Month: April 2020

Being aware of what your body needs, physically is a good way of helping yourself through challenging times.

During this period of social distancing, you may find yourself working from home rather than the office. This could mean that you begin to feel the strain of sitting on an uncomfortable dining chair, staring at the laptop for hours on end, with the pressure to meeting deadlines with no team around you for support. You might feel tension in your body; shoulders, neck, and lower spine. At this point, as long as you are used to exercising in some way, it might be useful to do some kind of gentle stretching exercises. Within the PDF download, there is a link to a mindful movement called Qi Gong. This can be a very gentle but effective way of moving and tuning in to your body, allowing the blood to flow and the breath to lead the movement.

Until now, I was unaware that the NHS website also offers free resources for aerobic, pilates and yoga classes. The links for these are also within the PDF download.

Another important element of taking care of yourself physically, is your diet. Paying attention to what you are eating and when you are eating can help to improve medical conditions, digestive system and quality of sleep.

If you download the PDF, the links will take you to the NHS website and Inner Space Works website.

Choosing how you get through the next weeks and months is important and sometimes taking one day at a time is more than enough. This is not weak or failing. It takes strength and courage to acknowledge that you might need to temporarily slow down and perhaps ask for some support.

Dealing with practical tasks can be psychologically draining. Learning to take care of yourself and being kind to yourself is important (even though it may feel counter-intuitive!).

We all need it but do you allow yourself to think ‘out of the box’ or, when you look at the infographic below, do you only see the words “Loving” and “Care” and equate that to being soft and your brain switches off?

TLC is offering ourselves alternative ways of thinking and doing. New perspectives and approaches that may be useful, particularly whilst we are navigating our way through this Global Pandemic of Coronavirus, Covid19.

Life was tough, stressful and challenging before lock down. Now, we have layers of newly presented challenges.

Knowing that there are alternative ways of approaching tasks and situations can help us to manage the situation differently and perhaps to better manage ourselves.

Try offering yourself some TLC and see what happens. Below are a few suggestions for how you could change things up in a practical way.

Are you structured or unstructured in your approach?