This past Friday marked the 14th day since the national emergency was declared here in the United States for the Coronavirus (COVID-19). Whether we’ve known about it for longer than that or had a chance to act earlier, here we are. We finished the week with a stimulus plan, a rising stock market, and warming spring temperatures.

We deserve at least some credit for getting this far—and two weeks feels like a good milestone, but it’s also a dangerous one.

For most of us, our days have been scattered with ups and downs between know-how and confidence to uncertainty and exhaustion. We’ve got a perpetually draining question on our minds, “When is this going to end?” It’s easy to get hopeful that we’ve seen the worst of it, that things might get back to normal again soon.

The two week milestone is dangerous because many might presume we are halfway through. With Easter just over two weeks away and the thoughts of resuming work and daily activities circulating amongst the public, it’s a frictionless vision of the future in the heads of many who might believe it. Unfortunately, it’s not true, and accepting it as the truth vastly limits your ability to respond to the weeks ahead. *Update — President Trump did extend the shelter in place until April 30th which is a good sign, but also a tough reality for many to face.

The fact of the matter is, no one knows quite when we’ll get through this, much less be able to define what, “through this” means. The major risks of overloading the healthcare system may be present for another 4 weeks, or 3 months if we treat it right. Secondary and tertiary effects like social distancing and large event cancellations could linger for the better part of the year, if ever fully receding. It’s clear that the world will be a different place when we do start to emerge back into society.

These facts leave us uneasy; if we can’t answer when we’ll get through this, then how are we supposed to psychologically cope?

My answer would be to ask yourself a different question.

Don’t ask yourself: “When is this going to end?” Ask yourself: “When Will I Feel Better?”

Perhaps we can do something besides physical distancing to lower our infection rates, our fears, and our strife. Perhaps we can plan for the future, treat ourselves well and remain joyful regardless of the facts. Perhaps it would even safeguard our immunity as surely as it will set ourselves up for long-term success. While much is left to chance and luck, you can definitely start preparing now for how you’ll show up in the world when we open back up.

So let’s get into WHEN and HOW you are going to feel better. The good news is that you can start feeling a bit better right now, today. The keys to focus on seem to be taking care of your basic needs, expanded self-care, and finally having something aspirational to work on. If we do this right, there’s a chance for us as individuals to build some amazing habits, improve our general outlook on life, and maybe even feel like we’ve, “made it through” well before it’s over. Make no mistake, a storm is coming, but it’s up to you how you’ll weather it.

As you read any information out there, remember to give yourself some slack. This is a first time most humans on the planet are going through something like this, and we’ll all do a little better if we can forgive and love ourselves; however we respond. Do the best you can for yourself, your family & friends, and take it one day at a time.

The Basics

Having an adequate supply (chain) of food, water, supplies that you’ll need to get through this AND your mental capacity to deal with these things.

Of course, the primary basic need right now for yourself and everyone around you is to stay healthy! Follow the Medium Coronavirus Blog for more advice there to limit your exposure and keep up with the latest.

There are plenty of articles going around about how to stock your fridge to provide for yourself and family, but one topic that seems to be missed is how often you should actually go to the grocery store to stock up. I’ve heard of people going daily, I’ve also heard of people who have refused to leave their homes all together. My advice? Keep it limited.

Plan to go to the store once per week, or better yet, order your groceries to be delivered. Have enough stocked up? Make sure your elderly family and neighbors are covered, too. When picking out your foods, make sure to stock up on fresh fruits & veggies with longer shelf lives, and get yourself at least a small amount of treats or cheats! A little chocolate or an emergency ration of potato chips will go a long way. Try not to let yourself get into panic mode or hurriedly rush out to the store every other day; best to have a plan and stick to it. You may also need some other household items other than toilet paper in the coming weeks, so try to forecast if you’ll need anything else like lightbulbs etc.

