Your future is found in your daily routine. Successful people do daily what others do occasionally!

Paula White

While our world fights one of its biggest pandemic, with countless efforts and dedication from our medical professionals, a large part of the population in many countries has to endure strict decisions such as stay at home orders and lockdown which results in a massive change in our way of life.

Behaviors that were common before are now more supervised, in some places they are even forbidden. In this time, adapting became the new normal, and our habits had to change. One day, sooner or later, let’s hope as soon as possible, we will be able to come back to some of our habits, to meet our friends and family again, to go for free run on several miles, to go biking, hiking, to go to our gym, dojo, sport club. But during the quarantine, we have to adapt our lifestyle and below are some tips I use daily to continue having an healthy lifestyle in this context, both physically and mentally to stay positive.

Create a regular training routine

Many individuals are requested to stay at home in self-quarantine to fight the spread of Covid-19. This raise several questions, one of them being how to stay physically active during the self-quarantine ?

The Worldwide Health Organization (WHO) identified this issue from the beginning. Staying physically active is not only a question of physical conditions. Physical activity also helps to reduce stress, which is very present during this period of pandemic. That’s why staying physically active is critical in this moment.

The WHO actually published a synthesis of best practices as well as examples of exercises that you can do at home to stay physically active. You can access it here and it does not require a lot of space or any equipment. There are basic exercises such as knee to elbow, plank, back extensions, to which you can add your own exercises according to your level, such as push-up, dips, squats and others.

In addition, you can find some specific routines proposed by many professionals, a lot of them for free and accessible through their website or Youtube channel.

It is important to listen to your body in order not to overtrain or take bad habits while doing these exercises. You can also add some Qi Gong exercises to relax and some stretching in between each session to better recover.

Keep an healthy diet during the lockdown

One highly important point as we have a less intense physical activity due to the lockdown is to maintain some healthy lunch habits. What does it mean ?

First, the WHO released in March an article in which it promotes good habits to manage your food and nutrition during the self quarantine. You can find this article here. They also published great tips that you can find on the following page dedicated to food and nutrition during self-quarantine.

Even though in some places it may be more difficult to find some products as in some countries / cities local markets are closed, make sure to have enough fresh foods, fruits and vegetables. They are important to get the vitamins that are needed to stay energized.

Also, avoid too many heavy meals as with limited physical activity it will be tougher to get rid off the extra calories they contain and make sure you stay hydrated enough during the day.

Invest time to meditate and refocus on your objectives

Being lockdown does not mean that you have to put your projects on hold…it is actually the opposite. The lockdown can give you time to think back to some projects, personal or professional that you had not managed before.

You can also use this time to meditate a bit more, think to what your life was before the lockdown, how best you can manage it with your family, and what you want to change once your life will be back to normal.

A good exercise could be for you to list 3 objectives that you would like to achieve after the lockdown and to think about how you can prepare them. It is a way to make use of this period to build something different for you personally and / or professionally.

Continue meeting your friends and family…online

Social distancing does not mean no contact at all. Several apps to stay connected with your friends and family are available and are actually very useful to organize small discussions and even games with them.

If you are looking for some apps there are many. WhatsApp, Skype, Houseparty (that allow to play games with your friends). Depending on what you want, you can find something to meet your friends and family virtually and these moments are important.

You can look at this excellent article from Wired if you want a comparison of these apps.

Bonus: use this time to learn something new!

This bonus tips is actually for us one of the most important. While this period of lockdown could be a moment where you come back to your personal habits at home, it can also be an opportunity for you to learn something new.

It can personal, professional or both. What is important is that you keep yourself in the position of the learner, discovering something new which will also increase your mental agility.

Many learning providers propose some free offers (or discounts) on their programs during the lockdown. This is an opportunity to get good classes from well known professionals for a better price, so why not taking it.

On this topic, here is an excellent article from The Guardian that we encourage you to read to understand what you can look for while learning during the lockdown.

And above all, take care of yourself and your loved ones and stay safe.

*Photo by Form on Unsplash