14 exciting things to invest your energy into instead of ruminating

We are all in this together; stuck at home and the whole world seems to be shut down. I’m willing to bet we all have more time on our hands than normal. But we don’t need to sit here and wait for this to pass as if life is on hold. The way in which we go through this season is crucial! It may be a defining moment in our lives for good if we allow it to be! There are exciting possibilities for this season! It’s easy to be tempted into spending our waking moments painstakingly following the news and ruminating about what is happening in our world, but perhaps there is a better way to invest our precious time. Just because we have more spare time doesn’t mean that it’s let’s valuable, but it does mean we can use it to do something significant with it! You know all those things we always want to do if we had time, but we never do? Well, now we have the time! 

I think there is something to say for a bit of healthy escapism. It can be rejuvenating to get away in your mind for a bit. Bringing something good into your life that you’re excited about might be a worthy way to invest your extra time and energy right now. 

Imagine coming out of the other side of this being more fully the woman you’ve always wanted to be! Imagine emerging like a butterfly from your cocoon healthier, or being able to speak a new language (for when you finally go on your vacation), or well-rested and rejuvenated, or more excellent at your craft or with a beautifully organized house? We could if we wanted to! Putting your mind into a worthy project helps keep us from ruminating until we are crazy. It’s hopeful to be involved in a project you’ll benefit from when this is over, too, because you're tangibly working towards that bright day! Although we’d never wish for this to happen, acting in hope can turn this season into a blessing rather than being completely awful. Any creative project is the very essence of hope because it brings forth life and beauty into this world, and that is the best way we can combat death and horror. 

Here are some fun ideas for ways one could spend her time during this strange season right now! We have to actively choose how we will spend our time because if we don't, other things will choose for us - we'll spend it one way or the other, so why not on something good? Do any of these resonate in your heart and connect with a desire of yours? 

Rest

Normally life is really busy, but right now, it’s not. Did you know it’s estimated 80% of people suffer from adrenal fatigue? A lot of people don’t even know it. Our world is set up in such a way it produces adrenal fatigue. Whether that’s you or not, this could be a great time to become deeply rejuvenated and full of life again. Imagine re-emerging from this with no dark circles and feeling fully rested for once and for all!

This could be a great time for pleasure reading, Epsom salt baths, going to bed early, getting away from social media, getting out in nature, deep breathing and yoga, reading poetry, drink lots of water, reading up on health, researching the most helpful vitamins unique to you and taking time to do the things that rejuvenate your soul. You can let your face rest from makeup and your hair rest from styling too. Make it your own little retreat. This is something to get excited about, for sure!

Do a Bold Thing

If you’ve always wanted to try bangs, be comfortable in red lipstick, wear heels like you were born for them, or embody a certain style, this is the perfect time to get comfortable in it. When you emerge it will feel like it's truly apart of you once you emerge after this is over. If you cut bangs, they’d be nearly grown out if you didn’t like them and you don’t have to recut them! I’ve been wearing red lipstick with a bare face a lot of days recently just because it makes me feel cheerful. Now is your chance to do something you’ve wanted to try but might normally feel out of your element in front of others for the first few times. It would also be a great time to make a character change you’ve wanted to make, such as smiling more or speaking more clearly. By the time you’re in public again, it will be so natural you won’t even think about it!

Bake & Cook

Baking and cooking are just the homiest, cheeriest things that bless everyone in the house! Right now we have the freedom to make mistakes, fail, and enjoy the process whether what we bake is a flop or a winner! Baking and cooking can be therapeutic. Baking is valuable because it is a creative act - it brings something good and true and wholesome and beautiful into the world in a simple, everyday way. It could turn the feeling of having to be stuck into the house into the feeling that this time is a wonderful, cozy retreat filled with love! 

Learn Positive Self Talk

We all have narratives we believe about ourselves and ways that we talk to ourselves every day. How we talk about ourselves shapes reality and manifests into our lives. How do you talk to yourself? Do you participate in negative self-talk such as believing you will always fail or that you are disgusting? It’s horrible to think of, but we have to be honest with ourselves. Do you have healthy, positive, life-giving self-talk where you see yourself as being valuable and beautiful? In order to find out we've got to observe the voice in our head - like tuning into a radio station. That can take a lot of energy at first, but over time it becomes natural. You could buy a fresh journal and begin writing down how you talk to yourself, trace it back to why and the deep-rooted beliefs behind this self talk and then decide how you would like your narrative to go. This could be a life-changing project, for sure. I’ve done a lot of work on this over the past year and I got very specific with it as a project for lent. Brendan Burchard says the most successful people have positive self-talk - and he’s done the biggest study of successful people there is. I’d recommend reading The Soul of Shame to understand the concept of your narrative better, A Journey to Wholeness in Christ to understand the deep-rooted beliefs that have shaped your negative self-talk and how to change it, and anything about the law of attraction for a general understanding of how it all works.

