This time is weird, scary, uncertain but also new, unprecedented and hopefully will never happen again. This therefore provides an opportunity for us to make the most of something we’ll never see again. There’s a lot that seems out of our control at the moment, however when we take the initiative to decide what our life will look like, we step back into the driver’s seat.

For the ones of us who are lucky enough to be struggling with Quarantine (rather than working endless shifts at the hospital, or being treated in hospital), I’ve put together this guide. I’m no expert in #QuarantineLife (this is a first for all of us), but I’ve put together all the best tips I could think of that might make this time even a tiny bit easier. Read through it first, then take a moment to implement the suggestions.

Create An Action Plan

Before you let the craziness sweep you off your feet, take a few minute to create your Quarantine Action Plan.

set your intention

An intention is something that cannot be checked off the to-do list, it’s something that you’re constantly reminding yourself of and working towards. Some might refer to it as a mantra, a resolution or a mindset. Set your intention for this period of time, and read it back to yourself every single morning. Find a time where you can do this. Can you write it out on a Post-It, stick it on your mirror and repeat it to yourself while you’re brushing your teeth? Can you have it in a notebook on your bedside table and glance over it when you turn your alarm off in the morning? Repetition is key here.

WRITE OUT YOUR TO-DOS

Many of us will start this journey with great intentions: “at least it’ll give me time to finish my book / to file my taxes / to finally get around to doing that online course” etc. Capture that motivation right now by making a list of all the things you’d like to get done during this time. Write down every little thing that comes to mind, even something as small as “reply to that email from my 3rd cousin that’s been sitting in my inbox for the past 7 months”. Dump it all out, and keep the list somewhere you look often. I personally keep my Quarantine To-Do list in this week’s page of my agenda, that way I see it every time I flip my agenda open.

Next, try to get one thing from that list done daily. Maybe it’s just read 5 pages of your book, reply to that one text message or simply open the 2020 Tax Filing envelope. Baby steps.

PREPARE YOUR DAILY ROUTINE

Something that many of us will struggle with during this time is structure. There’s no more division between office time & home time and there’s no more spinning class at X o’clock to frame your day. The whole day is spent in one place, and this is why you need to take the initiative to create a daily routine for yourself.

Take a few minutes to set out an hour-by-hour plan for what your days will look like. Be realistic and plan for things like doing the dishes, cleaning up, answering messages - these are all things that take up significant parts of our day.

We don’t know how long we’re going to be in this for, so you want to find a structure that you feel comfortable sticking to for the long run.

As with everything; diets, exercise programs, habits, you don’t want to get into an “all or nothing” mentality. You want to follow your routine as much as possible, but missing the first task on the list does not mean you give up on your day all together. One thing at a time.

7:00 - Wake Up, Make Coffee, Make Breakfast, Clean Up…

8:00 - Shower & Prepare daily to-do list

8:30 - Start Work Day

11:00 - Tea break

12:00 - 30 minute Workout

1:00 - Make lunch

2:00 - Back to work

. . .

prepare your weekly plan

The lack of structure gives you the opportunity to create one that works for you, and is not imposed on you from school, work, society etc. Night owls can now actually wake up later and end their work day later. You can chose if you work longer days for 4 days and take 3 days off, or work every day for shorter hours. Regardless, I suggest you take some time to decide how you want your week to look, and make a clear distinction between work time and leisure time.

TIP: Every Sunday evening take a minute to plan out the “fixed” additions to your schedule (planned phone calls, meetings, workouts etc.) Look through your To-Do list and see where you can fit in these To-Do’s in your week. Make the distinction between work days and leisure days clear. Since they will be taking place in the same space it will be difficult to draw the line, therefore having it scheduled will help.

Being Productive

Many of us will struggle to work productively during this time. We associate a certain behaviour with a certain environment. For many of us, home is the place we relax and spend time with family and friends. This is why many of us find it hard to work productively from home. In order to successfully work from home, you can implement the following tips…

create your work space

Many of us will struggle to change our association with our home from “the place I come to relax after work” to “the place I work”. This is why it’s important to create a work space.

1. Find a spot in the house which will be your new work space. Preferably a space you don’t use for much else, such as the desk in the corner that’s become a dumping spot. You can even do this if you’re in a smaller apartment, for example: sit on the opposite side of the dining table that you usual sit at to eat. It’s the same table, but facing a different way makes it a “new space”.

