Just breathe… and exercise, and create a coconut bowl planter!

In this time of COVID-19, it can be so easy to get lost in the swirling never-ending stresses. Putting out continuous fires, chasing ever-changing regulations and guidelines, delivering difficult messages, and scrambling just to keep the lights on one more day.

We need to give ourselves the light to remind us we are not in a pit, we are in a tunnel, and there is another side.

Here are three steps to throw a spotlight on the future, giving us that much needed light.

Just breathe… and exercise and whatever else keeps you, you!

Make sure that you’re eating and breaking regularly, that you’re getting a little bit of exercise if you can, whether it’s following an exercise trainer on YouTube and doing some routines with them, or whatever you can do in your own space to look after yourself. If you are able to get outside for a walk, then that’s a fantastic thing to do as well.

Doing some form of exercise is an easy and free way to boost both your mental and physical health, and now is the ideal time to try a new activity.

If you’re working or studying from home, or not currently working, you’re won’t be getting the incidental exercise you normally do by commuting to and from an office or uni.

And if you’re the kind of person who likes to get active in a group, your usual pursuits like gym classes and team sports are no longer an option.

When you add the above to higher-than-usual anxiety levels, you’ll start to see why a stretch in your lounge room could really help right now!

Physical activity helps our body and mind in many ways, but here are a few of the key ones:

• Exercise releases chemicals in your brain, like serotonin and endorphins, which are great for your mood
• It can also lead to better sleep and give you more energy
• Physical movements can help ease tightness in your shoulders and neck, which often come with stress and anxiety
• It also makes you feel like you achieved something
• Regular exercise can help reduce your risk of serious health issues, like type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke
• It also helps with weight management (and you tend to feel like eating a healthier diet when you’re exercising regularly, too)
• And lastly, but definitely not least given the current situation, regular physical activity is great for your immune system.

Learn something new

Some things you can do include setting up a really fantastic routine. Having a schedule of time when you’re going to do different tasks, for example, your readings, watching online material, or being involved in discussion activities. If you set yourself up a timetable and stick to it, then you can give yourself a lot more structure to your day. You know what’s coming, and you can make sure you get through all the tasks that you need to get through.

Go to a specific study space when you’re working. Set yourself up a little corner somewhere – a table or a comfortable chair (not too comfortable, because you don’t want to be curling up and going to sleep instead of studying) – a space you can use just for studying. Don’t use your bed. Your bed is for sleeping. Use your study space for studying, and that means when you go into that space, over time, you’ll train yourself so that that’s where you’re concentrating on study.

Create your own coconut bowl planter

Our coconut bowls make great planters and are perfect for succulents and cactus varieties. All you need is a drill and one of our coconut bowls and your good to start creating.

Using your drill, carefully create a drainage hole in the center of each coconut shell. Fill the coconut bowls with special succulent and cactus potting mix and then plant with succulents.

Not only do they look fabulous, they are biodegradable so this project has the tick of approval from Mother Nature. For a twist on this version, you may also wish to drill holes in each side of the coconut shells, close to the top edge, and attach string to make hanging planters. Have a go! 

Bringing it together.

Take time for yourself to recharge, learn from everything to shift from suffering to empowering change, and strategies for the future to remind yourself that there is a future and there is plenty of fantastic things to do when we get there.

The good news is that humans are a resilient bunch and we’re pretty good at solving problems. I can’t tell you how many times I've been blown away by the power of our community, which gives me confidence that we’re going to see this through in due time.

There is indeed light at the end of the tunnel. It is not very much further to go. Together, we can defeat this virus.

Stay healthy, stay safe