WTF Community

WTF Community Coronavirus Self-Care Guide

Here’s (some of) what the WTF Just Happened Today? community is doing for self-care while at home. Feedback has been lightly edited and organized to make helping you, help yourself easier. Please add anything missing in the comments below. I’ll continue to update this list.


On socializing:

  • Talking on the phone with friends and family at least once a week
    • Limited to only the people who bring joy to your life
  • Video chatting + wine w/ friends in the evening
    • w/ grandchildren and family we can’t visit

On physical and mental fitness:

  • Going for a long walk
  • Keeping a normal weekday schedule, including workouts
  • Yoga
  • Meditate
  • Dance Church!
  • Staying off social media
  • Turning off the news until after 8pm
  • Listening to music and podcasts
  • Reading
    • Book club with discussions on Zoom
  • When it’s sunny, I sit on my deck to capture as much vitamin D as possible

On doing a thing:

  • Planting a garden
    • “Working in the soil helps calm the mind”
    • “The hope and dreams of real tomatoes keeps me going”
  • Sewing face masks as part of the Million Mask Challenge
  • Watching Hulu and Netflix
  • Mass deleting old emails I’ll never read
  • Taking pictures; capturing signs
  • Crafts – cross stitch, knitting
  • Doing all those little indoor jobs I’ve found whatever reason to “put on the back burner” for tomorrow.”
  • Crossword puzzle books
  • Jigsaw puzzles
  • Trying to not get irritated at my spouse

On eating and drinking:

  • Eating mindfully – “focusing on protein and veggie intake but also having some damn cookies”
  • Baking sourdough breadHow to make sourdough x NYT no-knead bread
  • Looking at the moon and having a cup of tea
    • “Not very exciting, however very calming and pleasant”
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I made bread early this week, here’s the recipe I used.

And here are the results, it didn’t last two days, so tasty!

!

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I’m trying to block out solid bits of time for catching up on reading and watching things that aren’t about politics or the pandemic. I’m finding my taste is changing a lot - I used to be all about dystopias and bleak documentaries and the like - and have been struggling to find stuff outside that realm.

Narrative Muse is a matchmaker for books and movies, where recommendations are based on your mood and how you want to feel, instead of what you’ve previously bought or watched/read. You can also opt out of certain topics so you can avoid surprise trauma or triggering scenes. https://matchmaker.narrativemuse.co.

Bonus points - all the recs are by or about women and nonbinary people, so it’s a good way to discover and support underrepresented creators who are struggling with cancellations and closures at the moment.

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For anyone who is bored, I recommend the images from photographer, Charles Fréger’s series on the “wild men” of europe. The images capture the tribal costumes still worn in some parts of Europe today. Incredible work.

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I’ve used sourdough starter with this method too. I adjusted the water to flour ratio according to what I ratio I was using to feed my starter that week. It take some math but really this recipe coverts well to many kinds of flour or yeast.

The writer of this recipe did a whole series that I found to be a fantastic resource.

Everything You Need to Know to Start Baking Awesome Bread

Breadmaking 101: How to Mix and Knead Bread Dough Like a Pro

Breadmaking 101: All About Proofing and Fermentation

The Science of Baking Bread (and How to Do It Right)

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I have a big ol’ thread chockfull of sites and other resources that can be used for this:

Also, yesterday during my hospital trip I saw a number of nurses and guards with this style of headband. It helps prevent wear and tear on the ears from masks. A hospital worker made theirs. I can make are these with materials I have. I am willing to bet many others can too.


And before anybody asks, yeah, I had to take ambulance ride to the hospital, we thought I might have been having a heart attack, but it looks like it was a combination of a pinched nerve in my left arm making it numb with the chest pain and tightening from three weeks of coughing. Harrowing and surreal and I found out my hospital had only TWENTY swabs for the coronavirus after I had to repeatedly tell them I did NOT think I had it, and now I am on aspirin and a prescription cough medication. Quite the day.

A better picture another provided:

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Yes! Taking notes. Thank you!

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Believe me, it was not how I wanted to break my 3 weeks of quarantine. I am just grateful it proved to be largely minor, though the prescription med they put me on is no joke, even the generic is fairly expensive. Apparently they were concerned about my cough also.

