So pleased to have another wonderful post from Katie and Evee for you. Can’t thank them enough. They also have just posted something from me on their site as well. If you get the time please check it out.

Thank you so much.

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Our current Quarantine Routine, looks a bit like this:

– Katie wakes up and makes us both a coffee and works out

– We read, write, blog or go on walks or bike rides.

– Evee works out

– We cook dinner together

– We have our own evenings where we chill out, talk to our friends, or watch Netflix. (Evee falls asleep significantly later than Katie (usually with the odd noise complaint thrown in!))

At the beginning of quarantine, there was a clear and obvious push for people to make the most of this time. People were learning how to make banana bread, teach themselves how to do handstands, and learn Spanish or Italian. We also had good intentions; to paint, write, eat completely cleanly and have a strict regimented workout plan.

When we couldn’t bring ourselves to be productive, we were filled with guilt at the thought of wasting this precious gift of time ( https://thegriefreality.blog/2020/05/06/the-gift-of-time/ link if possible ☺ ). It was almost too easy for our minds to wonder back to the days of our own lockdown after Mum’s funeral and the depression that followed. During these days, counsellors encouraged us to mark small things as “wins”: showering, exercising, or eating healthily. But also, to the even smaller wins, like waking up in the morning, making the bed.

After our mum passed away, we were completely alone. As said beautifully in Gary’s post, there does come a point when people stop checking in and stop asking how you are. Apart from a few golden people, many individuals you thought were going to be with you until the end, become memories as well. It is a desolate place to find yourself in.

Thankfully, we have always had each other, and through trying to look after one another, we found ways to build ourselves back up.

Simple acts of self-love may appear futile or irrelevant when the future holds so much uncertainty, but we cannot imagine what our health and wellbeing would look like without them.

Lockdown has been a journey and has impacted our mental health, alongside thousands of others’. For us, it felt hauntingly similar to those grey days of 2018 that bore witness to some of the darkest moments of our lives. But through self-care, we learnt self-love.

Self-care grew to become an essential part of our healing and an ongoing exercise for our health and wellbeing. It is a wonderful thing to do that we strongly advocate, and promote heavily on our blog: Plant those little seeds of self-love into your body and mind.

As with any new exercise, it has been a difficult lesson to learn. But today when the world finds itself in so much chaos, we know to focus our attention on making ourselves feel happy and healthy. Eventually, our calm approach to life and clarity come back to us, and we ground ourselves once again.

One simple act of self-care is to sit in the bath, with a face mask, cuppa tea, bubbles and a coconut oil hair mask. It truly is amazing how much these luxuries make a huge difference to our wellbeing.

We have linked a post of little self-care tid-bits, everyone can do; it doesn’t have to eat up too much of your time. (if you could link this post https://thegriefreality.blog/2019/04/03/i-dont-self-care/ that would be wonderful ☺) It can be as small as making yourself your favourite tea before bed.

Hold tight, eventually, the hustle and bustle of normality will resume, and when it does we hope you carry forward these acts of self-kindness. In doing so, we have no doubt you’ll be more than capable and prepared for it.

Katie & Evee x

68 thoughts on “Quarantine and Mental Health”

  8. Pingback: Quarantine and Mental Health — A Dad trying to cope with the loss of his Partner and becoming a single parent. | Ups and Downs of Family History V2.0

  10. Good posts and tips, and very true about friends/family checking in on you. But I’ve found in the last year that the “golden” people are the ones I never knew I needed and I’m forever grateful for them.

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    1. Thanks Tina! Gary’s blog was one of the first we found when we started blogging. It’s amazing to feel support from this online community and reaffirms our goal to normalise the conversation about grief

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  12. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and insights especially at this time when in effect people may be experiencing loss of a different kind, the ability to see loved ones, the loss of work and even the loss of routine and normality.
    May you be blessed on your journey and may you continue giving people hope

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    1. Thank you for taking the time to read and comment. You’re right, people are experiencing loss on such a big scale right now, I hope people reach out to one another and remember that they are not alone. Make sure you read Gary’s post on our blog, if you haven’t already! 🙂

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      1. Good morning and yes I have looked at Gary’s post on your blog and found that very insightful also.

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  17. This was a really great read. It’s so sad but true that people eventually fall away and forget to check on you. I think it was in those videos I listened to about depression that he said he makes a note of those who are grieving loss and checks in on them when others have stopped doing so. That’s a really great idea. I like all of these self care tips. That’s something I definitely have failed to do. I even stopped making myself tea. So taking that up again has been good for both Andrew and I. It’s so easy to fall into a pit and not realize that you stopped living. Even easier when people forget about you. It’s an important thing to give consideration. ❤ They’re both strong and beautiful girls.

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