6 Positive Habits to Maintain After the Pandemic

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The pandemic forced all of us to make adaptations in our daily lives. We had to find new ways to work, exercise, educate our children, shop, socialize, and relieve stress. While adopting these changes hasn’t been easy, people have picked up some excellent habits as a result. Don’t let these positive behaviors disappear with the pandemic! Here are some great habits to hang onto even after the coronavirus is over.

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Practice Self-Care at Home

The pandemic helped many of us realize that we don’t need to take a vacation or a trip to the spa for self-care. There are endless ways to practice self-care at home! Do yoga, cook a healthy meal, take a hot bath, try meditation, or create a calming evening routine. Cleansing your home of bad energy will also serve your self-care goals, especially if spending most of your time around the house these days. Redfin suggests transforming your home into a vibrant, rejuvenating space by cleaning, decluttering, and opening the windows to let fresh air flow through your space.

Make Time for Fun

Having fun is an essential element of any self-care routine. Although the pandemic stole many of our favorite pastimes, it opened the door to new types of fun. People picked up new hobbies, discovered new passions, and explored different types of entertainment.

For example, video games skyrocketed in popularity during COVID-19! Playing online video games is an excellent way to connect with friends and make new ones when you can’t go out and socialize in person. If you want to jump on the bandwagon, make sure your internet connection can handle online gaming. A fiber-optic connection from a provider like Verizon will minimize buffering and ensure your games run smoothly.

Spend More Time Outside

Looking to get out of the house? Head into the great outdoors! Nature offers excellent refuge from the stuffy interior of our homes during the pandemic. Plus, it’s easy to practice social distancing when we have plenty of space to spread out and steer clear of others. Spending time in natural environments is fantastic for our mental health, so try to maintain this habit going forward.

Pursue Your Passions

Making the switch to remote work—or losing work altogether—has prompted many people to pursue their passions and start home-based businesses. Starting your own business is an exciting way to earn a living and enjoy greater freedom in your professional life. If you’re preparing to launch a business right now, make sure you do it right! Forming an LLC can help you tackle your legal requirements and protect your personal assets from business debts or liabilities. Online formation services can help you cost-effectively navigate the steps involved in filing an LLC in your state.

Support Local Businesses

Remember to support other small businesses too! Many small businesses are still struggling to stay afloat in the wake of the lockdown, and your patronage can help them out. These small businesses provide jobs to your neighbors and keep money in your local economy. Whenever possible, buy your products from small businesses instead of big-box stores and major chains.

Wash Your Hands

It’s no secret that the pandemic has encouraged all of us to prioritize personal hygiene. In fact, 90% of Americans reported washing their hands more thoroughly after the outbreak. Frequent hand washing is a trend that can reduce rates of infection for numerous illnesses beyond COVID-19, including the common cold and the seasonal flu. Keeping your hands clean is one of the best ways to prevent illness and avoid spreading germs to others, so keep it up!

While no one can dispute the negative ramifications of the pandemic, this crisis has encouraged people around the world to pick up healthy habits and make positive lifestyle changes. Many of these trends have the potential to improve your health, happiness, and financial wellness into the future! So what positive changes have you noticed during the pandemic that you’d like to keep?

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I want to thank Lisa Walker for offering to write this exquisite and informative article for this blog. Please let us know what you think, leave a like and comment below. ☺️

If any of you wants to do a guest post like this one to showcase your work and your blog or promote a cause do contact me here or directly send your article at my email: giganticthoughtbubble@gmail.com

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Share Your Story 01 – Talking About Your Mental Health

Photo Credits to Presbyterian Senior Living

This post took so long to be written and to be posted for the reason that I didn’t really know how I would approach this topic. I should have thought of it first before actually doing it. 😅 But I really wanted this blog to not just be about me anymore, I also want to relate to others. That is why I want a space in this blog to be about other people as well. I put up the Blog Directory so that if people ever visit this site, there’s a chance that they are also looking for new blogs to read or follow, and hopefully they will click on it and help them discover new blogs.