Indulge in a Creative Practice 

For me, creating feels truly luxurious and it benefits my soul greatly. I don’t put the pressure on myself to be brilliant in my creation - instead, I try to relax into it and take pleasure in expressing whatever shapes and colors come into my mind, no matter how elementary it may be. It’s almost meditative and I try to let my brain turn off and relax into the flowy soul space. Lose yourself in it! Recently I’ve been painting wild-looking leaves in only the color yellow and it has pleased me greatly. I’ve also been taking candid film photos of the two of us around the house in the simple, everyday moments which has been lots of fun. I just ordered air dry clay on amazon so that I can make some funky modern candlesticks or whatever I please with it. I’m looking forward to playing with it! I think that’s the key - play! Don’t pass judgment on yourself or hold yourself to a standard. If you have a particular kind of art you are drawn to perhaps you could join in on the #isolationcreation a lovely Instagram artist is doing - a challenge to herself to create something new each day, which I think is wonderful!

Organize + Get Good Media Hygiene 

I think this would be such a satisfying one. Ah! It gets me so excited. I love a clutter-free, freshly organized, clean house. It’s the best thing! Marie Kondo the place up. If you’re going to be spending a lot of time at home anyway, you’d probably get a lot of benefit out of this project. 

It’s also a great opportunity to organize your computer, back your photos up to iCloud and print your favorites, go through you contact and apps and delete and update, etc. Good computer hygiene feels great!

Make a Habit of Meditating & Praying

This is the classic morning habit we all know we would benefit so greatly from, and yet always feel like there is never time. There are so many benefits to our body, mind, and soul that are cultivated when we make meditating and praying a habit. It can reduce stress and anxiety, promote emotional health, enhance self-awareness, improve focus, generate kindness and happiness, help with addiction, and improve sleep, to name a few! It’s a habit you can carry with you wherever you go in life, sort of like the comfort blankie of a child. Perhaps this is one of the most transformative habits we could create of all, especially during this strange time! Imagine how much it would upgrade your life to if you carried this habit with you. Imagine looking back when you are 80, feeling grateful you actually took the intentionality to create this habit right now! I think with all the stress and anxiety of the Ordeal we are going through, regular prayer could be the most important thing we could do right now!

Get Fit and Healthy

Know what would feel great? Re-emerging from isolation and into summer with a healthy, thriving body. I’m not saying do a hardcore diet or do something potentially stressful or mentally unhealthy, but instead, intentionally cultivating vitality. For example, creating a habit of moving and pushing your body in a way that feels great, learning to eat and cook in a way that truly and deeply satisfies your body, or employing the tool of visualization could feel wonderful! Caring for your body during a tough time is especially important.

I used to think being healthy was difficult, but now I know it’s not. It just takes a lot of effort at first to learn to cook and eat healthily and deliciously as well as find out a way to move that works well for you. The delightful thing is, once you do, you don’t even have to think about it - it becomes the most natural thing in the world! It’s easy peasy, and the habits you’ve created take care of your body without you hardly trying. I would never go back to the way I lived before because I feel so great now! This is a great time to put your energy and focus on educating yourself and learning new habits. 

It could be tempting right now to want to snack a lot and be extra lazy because we are stuck at home, but I think after a few months of that we would all feel pretty gross. Not taking care of your body can make you feel moody, sluggish, low self-esteem, unmotivated, and grumpy and it can also mess with your hormones. How much better would it be to feel your body pumping and glowing with good health? Since we’ve lost our gym membership to coronavirus, I subscribed to youtube premium so there’s no advertising and first thing when I wake up (after I drink a bunch of water) I start working out with either a hit, body weight, or yoga. Youtube videos are perfectly capable of challenging me and leaving me sore! I definitely think I’ve grown my muscles since I’ve started doing it, which is exciting! Another tip is, if you’re sure to fill your cart at the grocery store with only healthy things, you’ll only be eating healthy things! I like to see my cart full of mostly fresh produce, plus a little meat and fruit, and a smidge of nuts, Zevia, Lilly’s chocolate things like that - in the same proportion as what I’d ideally like to see on my plate. 

