How to Develop a Good Relationship with Yourself During the Pandemic
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Decide how you want to spend your time and make it a priority to follow that routine.
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Decide how you don’t want to spend your time and don’t spend it there. For example, if you don’t want to spend your time on social media, delete the apps.
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Wear the clothes you like, not the clothes that you think other people will like on you.
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Likewise, wear your hair the way you want, the way you find comfortable.
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Keep it simple. Don’t over stress yourself by adding too many things into your life that you really don’t like to do.
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Strive to get along well with others in your immediate life. Be sure you put your maximum energy into getting along well with those people.
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If you don’t get along well with the people in your immediate life, ask yourself what you’re doing to sabotage the relationships. Now, more than ever, focus on improving yourself and recognize how useless it is to try to change other people.
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Be accountable to significant others in your life: simply say what it is that you will do, and do what it is that you say.
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Get enough sleep. You are in control of your time. It is your time and nobody else’s.
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Get outside. Yes it might be getting cold, but everyone agrees that walking a little bit outside is good for you.
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Keep a journal or a memory book of these interesting times.
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Eat well but be sure to have enough comfort food around when you need it.
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Remember, this is not about you. What does that mean? You are not the center of the universe.
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Learn something new. When in the future will you ever have a lot of time on your hands to take up something new and exciting? When you are retired?
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Don’t sweat the small stuff. We’re all trying to stay healthy and alive. The things that are bothering you today may not even be in your recall ability tomorrow.
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Remember, most of it is small stuff. Aside from health, pain, and dying, the things you are sweating and fretting over really aren’t very important in the bigger scheme of things.
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Don’t focus on trying to love yourself. Focus on doing things which enable you to respect yourself. You will fall in and out of love with yourself several times during your lifetime so don’t get worked up over it.
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Appreciate yourself. Keep track of your daily joys and accomplishments, large and small.
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Create an environment where you have a good relationship with the things around you. Decide what things make you feel good and which do not. Put or throw away the things which do not make you feel good.
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Practice accepting yourself just the way you are.
On November 3rd, I participated in a webinar with another longtime friend, John Baldoni on his show “GRACE under pressure”. I talked about coping skills during this time of crisis and the value of community. To watch this interview, please click HERE.
Tomorrow, November 10th at 11 am, I’m excited to be doing a Zoom webinar with my good friend and fellow coach Michael Samuelson. Mike and I have been friends for 35 years, ever since we coached our sons’ baseball team. The topic will be on “sustaining relationships”. We will be discussing self-awareness, strategies to create healthy boundaries while working from home, ways to prevent compassion fatigue, and much more. If you would like to sign up for this webinar, please click HERE.