Here’s a quick round up of the things that have helped me the most in the past week (As an introvert home with seven kids):

• Put on nice clothes in the morning
• Wear clothes I have made (I did that for a long time, but this winter I gradually stopped. Now I’m back at it.)
• Listen to an audio book and do something with my hands while I listen (folding laundry and handsewing)
• Rethink the kids’ chores and try something new
• Be Flexible about Homeschool
• Take a walk alone and leave the phone at home
• Reinstate bedtime reading with the Littles
• Find and share funny and hopeful memes and quotes about the pandemic
• Be kind to myself about how much time I’m spending on social media
• Bake comfort food
• Zoom meet-up with the extended fam (We have never done this, and it was SO good to see the fam together on the screen and hear updates from everyone)
• My Afrobeats Pandora station –  it’s curated to be relaxing, repetitive, and rhythmic. I’ll be going about my business and then realize my body has started dancing to the beats in the background.
• Wear a headwrap or hat every day. This is a gesture to remind myself I need to take care of my brain and what I put into it. It’s a physical comfort and also a nudge to think when I’m consuming media – Is this what I want to be seeing/hearing right now? Is the volume where it needs to be? Plus, it eliminates the need to do my hair, which is in an awkward phase.
• Watch a kid’s movie with my spouse after the kids are in bed. (We watched the Addams Family movie. We looked for a comedy in grown up movies that looked appealing, was rated PG-13, and did NOT have someone cheating in the trailer, and found nothing. I realized about halfway through the digitally animated creepy weirdness that I had FORGOTTEN about the coronavirus for a while, and that felt wonderful.)
• Texting with friends

What have been your self care wins in the age of #coronapandemic? How are you thinking outside the box to stay healthy mentally and emotionally?