Create a Vision Board

This would be a great one to take you out of the anxiety of the present moment and focus on what is beyond. Create a vision board either physically or on the computer from Pinterest. What do you want in your life in the near distant future? I have a vision board and love using it. I look at it every day and try to feel in my body and with my emotions how it would be when they are realized - to feel as if those goals have already manifested. If you know what you want in your life in the future, then you probably could work back from there and make a rough plan, and once you know that you’re able to see what you could fill your time with in the present that will get you well on your way! There are many great articles and videos online telling you how to do this, and although I have a vision board I am not the expert. It’s so much fun to dream about all the things you want in your life, and then do something tangible about it! I love this exercise.

Improve Relationships 

Being in such close quarters with those you love might naturally tend to bring up tension in relationships. It’s an opportunity to embrace this and use it as a chance to strengthen your relationships. For example, you could decide to make a little secret project of being extra kind and see if it makes a difference, or you could have honest, vulnerable, conversations and be intentionally open to change. It’s a great time to read relationship books or even take an Allison Armstrong class! Having great relationships on the other side of this could be a beautiful way to change your life!

Get Great at Makeup or a Skincare Routine 

Something I’ve been enjoying recently is watching youtube videos of some very talented and tasteful makeup artists and trying to improve. I like to think about what is going to compliment my eye color or flatter my skin tone and undertone, and just look super healthy and happy. Seeing people do thier makeup is so soothing for me. I love watching Violet, a genius French make up artist, and Katie Hughs

If you’ve always wanted a great skincare routine and never quite known what to do, it’s the perfect opportunity to immerse yourself in research and find out the best products uniquely perfect to you! I bet if you did, by the time this is all over you’d have lovely, healthy, glowing skin!

Learn a Language 

I’ve always wanted to learn French or Italian so that I can converse with natives when I’m holidaying in France and Italy, something I hope I’ll do all life long. It would be fun to plan a trip for once things are back to normal and be able to speak the language while you’re there! I think rosetta stone is having a sale right now, too! 

Learn about money

Do you know what’s been calming to me recently? Listening to Dave Ramsey talking about the coronavirus and the economy. He’s not a nurturing person by nature, but I do think he is loving. I also like to make sure I’m hearing various perspectives on the matter even though I haven’t formed my own opinion and don’t know if I will until this is over. My heart is with those (who are many) who are going through an extremely difficult time financially (Dave Ramsey is very sympathetic to this condition). As a small business owner, I understand. I think ordering your finances can be hopeful, though, because it is a very tangible way to work towards living a better life in the future. It’s future-focused but requires action in the present. Going through the bank statements of the past few months, beginning a budget, making goals and deciding how to give feels great. We started taking this seriously at the beginning of the year and even though it’s challenging at times, having this structure and clear plan feels wonderful. It could be a less challenging time to start because there's not a lot to spend money on besides living costs with everything closed.

Escape via Good Stories 

I haven’t allowed myself to read for pleasure since I was a teenager, feeling the yearning instead to read purposefully about health, psychology, business, Christianity, relationships, and investing so that I could learn from the wise how to live a good life. Recently, though, I’ve been realizing that there is value in reading for the fun of it! It can be a lovely way to escape for an afternoon into a fantastic adventure in another world full of bright and interesting things and different problems to overcome than our own. Besides, stories teach us how to navigate struggle and disaster and to be strong and courageous and rise up to be the hero of our own story. 

I hope that gives you some inspiration and perhaps sparks an idea of your own!  I think choosing any one of these could be a lovely, soul-enriching and life-giving ritual to carry through the rest of isolation. For us, it will be over two more months still. I’m starting to accept this season - it is here, like it or not, and I might as well embrace it and do something I will be glad about during it. Ruminating on the current situation, which is out of my control, is not good for my mental health. But these things are! If you liked any of the ideas, it would be so fun for me to hear which ones! You can write about it below, or share any other ideas you have! I can't wait to hear! <3

Sending much love to you dear people!

XO, Juliet