Self Care For Women During Quarantine

Being at home during the quarantine with the whole family can leave many moms without an easy outlet for stress, alone time can be tough. Even though we are home so much now with the lockdown, moms still need some time to relax and release. I’m sharing some ideas for self care for women during quarantine to help out other mamas.

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Things to Do at Home: Self Care for Women

Designate Some Alone Time Every Day

If you are like me, you need some alone solitary time. Just you time. I’m a bit of an introvert so being alone is a recharge for me. So I designate some alone time every single day. Pick a room and just do something you enjoy alone. Tell your family that’s what you are doing and if you have little kids, maybe someone can occupy them while you take your solitary time.

Designate alone time by taking an extra long shower or sit down on your bed for ten minutes to do something before you get dressed or before bed. The point is to just be intentional about taking that time for yourself.

I wrote a post for women like me who find it hard to get some self care time. Read it here: https://www.juliehoagwriter.com/2018/01/29/12-tips-moms-self-care/

Back to Basics

The thing I love about quarantine, if there is anything, look for the silver lining, it’s that my family is spending more time together. And while I love alone time for self care, I also enjoy interacting with my family for self care relaxation time. Here are some things I’ve been doing at home with my family that recharges me.

• play card games and board games
• go on walks by the lake and through paths in the woods
• make forts with my kids
• do crafts
• chalk obstacle courses on the driveway, my youngest loves this
• watching a show with my family
• watching movies
• spend time with pets, we like to take our guinea pigs outside so they can eat grass
• gardening
• help my son with his gym homework from distance learning, I get a little workout and time with him

Cook

I really enjoy cooking. It’s fun for me to create new recipes too that’s why I added food into my blog and made my cookbook. My family is composed of vegetarians and meat-eaters, so over the years of cooking for my family, I’ve come up with meals that I’ve figured out how to make work for both diets so I can make just one meal.

I’ve enjoyed a bit more downtime allowing me to cook fun yummy things for my family. I’ve done some recipes I haven’t cooked in a while because I was too busy to do so before the quarantine. I definitely have been more indulgent with buying foods we all like because it’s a way to pamper us during this time we are stuck at home.

Anything from simple quesadilla lunches to elaborate hybrid chili meals, making good homemade food is something to focus on right now being at home more. Without kids’ sports going on, and without going to school, we are home more which means it’s time to cook more yummy meals.

Some favorite recipes:

Hybrid recipes: https://www.juliehoagwriter.com/recipe/two-crockpot-hybrid-chili-recipe-feed-vegetarians-meat-eaters/

https://www.juliehoagwriter.com/recipe/hybrid-recipe-potato-dumpling-soup-vegetarians-meat-lovers-2-crockpot-recipe/

To learn more about my book, check out this post: https://www.juliehoagwriter.com/2018/05/16/hybrid-recipes-one-dish-two-diets-cookbook-reviews/

For easy yummy, fast, quesadilla meals for hungry family members who don’t want to wait: https://www.juliehoagwriter.com/recipe/easy-quick-breakfast-quesadilla-recipe-8-minute-cook-time/

Easy yummy fast… pesto quesadilla https://www.juliehoagwriter.com/recipe/easy-delicious-pesto-quesadilla-for-one/

Low carb quesadilla: https://www.juliehoagwriter.com/recipe/low-carb-tortillas-quick-quesadilla-meal-for-one/

Make a salad: https://www.juliehoagwriter.com/recipe/tangy-cilantro-lime-cucumber-salad/

Make Self Care Things with Essential Oils

I’ve recently gotten into using essential oils and I really love it. I adore using healthier skincare and cleaning products. I joined a subscription box service through Simply Earth where I receive monthly themed recipe boxes with unique fun recipes based on the specific theme for the month, and the supplies to make them are nestled into the box too. Sometimes I need to get something from the store to supplement like aloe vera gel, Epsom salt, or distilled water, but the other ingredients conveniently come in the box.

I love it so much for self care time for me. I’m always looking forward to the box each month to make things for myself. It’s very therapeutic and I get a bit of a healthy home spa time when I use the creations. I’ve even started to make up my own recipes too based on the teaching the essential oil company provides. It’s really fun!

If you are interested in trying it out, you can get a free box with my affiliate code below.

Use the code: JULIEHOAGWRITERFREE at the website Simply Earth https://simplyearth.com/?rfsn=2895247.9433d6

Take a Bath! Ideas for Self Care for Women

I just never seem to take the time to take a bath, just too stinking busy all the time. But recently I took a bubble bath and it was luxurious. I so need to do that more often. I brought a glass of wine in the bathroom and my sugar scrub and soaked, scrubbed, drank wine. It was fabulous. Such a simple self care activity but being a busy mom with three boys in activities and social lives, I just never take the time. But now … being home for quarantine status … now is the time to take lots of baths. Oh yes!

