The Perfect Quarantine Routine for A Stress-Free Day

There’s nothing more stress inducing than being stuck at home all day with absolutely nothing to do. I mean literally nothing to do but stare at a blank wall, watch TV all day, or mindlessly eat all the food in your house.

Have you ever been guilty of this? I most certainly have. Many, many, many times before.

What happens when we’re stuck at home with nothing to do is, we begin to look for things to do. Literally anything that will distract us from whatever is currently keeping us occupied at the moment, even if only for a few seconds.

As you can imagine this may sometimes lead to bad habits that do not benefit our health and wellness in any way. Like the ones mentioned above for example.

How do we avoid being stressed and picking up bad habits while staying at home? We find ways to mindfully be productive while at home. Being mindfully productive doesn’t mean you stay busy the entire day. All being mindfully productive really means is that you do things during the day that keep you busy enough to not pick up any bad habits.

It’s not about being a busy bee, having no down time, or doing things for the hell of it. Instead, being mindfully productive while at home is really all about doing things that will nurture your physical, mental, and emotional health.

There are a ton of things you can do during the day to accomplish this. Even when you’re at home and literally have nothing to do. In today’s post I’m going to share with you the perfect quarantine routine for a stress-free day.

Related Posts: 8 Ways to Manage Your Anxiety While at Home

Related Posts: 5 Ways You Can Practice Self-Care Daily

With any daily routine it’s ideal to start your day with a solid morning routine.

My daily morning routine usually consists of some much needed me-time, which really just means some much-needed self-care time. Starting the day off like this puts me in a good mindset for the day while making sure that my current needs in the moment are being met.

Here is the perfect morning routine to help you get started for the day.

One-minute activity

Start your day with a one-minute activity. This can literally be anything of your choosing. Usually we roll out of bed and jump right into our responsibilities for the day. Doing so does not allow ourselves time to ease into our day.

When you wake up and just start your day the chances of it being a stressful one increases. This is because you are not giving yourself time to greet the day. To avoid this, I’ve found that it’s best to take that first minute you wake up to do something that will help you ease into your morning routine.

I like my one-minute activity to usually be something that revolves around exercise. This can be something as simple as doing squats, sit-ups, or even planking for one minute. Activities like these help wake up my brain.

Your one-minute activity does not have to be anything related to exercise. Instead, make it something that will help you meet a need of yours in the morning, while also giving you time to ease into your day.

Exercise

This is a must. It’s so important that we are taking care of our bodies to the best of our ability. This will look very different for everyone, but it’s so important that we are moving our bodies as often as we can.

While you most certainly do not have to start your day off exercising, I do believe you should start with some type of physical activity. What I love most about beginning my day with a morning exercise is the ease of it all.

It’s no secret that I LOVE at home workouts. Here’s a super helpful tip for you all about why.

You can get in a good workout, as if you went to the gym, without ever leaving your house. The best part is that you can accomplish this in no time at all. Literally 15 to 30 minutes a day is all you need!

This is what I like to do after my one-minute activity. I do a quick workout, usually around 30 minutes, before moving finishing my morning routine. Exercising helps to provide reassurance that you’re doing all that you can in the moment to make your personal health a priority.

Hygiene Routine

Plain and simple begin your normal morning hygiene routine. Brush your teeth, wash your face, take a shower, and do whatever else may need to be done as part of your grooming in the morning. This will help to wash away the sweat from your quick workout session, as well as give you more time to care mindfully for yourself.

Meditate

I like to end my morning routine by taking a little bit of time to meditate. Sometimes I will meditate as part of my one-minute activity, but when I don’t, I make sure to take the time before officially beginning my day to meditate.

There are so many positive benefits to meditating. Some of which include having a clear mind, strengthening your immune system, reduction in stress, improving your emotional health, and enhancing your self-awareness.

Taking the time to meditate in the morning allows you to be able to check-in with yourself and meet yourself where you currently are. That means you are allowing yourself to be accepting of whoever you may be in the moment. Meditation is a great practice to really find your center and prepare yourself emotionally to tackle the day.

Related Posts: 3 Ways to Get Fit While Practicing Wellness at Home

Related Posts: The Best Tips for Staying Healthy During A Crisis

Once the morning has started its’s time to slowly begin to ease into the afternoon. For me this is the time of day when I try to be the most active. I like for my mornings to be about practicing self-care that way my afternoons are more about being mindfully productive.

Here is the perfect stress-free afternoon routine.

Spend some time working on your passions

It’s so important to make sure that your day isn’t all about work. It’s important to do whatever work needs to be done in order for you to make a living. It’s also important to make sure that you are spending time actively engaging in your passions.

When we allow ourselves to have time to actively engage in our passions, we are honoring that creative part of us. We are choosing to make our lives be more about living a fulfilled and happy one than one that is committed to doing work that does not excite us.