2. Clear your work space: a clear work area gives you the mental space to focus on what you’re doing

3. If you feel yourselves losing focus or motivation, make yourself a tea, set up another work space (maybe a new spot on the table) and set up your “brand new” work space

BREAK UP YOUR TIME

If you’ve been following me for a while now you know how much I love following the Pomodoro Productivity Hack. I’m self-employed meaning I have no one to hold me accountable for my work, except for myself. This productivity hack has literally saved me, and I really think it could help many of you as well. Here’s what you have to do:

1. Get a Post-It and put it on your laptop next to your track-pad (if you work from a computer), otherwise place it on your desk

2. Write today’s date on the Post-It

3. Put your phone to the side, look at the clock, and get started with 25-minutes of uninterrupted, fully focused work

4. After 25-minutes, put a tick on your Post-It and take a forced 5 minute break

5. During this break, go to the toilet, fill up your tea mug, stand up for a quick stretch etc.

6. After 5 minutes, get straight back to 25-minutes of uninterrupted work

7. Repeat as many times as you can / want

The reason why this technique works so well for me, is because it’s easy enough to focus for 25 minutes. At the beginning, the 5-minute break may seem “too soon”. You may think the 25-minutes went by too fast and you could have kept going… but you’ll see. After 3-4 hours of this, 15-minutes into your Pomodoro, you might find your mind wandering, you might be tempted to get up and grab a snack, but you can bring yourself back and say “only 10 more minutes of this pomodoro - let’s finish it first”.

My 5-minute breaks also frame the time I take off. I’m sure we’ve all done this before: We stroll into the kitchen to “grab a quick snack” when we should be working. It’ll only take 2 minutes… 20 minutes later you’re still there making the most elaborate granola bowl you’ve ever seen topped with all the nuts and seeds that have been sitting in the back of your cupboard untouched for months.

This technique limits “accidental break time”. You get 5 minutes rest every 25-minutes. How you use it is up to you.

TIPS FOR FOCUS

• Play around with music vs. no music. My favourite is a neutral playlist with few lyrics (like this Lo-Fi Beats Spotify playlist)

• Want to take a break for a phone call or lunch? Calculate your break in pomodoros Ex.: Taking 2 pomodoros OFF (1 hour) for lunch + dishes

• When you’re working on a specific document on your laptop, make the page go full screen so that you have no tempting Apps at the bottom and are less likely to get distracted

• Play around with meal times. When and what you eat can have a huge impact on mental focus. You may find you work best in the morning before breakfast (that’s the case for me, that’s why I love powering through with my most important tasks in the morning and eat breakfast around noon).

• If you’ve got other people in your household, let them know about your new pomodoro productivity plan. Maybe you can have a visual cue such as: when your headphones are on, that means you’re in the middle of a pomodoro AKA don’t talk to me (of course this is more difficult with small children)

• If you have a family to take care of, try to think of that one time of day where you can have a bit of alone time. Working from home means you have the luxury to move your work day around. Can you wake up early before everyone else and pound through 3-4 pomodoros?

stick to your routine

A colleague recently shared 2 photos. One was captioned “PLAN” with a white board listing a perfect hour-by-hour day schedule for home schooling their kids. The second photo was captioned “REALITY” with one kid rolling around on the floor and the other one watching TV. Whether you have a family at home or not, you can most probably relate. During the first part of this guide we set out our Daily Routine. That was the easy part, the hard part is actually sticking to it. Here are a few tips:

• Use the first few days as a test. If your plan is not working, change it. Simplify it. You’ll be a lot more satisfied having stuck to a plan 100x simpler, rather than have done nothing on your elaborate and ambitious plan.

• For those that don’t have others to take care of, and struggle with self-motivation to exercise at home for example, get a friend to join you (virtually). Decide on a time-of-day to workout, and message each other when the time has arrive. When it does, not excuses. Stop, drop and do it.

• Set yourself alarms. It’s easy to get sucked into doing something that you don’t realize when it’s time to move onto the next activity on your schedule.

Staying Positive & Sane

It’s a hard time, and although there’s a huge wave of positivity online at the moment, this is a marathon and not a sprint. The feeling of solidarity is still strong, but after a few weeks, we will all find ourselves going through serious ups and downs. That’s normal, it’s to be expected, and it’s to be planned for.

when you feel lonely…

Put together a little list of every person you’re thinking of and care for. When you’re feeling lonely, give one of them a call or shoot a message. Reaching out is the first step. What’s weirdly positive about this whole situation is that we’re all going through the same thing. We can all relate to each other and we’re all going through the same ups and downs. Hearing someone on the other end of the line and knowing you’re not alone makes a huge difference.

when you feel sad…

• There’s a lot of depressing news out there, but there are still a few sources of positivity. I’ve been looking at the @UpWorthy feed a lot lately when I want a little positivity boost.