Here are some basic guidelines:

• Ask for help if you need it! There is more than enough to go around.
• Try and have enough backup groceries for 4–6 weeks.
• Get fresh produce & perishables once a week.
• Install any delivery apps you may need: Amazon, Food Delivery, etc.
• Stock up on plastic bags or Tupperware for food storage.
• Get a supply of lightbulbs, HVAC filters, notebooks & pens.
• Yes, toilet paper, tissues, gloves and hand sanitizer are important.
• Other missed items would be protein or meal shake powder, electrolyte sources, lime/lemon juices and your usual hand, dish & laundry soap.
• Create an inventory of items that you’ve stocked up on so you won’t have to guess when to reorder.
• Avoid big box chain stores when possible, try your local market or a less trafficked option instead.
• Make a list of local companies you’ll plan to support in the future.

Remember: More than ever, this is a time to practice moderation. Once you’re stocked up, it may feel like you’ve got plenty of food for weeks, but that isn’t an excuse to binge eat or throw yourself a well-stocked buffet dinner every night. That said, there’s no need to jump into a 3 day water cleanse right off the bat, though you could work up to it or try intermittent fasting to get started. This is a time to recognize what types of food & drink truly fuel us, and to find out what your body and mind are capable of. If it’s any consolation, the human body can go up to three weeks without food, three days without water, and a few days without sleep. It’s not the time to test those limits—but it’s a great time to be aware of adding a little more discipline to your habits. If you start practicing moderation now, you’ll be able to stretch your supplies further and hopefully experience less fear of, “not having enough” along the way.

Self Care & Mindset

Self care and optimizing your mindset is the next key.

The simple rundown—watch your energy levels, sleep when you’re tired, and exercise when you’re energetic. Remind yourself we are living in unprecedented times, and you’re allowed to take your time. Celebrate the little wins along the way, and be grateful for the way you’re taking care of yourself.

A few great ideas going around would be:

• See if you can create a new bedtime ritual & wake up for sunrise
• Give yourself or partner a daily massage.
• Learn about active recovery. Try a fitness plan or a daily movement challenge.
• Surround yourself with great music! Music can have profound effects on your emotions. If you’re tired, listen to something soothing. Need a pick-me-up? Try something energetic!
• Pay attention to how different foods make you feel. Make a list of the foods that give you good energy, and eat them more often.
• Socialize. Call your mom, dad, brother, sister, cousin, aunt, uncle, friends anytime, we’re all pretty open!
  *Keep it simple — talk about what you’re each excited about or looking forward to. Grieve for the things you miss. Be open, be truthful.
• GET OUTSIDE! Obviously stay at a safe distance from others, but if you have a balcony, a backyard or a relatively empty street / park, make sure to get sunlight when you can.
• We are a part of nature, so don’t be ashamed to try some grounding or go hug a tree! You don’t have to understand the science to reap the benefit.
• Try a breathing exercise. Box breathing is great, so is consciously breathing out of your nose more often.
• Relax to guided healing soundtracks or meditations with a free meditation app.
• If you’re lucky enough to be working full-time from home, check with your boss about slightly reduced hours. We all deserve a little break and this could give you a chance to be more efficient in your work with a little extra time for yourself.
• Try some cold-exposure therapy with 15 seconds of a cold shower, then work your way up to a minute. *Only when you’re feeling good to start!
• Above all, make sure to sleep when you are tired!

If self care represents all of the physical activities and forces you can apply to your daily life, your mindset is the operating system from which they run. An optimized mindset will get more benefit out of any form of self-care, so it’s going to be important to tune this as well as you can.

Mindset Tips & Tricks:

• Stay grateful. You are safe, you have food, shelter, methods of communication.
• Write three things down that you’re grateful for, each morning and evening.
• Be easy on yourself. No one expects an individual to save the world right now, just to stay as healthy as possible and upbeat if you can.
• Remember that your mindset is not fixed — actively using any of the self-care methods above, you can turn a depressed mood around or calm persistent anxieties. Accept how you feel, let it pass, and try something new to change your outlook.