Anyways, this new segment that I’m starting which I will call “Share Your Story” (I can’t think of other creative title) is something that I was quite nervous about because I thought it would flop but I was surprised that people sent their stories. Like, I’ve said before I wanted to discuss more about things that we feel insecure and scared to talk about, and to be more specific— our mental health. Some of the stuff you guys sent me was quite heavy and really personal, that is why this took so long because I wanted to really think about the things that I will write. I want to start with something that I personally relate with. I’m going to leave all the stories anonymously, just for privacy reasons. And also, all views here are not professional and medical advice, these are all just for the purpose of discussions and opinions.

“Its difficult for me to talk about what I feel because I don’t want pity from others. I try to hide it and not talk about it with my family and friends but i write what I think about in my journal, I also play guitar to relax, it somehow ease my anxiety. Sometimes, I think my family will not understand as I live in a very strict and perfectionist manner of a household. But i’m okay for now, this is a great space by the way, thank you for doing this.”

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To whoever sent this, I personally relate to you. I have a habit of bottling up my emotions because I feel like I’ll become a burden to someone. And there’s a possibility that people will add up to the negativity that I’m already carrying by saying things like, “you’re being dramatic”, “it’s all in your head”, or “get over it” etc. That’s what scares me the most with talking about it with other people, the judgment from them will make it even worse. But talking about it really helps, especially when you talk about it with someone you trust or care about. It’s great that you have an outlet for your feelings and thoughts, it’s great to have an escape. But at some point you need to talk about it with other people who you trust and who you daily see face to face. I was scared to talk about it with my friends and family but when I did, I was surprised by their support. I was surprise how my sister felt the same way as I did when she was growing up, and I didn’t know that because we NEVER TALK ABOUT IT (sorry for shouting). And that is the point of all of these, we need to start talking about it. I know it’s different for everyone of us, and I know you have a strict family and I don’t know what it’s like in your home. But give it a try, maybe you’ll be surprised by how supportive they are or it may not be a family member, just start with someone that you truly know and trust who will not judge you for whatever you’re going to tell them. I hope you’re doing okay, and for awhile you can talk to me about it, if you’re still not comfortable or ready to open up with your friends or family. I always say that talking to strangers can also be helpful because there’s clearly no judgment. 😊

This space that I’m creating on this blog is great to get insights and to really start discussions about what mental health is really about, to get insights about how other people deal with it. How other people cope with problems and a bunch of other awkward but important topics that we are too scared to talk about. But at the end of the day, what matters more is what you are going to do. This is just an escape (I can’t believe I’m dragging this segment before it even starts) 🤣. Whatever I stated here or the comments here are clearly just opinions.

Thank you so much for sending your stories, if you want to send something that you wanted to talk about and get insights on please click here.

Every story is worth sharing. ❤

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What are your thoughts about this topic? Share it in the comments below.

Always remember to be kind, not just on others but also on yourself. See you on my next post! ❤

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I TOOK A FREE ONLINE COURSE ABOUT MINDFULNESS

Credits to UCI Sites

Today I am going to share with you guys about the free online mindfulness course that I enrolled in at The Mindful Modus.

I don’t know with you but I enjoy these kinds of things, where I can reflect and can help me in any way in terms of self discovery. So, in this mini online course, they will give you a guide where you have to answer a bunch of questions about being mindful, teaches you how to start being mindful. And if you are struggling of being aware and present, or processing your thoughts, you may need this guide.

At this point in my life, emotionally and mentally I am pretty calm lately. This guide was some sort of assurance that I am doing okay. Because there is a test in this guide about how mindful you are and I did great in it. I have no problem with being conscious of my surroundings especially with my own feelings and thoughts. I think that is my problem, I notice little details, and I feel and think of everything too much. So, I focus more about the processing of thoughts in this course. I sometimes get so overwhelmed with my thoughts, they all come to me at once.

