CORONA SELF CARE

Words by Alexander Arthur

COVID-19. The invisible bastard that has made everyone from the bearded millennial at the Ligertwood front desk to your Aunt Karen run for the hand sanitiser, toot paper and pasta faster than Usain Bolt at the 2008 Olympics (as I write she is still speaking to the manager at Cumberland Park Woolies).

Retail entitlement aside, the coronavirus pandemic is the biggest public health emergency for a generation; at the time of writing there are more than 1600 cases Australia-wide, and over 300,000 cases worldwide. Its rapidly evolving nature, lack of known cure and mass media coverage has resulted in uncertainty and confusion, so here is a short list of tips to take care of yourself during the foreseeable future.

1. Focus on what you can control – Viktor Frankl once said that “Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation.” Some examples are: •Where you go •Who you spend time with •How you spend your time and money •Your behaviour, mindset and reactions to your thoughts & feelings •How much you sleep •How much you exercise •What you consume

By focusing on what you can control, you’re allowing yourself to let go of what you cannot, which allows you to react to situations in a way consistent to your values and massively reduces any stress and anxiety brought about by

coronavirus.

2. Practice good hygiene: This means washing your hands with soap and water for twenty seconds, (especially after leaving the house, before eating etc) – the same time as it takes to recite the ratio from Donaghue v Stevenson at para. 580: ‘Who, then, in law is my neighbour? The answer seems to be – persons who are so closely and directly affected by my act that I ought reasonably to have them in contemplation as being so affected when I am directing my mind to the acts or omissions which are called in question. You must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injury your neighbour.’ In short, don’t socialise unless absolutely necessary, practise social distancing and look out for others. Be like Lord Atkin. Don’t be a dickhead.

3. Re-establish your routine if necessary: A routine is essential for self-care as humans crave structure. If you’re struggling with where to start, think about what is working, what isn’t and what you could change. Some examples are: • Study: Check that you have enough space for you to study with natural light and air, where you are unlikely to be distracted. I also use Google Calendar to plan tasks out over the course of a day, and Trello boards to break down tasks into actionable components to avoid overwhelm in light of due dates/any other commitments. Having a solid pair of headphones and a banging Spotify playlist is a lifesaver, leaving more time for Kath & Kim re-runs on Netflix with a bottle of wine. If you

need help, ask on the discussion boards, set up an appointment with your lecturer or tutor or slide into your smart friends’ inboxes for notes. environment. Whack something like ‘home exercise routine’ into Google and see what happens. Now go have a shower beer king, you’ve earned it.

• Sleep: Sleep prepares you for the following day, so it’s ideal to go to sleep and wake at approximately the same time consistently. Turning your electronics onto a night mode, avoiding their use for at least 30 mins before bed, avoiding coffee after 3pm, stretching your muscles out help enormously. Your caffeinated soul will thank you. • Have a social life: Just because you’ve defaulted to your most comfortable trackies with coffee in hand does not mean you have to sacrifice interactions with your fellow humans – I love serving a good roast over a Messenger group chat as much as anyone else, but I find picking up the phone drastically lessens the inertia of isolation without having to show your friends your squalid living conditions – now that’s a win-win. • Exercise – Anxious about leg day? Worried that your creatine powder from 2013 will never be finished? Disappointed that you can’t show off your new Lululemon leggings at OrangeTheory? Never fear, gym bros and yoga girls – even going for a 20-minute walk allows you to get out of your head and into your 4. Try and do something new – Now is the perfect time to take up something that you’ve always wanted to do but have never found the time for. For my family, cooking allows us to de-stress while doing something productive - why not take credit for your culinary skills instead for your DRE assignment? 5. Practice meditation and/or bullet journaling: Not just for hipsters or the ‘gram, these two skills work in tandem by boosting your concentration, emotional regulatory skills, and general satisfaction. Meditation is effectively practised self-awareness and involves nothing more taxing than sitting down and focusing on your breath and present moment with your eyes closed. If this intrigues you, find a quite place to sit, close your eyes and count every breath as you breathe in and out. If you get distracted, pull yourself back to the breath, and repeat for one to ten minutes. There are multiple apps such as Headspace, Smiling Mind and Calm which are beneficial in channelling your inner Zen master when your Italian mother yells at you for drinking a glass of sav blanc during an LSS meeting. Do try it, I promise it helps. Journaling is a little bit different. This is a more

reflective activity that helps put your day and any issues you have into perspective. All you need is an A5 notebook and a pen. What and how you write is entirely up to you, but I always give a paragraph or so about how my day went, five things that went well, five things that could be improved and five things that I was grateful for that day.

Focusing on these three areas forces you to reflect with self-compassion, honesty and will help you identify areas that you could improve on – as a way to track your progress towards your goals it can be invaluable.

Above all, remember that like everything in life, coronavirus is temporary. However, I believe that it forces us to confront where we are as a society and in life - one thing that I have learned is that we can choose to be our best selves no matter the challenges that COVID-19 poses because at the end of the day, all we really have is each other.

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