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MENTAL HEALTH WELLNESS TIPS FOR QUARANTINE
From therapist…
After having thirty-one sessions this week with patients where the singular focus was COVID-19 and how to cope, I decided to consolidate my advice and make a list that I hope is helpful to all. I can’t control a lot of what is going on right now, but I can contribute this.

MENTAL HEALTH WELLNESS TIPS FOR QUARANTINE

  1. Stick to a routine. Go to sleep and wake up at a reasonable time, write a schedule that is varied and includes time for work as well as self-care.

  2. Dress for the social life you want, not the social life you have. Get showered and dressed in comfortable clothes, wash your face, brush your teeth. Take the time to do a bath or a facial. Put on some bright colors. It is amazing how our dress can impact our mood.

  3. Get out at least once a day, for at least thirty minutes. If you are concerned of contact, try first thing in the morning, or later in the evening, and try less traveled streets and avenues. If you are high risk or living with those who are high risk, open the windows and blast the fan. It is amazing how much fresh air can do for spirits.

  4. Find some time to move each day, again daily for at least thirty minutes. If you don’t feel comfortable going outside, there are many YouTube videos that offer free movement classes, and if all else fails, turn on the music and have a dance party!

  5. Reach out to others, you guessed it, at least once daily for thirty minutes. Try to do FaceTime, Skype, phone calls, texting—connect with other people to seek and provide support. Don’t forget to do this for your children as well. Set up virtual playdates with friends daily via FaceTime, Facebook Messenger Kids, Zoom, etc—your kids miss their friends, too!

  6. Stay hydrated and eat well. This one may seem obvious, but stress and eating often don’t mix well, and we find ourselves over-indulging, forgetting to eat, and avoiding food. Drink plenty of water, eat some good and nutritious foods, and challenge yourself to learn how to cook something new!

  7. Develop a self-care toolkit. This can look different for everyone. A lot of successful self-care strategies involve a sensory component (seven senses: touch, taste, sight, hearing, smell, vestibular (movement) and proprioceptive (comforting pressure). An idea for each: a soft blanket or stuffed animal, a hot chocolate, photos of vacations, comforting music, lavender or eucalyptus oil, a small swing or rocking chair, a weighted blanket. A journal, an inspirational book, or a mandala coloring book is wonderful, bubbles to blow or blowing watercolor on paper through a straw are visually appealing as well as work on controlled breath. Mint gum, Listerine strips, ginger ale, frozen Starburst, ice packs, and cold are also good for anxiety regulation. For children, it is great to help them create a self-regulation comfort box (often a shoe-box or bin they can decorate) that they can use on the ready for first-aid when overwhelmed.

  8. Spend extra time playing with children. Children will rarely communicate how they are feeling, but will often make a bid for attention and communication through play. Don’t be surprised to see therapeutic themes of illness, doctor visits, and isolation play through. Understand that play is cathartic and helpful for children—it is how they process their world and problem solve, and there’s a lot they are seeing and experiencing in the now.

  9. Give everyone the benefit of the doubt, and a wide berth. A lot of cooped up time can bring out the worst in everyone. Each person will have moments when they will not be at their best. It is important to move with grace through blowups, to not show up to every argument you are invited to, and to not hold grudges and continue disagreements. Everyone is doing the best they can to make it through this.

  10. Everyone find their own retreat space. Space is at a premium, particularly with city living. It is important that people think through their own separate space for work and for relaxation. For children, help them identify a place where they can go to retreat when stressed. You can make this place cozy by using blankets, pillows, cushions, scarves, beanbags, tents, and “forts”. It is good to know that even when we are on top of each other, we have our own special place to go to be alone.

  11. Expect behavioral issues in children, and respond gently. We are all struggling with disruption in routine, none more than children, who rely on routines constructed by others to make them feel safe and to know what comes next. Expect increased anxiety, worries and fears, nightmares, difficulty separating or sleeping, testing limits, and meltdowns. Do not introduce major behavioral plans or consequences at this time—hold stable and focus on emotional connection.