• Make a little list of all the things you can do for fun (from home) to take your mind off the current situation ex.: paint your nails, try a new recipe, learn a new song on the guitar etc. Do not get sucked into mindlessly scrolling. You’ll end up feeling annoyed, unproductive and considering everything online revolves around the coronavirus at the moment, you won’t get your mind off anything at all.

• There’s also benefit in doing the things on your “shit list”. These are the things you don’t want to do (like cleaning, doing a closet clear out, updating your accounting etc.) but that makes you feel so much better when it’s done. My mum always said “the less you want to do it, the more you need to”, and I really think there’s value in that. We often think we need to “treat ourselves” during the hard times, and that binge eating ice cream and watching movies will make us feel better… but it rarely does. Getting something off the “shit list” will make you feel proud, accomplished and that much lighter.

• I do journaling every morning, and will sometimes make a gratitude list, but during these times I’ve decided to write down 10 things I’m grateful for every single morning

• . These things must be different every single day. The benefit comes after the first few days when you’ve used up all the “obvious” ones, and you need to dig deep for little tiny things you never really acknowledge. There’s always more to be grateful for.

Eat Healthy

Funnily enough, so far during quarantine times, the pasta shelves have been empty but the fresh produce section is full as ever… I’m not too worried about running out of food, but it seems many have taken the “stock up as much as possible before all the food runs out” route, so maybe there’s something I’m missing! Regardless, here are some healthy eating in quarantine tips…

HEALTHY BUT LONG SHELF-LIFE?

Perhaps you’re scared of getting ill and having to self-quarantine, or you have people at-risk in your house and don’t want to leave the house, or you simply want to reduce the amount of trips you make to the shop… whatever your reason, it seems many of us are trying to find ways to stock up as much as possible now. That would naturally limit how much fresh produce we can have, however it doesn’t mean we can’t eat healthily. Here are some of my favourite long shelf-life products:

• Instead of spaghetti: whole oats, brown rice, lentil pasta, rice noodles, chick peas: plain spaghetti will get boring plus it’s low in fibre, high in carbs… and there’s none of it left at the grocery store anyway

• A big variety of spices: this will add a little colour to any meal. Not to mention that many spices such as turmeric & cayenne pepper have huge health benefits

• Frozen spinach: You can throw it in a curry to add some green or in a smoothie to make sure you’re getting you veggies in

• Frozen berries: Cook with oats or blend into a smoothie

• Onions, Garlic, Lemon, Potatoes, Carrots: These all have a long shelf-life if you keep them in the fridge

• Canned veggies: These are a great option as long as you read the ingredients and there are no weird additive… I love canned artichokes, tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, green beans

• Cook & Freeze: You can also buy fresh produce now, peal, cut or cook them and then leave them in the freezer for later

support your immune system

I recently shared the top 5 nutrition tips from my go-to Holisitic Nutritionist Sarah (@nourishthriveglow). Here’s what she said…

1. A High Quality Probiotic. Over 60% of our immune system is housed in our gut. That’s right, the majority of the cells that make up your immune system, lie in the gut, which is why we need to be feeding it daily. Taking a quality supplement is great and including food sources. Top food sources fermented foods like kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, full fat organic yogurt and my personal fav apple cider vinegar.

2. Vit D3 (actually a hormone!). When the body is low in Vitamin D the immune system is impacted almost immediately allowing for bacteria, viruses and other diseases to make their way in. Our immune cells have receptors for this vitamin. Take with a fat source as it is fat soluble.

3. Vit C. This is a potent antioxidant and has been strongly researched showing the benefits when it comes to enhancing the immune system. It actually promotes natural killer cell activity, lymphocyte proliferation and immune balance. It’s a water soluble vitamin.

4. Zinc. It’s an essential trace mineral and is required through diet or supplementation as the body doesn’t manufacture it. It promotes strong, healthy neutrophil, natural killer cell, and T-lymphocyte function. It also relies on vitamin C so don’t skimp on either. Take with food as this can cause an upset stomach.