Whether that reading, writing, blogging, crafting, or even watching movies, spend some time doing the things that bring you to life.

The key to being stress-free is not allowing yourself to become stressed with the activities that you are doing for the day. It’s knowing the difference between your life’s work, and work that just helps you get by and past time.

Instead of focusing on passing time focus on being active in a way that fulfills you. Find time to do something fun, something that relieves you of stress.

Get some fresh air

It’s so important that we don’t spend all our time indoors.

Getting outside, getting that fresh air, and spending some quality time in the sun is good for us. When we spend so much time indoors, we can get cabin fever. You begin to feel as though you are trapped inside and there isn’t a way out.

This is not true. While it may very well feel this way, I’m letting you know now that it’s all in our heads.

While you may not necessarily have anywhere to go, or anywhere to be, this doesn’t mean that you have to remain indoors all the time. Instead make sure that at some point during the afternoon you go outside.

Whether this means going on a 30-minute walk, spending some time reading a book in the park, or just sitting on your front porch and people watching, get outside.

This is also a great time to take a much-needed brain break and clear your head. Getting outside after being in the house for most of the day is a great transition into the next activity that you choose to engage in for your stress-free day.

Participate in a fun physical activity

This is probably my second favorite part of the day. All too often we go about our day, mindlessly doing our normal daily activities, and rarely taking the time to schedule in fun time. If there is anything that I have learned while being at home during this time it’s that you have to schedule in fun time.

Since my morning workouts are usually on average about 30 minutes long, I like to make sure that I get in another 30 minutes of physical activity of some sort. If I don’t go on a 30-minute walk, then I look for other ways to move my body.

Usually this would be something like doing an hour of yoga, stretching for 30 minutes, doing some Zumba, playing outside with the littles, or my new personal favorite doing a dance workout that is not Zumba.

I’ve recently discovered The Fitness Marshall on YouTube and I am obsessed!

He makes working out fun by putting together very simple yet effective exercise routines where you dance (but are secretly exercising) to the hottest songs on the radio at the moment. Literally this is something that I try to do every day in the afternoon.

Each video is about 3 minutes long so I’ll usually do a couple of videos just to ensure that I really got in a good cardio workout for the day. Below are some of my favorite videos to help me accomplish this.

Related Posts: How to Stay Motivated to Live A Healthy Lifestyle

Related Posts: The Fastest Way to Improve Your Health at Home

Once the afternoon has come and gone, we then move into our nighttime routine. Much like the morning routine I believe this is the most important part of the day. Having a nighttime routine that is centered around that much needed me-time, is the perfect time to decompress, re-center yourself, and prepare yourself for the next day.

Here is the perfect nighttime routine after a stress-free day.

Journal

It’s so important to take some time to journal about your day. I have been journaling for years and it is something that I try to do every day. When you journal, you are giving yourself a chance to clear your mind of anything that may be weighing heavily on it, as well as reflect on your day.

Journaling is also a great way to keep track of your goals, to continue write down positive affirmations about yourself that you can manifest daily, and also be able to keep track of important life events that may have happened during the day.

What I love most about journaling is the comfort it provides you in being able to essentially tell your story.

So much happens over the course of 24 hours. There may be moments when we feel as though we may not have done our best, we weren’t seen in the ways we needed to be seen, or we feel as though our voice wasn’t heard by others.

With journaling you’re able to give yourself that freedom to be expressive in any way you see fit without any judgment. This is so powerful and it can really save us from adopting the habit of holding everything in.

Engage in a little bit of down time

The very last thing I like to do right before ending my day is to engage in a little bit of down time. This looks different for everyone, but essentially what this means is to spend some time engaging in an activity that requires no effort at all.

Whether that’s reading, watching TV, doing some more meditation, stretching before bed, doing a nighttime skincare routine, checking in with a loved one, or even preparing in whatever way you feel is necessary for the next day, take this time to just relax.

This is so important because you never want to end the day doing something that makes you feel as though your day has not come to an end. Instead you want to make sure that when you do go to bed you are relaxed, clam, centered, and you feel accomplished.

This will ensure that you get a good night’s rest and wake up in the morning feeling refreshed and ready to start the day.

Conclusion

The key to a stress-free day is to be mindfully productive in ways that are not going to feel overwhelming at any point and time.

While there is plenty of time in the day to do a lot of activities, the ones that are most important are those that are going to be fun for you to engage in, and will also keep your stress levels low. No one wants to go through a day stressed and feeling as though this work (whatever that may be for you) specifically has to be done.

Instead of putting that pressure on yourself and setting yourself up for a day of stress, make time for activities that fill you with joy. Especially when you have to be at home, quarantined for your family, and you feel as though you are trapped.

This routine is something that has been helping me get through quarantine for the past couple of months. What have you been doing?

-Xo

Kimora