  12. Focus on safety and attachment. We are going to be living for a bit with the unprecedented demand of meeting all work deadlines, homeschooling children, running a sterile household, and making a whole lot of entertainment in confinement. We can get wrapped up in meeting expectations in all domains, but we must remember that these are scary and unpredictable times for children. Focus on strengthening the connection through time spent following their lead, through physical touch, through play, through therapeutic books, and via verbal reassurances that you will be there for them in this time.

  13. Lower expectations and practice radical self-acceptance. This idea is connected with #12. We are doing too many things in this moment, under fear and stress. This does not make a formula for excellence. Instead, give yourself what psychologists call “radical self acceptance”: accepting everything about yourself, your current situation, and your life without question, blame, or pushback. You cannot fail at this—there is no roadmap, no precedent for this, and we are all truly doing the best we can in an impossible situation.

  14. Limit social media and COVID conversation, especially around children. One can find tons of information on COVID-19 to consume, and it changes minute to minute. The information is often sensationalized, negatively skewed, and alarmist. Find a few trusted sources that you can check in with consistently, limit it to a few times a day, and set a time limit for yourself on how much you consume (again 30 minutes tops, 2-3 times daily). Keep news and alarming conversations out of earshot from children—they see and hear everything, and can become very frightened by what they hear.

  15. Notice the good in the world, the helpers. There is a lot of scary, negative, and overwhelming information to take in regarding this pandemic. There are also a ton of stories of people sacrificing, donating, and supporting one another in miraculous ways. It is important to counter-balance the heavy information with the hopeful information.

  16. Help others. Find ways, big and small, to give back to others. Support restaurants, offer to grocery shop, check in with elderly neighbors, write psychological wellness tips for others—helping others gives us a sense of agency when things seem out of control.

  17. Find something you can control, and control the heck out of it. In moments of big uncertainty and overwhelm, control your little corner of the world. Organize your bookshelf, purge your closet, put together that furniture, group your toys. It helps to anchor and ground us when the bigger things are chaotic.

  18. Find a long-term project to dive into. Now is the time to learn how to play the keyboard, put together a huge jigsaw puzzle, start a 15 hour game of Risk, paint a picture, read the Harry Potter series, binge watch an 8-season show, crochet a blanket, solve a Rubix cube, or develop a new town in Animal Crossing. Find something that will keep you busy, distracted, and engaged to take breaks from what is going on in the outside world.

  19. Engage in repetitive movements and left-right movements. Research has shown that repetitive movement (knitting, coloring, painting, clay sculpting, jump roping etc) especially left-right movement (running, drumming, skating, hopping) can be effective at self-soothing and maintaining self-regulation in moments of distress.

  20. Find an expressive art and go for it. Our emotional brain is very receptive to the creative arts, and it is a direct portal for release of feeling. Find something that is creative (sculpting, drawing, dancing, music, singing, playing) and give it your all. See how relieved you can feel. It is a very effective way of helping kids to emote and communicate as well!

  21. Find lightness and humor in each day. There is a lot to be worried about, and with good reason. Counterbalance this heaviness with something funny each day: cat videos on YouTube, a stand-up show on Netflix, a funny movie—we all need a little comedic relief in our day, every day.

  22. Reach out for help—your team is there for you. If you have a therapist or psychiatrist, they are available to you, even at a distance. Keep up your medications and your therapy sessions the best you can. If you are having difficulty coping, seek out help for the first time. There are mental health people on the ready to help you through this crisis. Your children’s teachers and related service providers will do anything within their power to help, especially for those parents tasked with the difficult task of being a whole treatment team to their child with special challenges. Seek support groups of fellow home-schoolers, parents, and neighbors to feel connected. There is help and support out there, any time of the day—although we are physically distant, we can always connect virtually.

  23. “Chunk” your quarantine, take it moment by moment. We have no road map for this. We don’t know what this will look like in 1 day, 1 week, or 1 month from now. Often, when I work with patients who have anxiety around overwhelming issues, I suggest that they engage in a strategy called “chunking”—focusing on whatever bite-sized piece of a challenge that feels manageable. Whether that be 5 minutes, a day, or a week at a time—find what feels doable for you, and set a time stamp for how far ahead in the future you will let yourself worry. Take each chunk one at a time, and move through stress in pieces.

