family. I was lost and did not know how to climb out of the hole I continuously dug for myself.
Self-care was a concept that was still new to me. I thought that it was something that I couldn’t do, something that just had too many steps and directions. After looking at the 500th instagram post promoting “self-care”, I took a leap of faith and decided to see if I can actually participate in self-care. On the post there was a header in big black font “Some ways to care for yourself included,” it proceeded to list a bunch of self-care practices. I was steadily amazed at how simple self-care was. Some activities included “Read a book”, “Take a shower”, “Check up on a friend or family member.” My favorite was “Take a walk outside”. I have a passion for admiring mother nature and breathing in the fresh outdoor air. It was something that I always found calming and motivating. I knew that that would be my first step towards self care.
Everyday, I continued to participate in more of the self-care practices I saw online. I noticed that I slowly strayed away from my bad habits. I improved on myself and I saw that it had an impact on those around me. I found motivation to go back and enjoy my old hobbies. I encourage you to participate in self care, you might find it as something irrelevant to you. However, my on-going experience is a testament to how self care helped me. It is a process, so do not be afraid to face any obstacles. You got this.