5. Sleep, sleep, sleep! We all know this, but when we lack sleep, our immune function is impaired.

avoid bored snacking

This is something most of us struggle with when we’re sitting at home in normal conditions… pair that with a stressful situation, a kitchen full of everything you panic-bought at the supermarket, and actually not being allowed to leave the house, and it’s even worse.

I generally find the less I move, the less in-tune I am with my body and therefore the less I can really accurately gage my hunger levels. We often also mistake boredom for hunger. When we over eat, and snack all day out of boredom, not only are we causing our blood sugar to swing all over the place, but we might find ourselves feeling more and more sluggish and low-energy. So here are a few tips for when the bored-snacking urge kicks in…

• Have a good variety of herbal teas ready to go. The herbal tea isle is still full don’t worry. When you’re reaching for a snack, make a tea first. With that you hit two birds with one stone: you satisfy the need to procrastinate by preparing something in the kitchen, and you potentially get rid of the “hunger” that was actually just thirst by drinking something

• Keep a big water bottle by you while you work, and make sure you at least take a few sips during each pomodoro break that way you’ll never get to the point where you confuse thirst for hunger

• When the bored-snacking urges hit, look back over that to-do list you wrote yourself. Can you cross one thing off right now?

• Keep healthy snacks in the house, so that at least you have something good for you to snack on. I love raw nuts, a tsp of nut butter, chopped veggies, coconut yogurt, dark chocolate

• Pre-portion your snacks, that way you’re less tempted to aimlessly munch through that huge bag of mixed nuts. Ex.: separate your the bag of mixed nuts into several smaller jars

• Have your snacks for the day planned. Once again the goal is to take the initiative to prepare before the need kicks in. If you know that at 3pm you’re going to take a break for tea and that leftover piece of banana bread, you’re less likely to raid the kitchen at 2:30pm as though you’re looking for the solution to your coronavirus concerns in the fridge

Keeping Active

The frantic search for online workout resources when the gyms closed was actually lovely to see. In a time like this, people were still concerned about maintaining their daily fitness regimen. The questions are still looming however; how do you keep fit being stranded in a 30m2 apartment not being able to go outside?!

make a plan

In case it hasn’t yet become evident, I love a good plan. Decide now how you will be keeping in shape during the quarantine. There are many different options:

• Free workout videos on Instagram like those shared by Natacha Oceane, Zanna VanDijk, Gigi Bommers, Denice Moberg & myself

• Free workout plans like those shared on BEAT Fitness InstaStories daily

• Join live guided classes (usually fixed fee or donation) like those guided by Lucile, Clélia, Balance 149, Yoga On The Move, Paname Academy *joining these classes also support independents and small businesses survive this difficult time. If you’re in the financial position to do so, think about joining one of these classes for those who have seen their sole sources of income shut down over night.

• Subscribe to a Program like the Kayla Itsines SWEAT App, Nike Training App, Melissa Woodhealth MWH Method, Alo Moves

Regardless what route you chose, do not make a passive decision and think “yeah I’ll do that”. Decide exactly what workout you will do on what day at what time. Write it out when you make your Sunday plan, and put the date in as though you’ve just spent a $30 credit on a spinning class. When the date and time is in ink in your agenda, it’s set.

finding the motivation

As always, making the plan is the easy part. Now we just need to stick to it. When it comes to working out, here are a few easily implementable steps.

• Prepare a killer workout playlist. When you really don’t feel like it, have that one song ready that always motivates you. Play it and see what happens..

• Get into your workout gear first thing in the morning, even if you’re planning on doing an afternoon workout, that way that’s one less barrier

• Prepare your mat and any other workout equipment you’re using the night before, that’s again, one less barrier

• Send a picture and a message to a friend saying “Ready for my Quarantine workout” before you’re mentally prepared for it. There. Now you’re locked in

• Place your workout in between mandatory to-dos. For example, if you have a phone call at 9:00 and a Skype meeting at 10:00 that gives you just enough time to hang up from the call, do a 30 minute workout, shower and be presentable for your Skype meeting. If you plan your workout in a vague moment where you don’t have anything planned around it, it becomes too easy to push back

There you go! Those are all the tips I have. I really hope this Guide helps you during this weird time we’ve embarked on. Most importantly, take care of yourself, of your loved ones, and follow the protocols put in place. They’re there for our own best interest.

Stay Safe & Stay Healthy,

xxx Victoria