  24. Remind yourself daily that this is temporary. It seems in the midst of this quarantine that it will never end. It is terrifying to think of the road stretching ahead of us. Please take time to remind yourself that although this is very scary and difficult, and will go on for an undetermined amount of time, it is a season of life and it will pass. We will return to feeing free, safe, busy, and connected in the days ahead.

  25. Find the lesson. This whole crisis can seem sad, senseless, and at times, avoidable. When psychologists work with trauma, a key feature to helping someone work through said trauma is to help them find their agency, the potential positive outcomes they can effect, the meaning and construction that can come out of destruction. What can each of us learn here, in big and small ways, from this crisis? What needs to change in ourselves, our homes, our communities, our nation, and our world?

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With the bombardment of awful news and dismal predictions, I decided to create a Facebook page that would focus on the good in the world. The Good In Us shines a light on good people doing good things, good humour, inspiration, creative people doing amazing things, and anything that shows there is still magic in the world.

I feel it’s not only important, but crucial that we know about the many shining lights in the midst of all the darkness – not only for our mental health but also to recognise the extraordinary and ordinary people in our midst who are reaching out at this time.

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wrong area to post…a stress creating post!

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A friend on twitter posted this:
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/optimistic-covid-19-updates-for-hope-in-april/

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I debated where to post this but finally decided it really is one of my self-care things I look forward to on a weekly basis. Election Profit Makers is an outstanding podcast, very intelligent and funny and engaging, and a way to keep informed but still maintain sanity in this crazy election year. Here is the latest episode, but it’s actually fun to listen to all their eps, even if technically “outdated” just b/c the banter btwn the three friends is entertaining so here is the first ep of their new season in case you want to start there.

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Thanks dragonfly9. I am a progressive minister and will share some of this with my congregation. A wise collection of thoughts.

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Fantastic Shares. I’ve got a course I created a while ago that applies to now…

How to Overcome Fear of the Unknown. Feel free to give it away and grab it for yourself if it’s helpful.

I’m also doing FB lives every night at 5pm pacific - Fearless You FB Group. They are focused on moving forward and staying centered and sane…

In the past 30 days, I’ve spoken to 40 groups as an extra voice of support during this crisis…feel free to reach out at [email protected]

Seriously, happy to talk to any group. Pure give.

If I can support your community, I’m here…if I can support you, I’m here.

THANK YOU Matt! I love WTF! Thank you for creating what you did and may we spread the goodness to our communities…

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Under the topic of eating and drinking: to fight viruses in general here are two powerful things: sauerkraut, as little as 1 Tbsp a day, Also any other fermented veggies. And elderberry tincture (usually called elderberry syrup). I make my own sauerkraut, it’s very easy. The tincture I can’t make (thought it’s easy) because we don’t have elderberries growing around us. Online herb store may be out of it, big demand, but it is spring and new supplies should be coming in. Check out Susun Weed online for lots more free info on this and other medicinal herbs, what she calls the “people’s medicine”. She’ been doing it for 50 years.

This is an amazing list–the best one I’ve seen so far that addresses the many areas of stress, anxiety, self-care, and control (or lack thereof). I co-edit a newsletter at work–mostly focused on our recent program launches but the entire “back page” dedicated to quarantine coping. Can I use this with proper citation?

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Go ahead…I got it from a friend who I grew up with, and she writes on her FB post below. No name attributed though.
posting
"Some good advice from a psychologist (a friend of a friend) for you and your children. Be safe! :purple_heart:

After having thirty-one sessions this week with patients where the singular focus was COVID-19 and how to cope, I decided to consolidate my advice and make a list that I hope is helpful to all. I can’t control a lot of what is going on right now, but I can contribute this. "

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Hey…want to see some free Quarantine concerts from Jorma Kaukonen (Hot Tuna, Jefferson Airplane) - Saturday nites 5p PST/8 EST - then repeats on YouTube - So far there have been 6 concerts…acoustic guitar and accompanied with a few other guitar players. Lots of music lore chit chat…and what guitar he’s using etc…and straight from Fur Peace Ranch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEJvzHmsgSU&t=217s

Tonight was No. #6…but I just went to concert #5 because #6 dropped off. Listen for yourself.

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Something uplifting to watch… 2 mins.

From Murmuration -Islands and Rivers :grinning:

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