Opportunities will still arise even at times like this, so don’t forget to invite them into your life! A positive mindset is a great way to conserve energy and keep your zest for life intact. This sort of feeling spreads with everyone you interact with as well, so a huge added bonus there.

Aspirations

Now that you’ve got supplies and self-care covered, it’s time to think about something aspirational. Remember, your aspirational thing might simply have to do with the self-care methods above, and that would be a huge win! Learning new skills or practicing a positive habit takes time, and we’ve got plenty of it right now. Knowing that you’re improving day by day will help you feel continually better about yourself as this goes on, and by the end maybe you’ll have a lifelong skill or something you can share with others! And don’t worry, there’s no pressure to become a sensation overnight, this time is about building the habits that will lead to greatness.

A few ideas going around would be:

• Write three goals for the day each morning, and see if you checked them off before bed.
• Learning guitar or piano, or learning to sing!
• Writing in a daily journal, composing poetry, or writing a blog post.
• Learning how to cook a variety of foods.
• Taking up a new movement practice.
• Reading one book for fun, one for education.
• Practice recording yourself for a video blog & learn how to edit video
• Come up with a service to help vulnerable communities
• Spread the word about a good cause or donate to one yourself

The fact of the matter is, if you have the energy, there’s been no better time to dive into a passion of yours, something that serves your interests & desires for yourself. As we take a collective pause, many of us are realizing we may not quite be on the paths we want in life. That’s ok, this has been a collective pause which means you should rest, recover and plan.

Remember: It’s also super tempting to go all out on your future plans. It’s easy to dive into work if you’re able to be productive from home. You may feel a sense of renewed autonomy, or even begin to have grand visions about your future. That’s great — hold onto those ideas! Write them down & make plans, but don’t expect yourself to achieve everything all at once. Placing too high of expectations on yourself could lead to burnout and that’s definitely not a good place to be right now with potential stress levels already high enough.

The path of your dreams may be just on the other side of a good period of self-care, opening up to the possibilities, and following through with a sense of renewed curiosity and discipline.

Extra Credit: It’s fantastic if you can build something aspirational into your daily life — the only thing better would be doing something aspirational that would impact your community. Remember to aim for a sense of personal growth that has the power to improve your life and the lives of others.

So what will the world look like after this?

The way the world looks later in 2020 largely depends on how WE look after this. Do we succumb to exhaustion, fear, grief, depression? I don’t think so. I believe we have the potential of coming together to take care of ourselves, support our loved ones, and step into the future with confidence.

There will likely be more small to medium sized dinner parties. People will take more walks, hug more, and spend more time in nature. Hopefully there’ll be more music, art, and dancing in the world as the creativity we’ve honed in isolation blooms later this spring. We’ll have a renewed love for time spent with others and pay more attention to how we’re using technology as a tool, not an addiction or the only route forward.

New ways to interact will certainly have been developed — both offline and on. I think we’ll use technology more purposefully and less abstractly. I believe we’ll also treat human connection the same way. Together we can use this time to collectively hone our best natures, skillsets, and propensity for collaboration.

As we learn to collaborate digitally, we’ll bring this knowledge into the real world while retaining some of the flexibility we discovered after adapting our work from home methods. Those whose livelihoods were interrupted by the virus will certainly have pent up demand when we return to non-essential businesses. It seems we are organizing support for these folks through efforts for musicians, service industry & restauranteurs, salons and more. Hopefully it is enough to get them through.

Many small businesses may close; and some larger too. New ways of doing business will arrive as this situation develops and we pass through. Large numbers of folks who’ve been out of a job will find opportunity if they know where to look. It should stand, many who’ve fallen out of joy with their own careers will locate vectors of a different way forward.

See you next time, a little closer to feeling better and getting through this.