But like what the guide said it is okay when you’re unable to focus because your mind wanders and that is normal. I learned to deal with these thoughts just recently, it is true what was said in this guide, that we need to divert our attention and just be present. For me, I often go inside my mind even while I’m talking with my friends or while watching TV etc. But I just need a snap to pull me back to my reality (that sounded so dramatic) and focus on what I’m actually doing and not what I am thinking. What I learned in this short course is that we all need a center to focus on, so that we can be present and so that we can have our attention at one thought at a time. The breathing exercise is great because it helps to calm ourselves especially when thoughts get crazy.

Be aware. Be present. Recognize and accept all your thoughts and let them pass.

I don’t want to give away everything that this course has to offer. So, check it out for yourself and it is free by the way. 🙌🏼😁 Just click the link here.

Credits to The Mindful Modus

WRITING INSPIRATIONS

Today, I want to talk about my inspirations in writing especially when it comes to my “poetry”. I used quotation marks because I just really like to use rhyming words when it comes to writing so it’s really just a bonus to have it called a poetry.

HEY “STRANGER”!

To: Stranger

From: A fellow stranger

It’s funny how I’m more comfortable telling you about my misery and sharing my personal stories when you’re entitled not to care yet you still give me all these unsolicited advice. You were there when I thought I was the only one who was feeling what I was feeling— I wasn’t alone. I don’t know you but it feels like I do. It’s also quite funny that I don’t feel any awkwardness to tell you about my true self and to show you my vulnerability. You helped me in so many ways that you don’t even know, when my own family and friends wouldn’t understand me— you did. You don’t judge and you’re honest which is why I often come to you but even though you help me become me, I still get this feeling that it’s not enough. I’m grateful to have you but behind it I still wish that whatever I have shared with you I could do the same with someone who is close to me. I still wish that the person who I want to share my stories with would be someone I regularly see in the flesh because I have to admit I don’t care what everybody else thinks except what the people around me thinks. I am grateful to you I just wish I have the confidence to tell them this.

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This is for all the strangers we have encountered, we all have that person that we have shared our thoughts and feelings to who we don’t really know but we were very comfortable to pour our hearts out.

I wrote this because I often find myself being more open to “strangers” in the form of this blog. I felt like I have built connections here that I don’t have with my own friends and family because with this blog I am more me than what I am in person. At some point I think about how nice all of these are but I also wish my friends and family know this side of me but I don’t let them because of judgments and I also wanted to have my own space as well.

This post is also an appreciation post to all my blogging friends out there. I am grateful for all the comments and followers this blog has, I mean we’re at 880 followers. I still can’t believe it, I remember writing my first blog post and saying that I don’t even care if someone will read it or not but here we are now. Okay, before I get emotional I am seriously thankful for every comments, messages and views that I have gotten here, you guys helped me go through my darkest times even just by being a reader of your blogs you inspire and motivate me.

I am not that active anymore here on WordPress like I am back then where I regularly post everyday and I’ve been meaning to write the reason why (maybe on my next post) So, I’ve been in and out of here trying to be updated with what you guys write and I am also a silent reader that is why I am taking this chance to share some of my fave blogs that I follow here on WordPress, some are old blogs that I have been following for a while and I’m pretty much familiar with and some are new blogs that I have followed just recently. These are some blogs that inspire and motivate me and you should follow them as well if you haven’t already.

• Sticky Situation – formerly Questions From A Teenager and probably one of my favorites, I relate so much with what she writes about life, the struggles, the frustrations. She just did a relaunch for her blog Sticky Situation go over there now because the aesthetic of the blog is just very pleasing.

• SaaniaSparkle – I just recently follow this blog, something that I love about a blog is one that makes me think and contemplate on different versions of how people see life. Like with this one it’s very fascinating to read a very well written life philosophy.

I am sucker for poetry and word stories. I really like poetry where words are well constructed and great flow of story. These three blogs write exquisitely.

• Reading writer

• Lonelyauthorblog

• Valiant Soul

These are just some of the blogs that I can name on the top of my head, I’ll probably do another and share some blogs or articles that I really like.

Any blog recommendations that I could read? Share it in the comment section below, thanks!