Homemade Sugar Scrubs

I’ve become addicted to the yummy feel of sugar scrubs on my skin. I love to scrub the grainy roughness along my skin, it feels so amazing! The oil in the scrub and the exfoliation leave my skin feeling so soft and scrumptious. The scrubs are so very easy to make also, so it’s a no-brainer to make them.

Natural Body Scrub Orange Burst: https://www.juliehoagwriter.com/2020/03/23/natural-body-scrub-sugar-orange-burst/

DIY Sugar Scrub Mandarin Orange and Cocoa Anti-Aging Recipe https://www.juliehoagwriter.com/2020/01/02/diy-sugar-scrub-mandarin-orange-cocoa-anti-aging/

Pumpkin Spice Coffe Skin Scrub https://www.juliehoagwriter.com/recipe/pumpkin-spice-coffee-scrub-exfoliating-skin/

Read a Book

Now is the perfect time to get some reading in. Extra time at home is a perfect time to read read read. With the quarantine, audiobooks are perfect too because you don’t have to wait for a delivery, you can just order it and listen right away. It’s the same way with ebooks. Amazon has a kindle app, so any phone can act like a kindle and you can upload any book right to your phone. It’s very slick. I use it all the time and it keeps track of where you are in the book.

Here’s a list of sexy new adult books I’ve read and my reviews of them. New adult romance is fun to read because it’s sexy, hot, and always about a sexy new love. Trust me … these are fun to read.

Sexy New Adult Romance books women will love: https://www.juliehoagwriter.com/2019/06/13/sexy-new-adult-romance-books-women-will-love/

I am an author myself. My debut young adult contemporary romance came out in January 2020. I have another book releasing in 2021. To learn more about my book, click here:

Hungry Hearts by Julie Hoag: https://www.juliehoagwriter.com/2020/01/22/dear-reader-letter-hungry-hearts-novel-anorexia/

And for books to read with your teenage daughter and do your own book club meetup at home, check out these books: https://www.juliehoagwriter.com/2018/10/29/books-for-teenage-girls-read-alongside-moms/

Create a book with your child and put it on Amazon

You can actually do this. Your child can create a book by writing a story and drawing pictures (or take them), and you can pay a service to prepare it to be uploaded to Amazon. This is what’s called self-publishing. Search online and you can find services for this for all different types of prices, depending on what you want. Fiverr is another spot to look for such services. Some services will even upload it to Amazon for you, for a price. But this is a fun project for kids, especially for the summer when distance learning is over.

There are other companies who will create just one book for you to keep or you can do as I mentioned above and actually try to sell it. It’s hard to sell a book on your own, but with social media sharing and some reviews, it could have the potential to sell and make some money.

My younger two boys are creating a book now. We will see if they can get it finished so we can put it for sale on Amazon this summer. If we do, I will write a blog post chronicling the whole process.

Create a personalized book for your child

Or create a book from a service. We made this really fun one for my son.

Create a personalized book: https://www.juliehoagwriter.com/2017/03/24/see-personalized-childrens-book-review/

Make a Scrapbook

I love making scrapbooks. They can be themed scrapbooks like telling the story of your entire family vacation or a few years of your child playing a sport. I love to use Shutterfly. There are many different online scrapbooking services where you can create a book and have it mailed to you. It’s fun to get creative in making a book, kids could even help create it.

I’ve made so many wonderful scrapbooks!

Workout and Get in Shape

Being home also gives more time for working out and getting in shape. You don’t need expensive equipment to work out at home. Buy a twenty dollar yoga mat and simply roll it out on your carpet. Buy a couple of light weights to use while exercising too. You can feel better, have more energy, and lose some weight, get better-toned muscles too to look great and feel awesome.

I have a treadmill so I love to watch series of shows on Netflix while speedwalking on the treadmill. Here are some show suggestions: https://www.juliehoagwriter.com/2019/01/05/best-shows-for-women-while-on-treadmill/

Do Yoga

I do yoga. I don’t do complex yoga, but easy poses. I go on my hands and knees and arch my back like a cat, then dip it down. I do the child pose on hands and bent knees, on my tummy with legs flush behind me on the floor where I push up with my arms to point my head towards the ceiling. I also do the plank for a minute then stand and do the balancing on one foot thing. I have a few other poses I do also like balancing on one hand and knee where my body is parallel with the wall.

I’m not a yoga expert but I’ve enjoyed strengthening my body and improving my balance through yoga.

Floor exercises

There are so many floor exercises that can be done. The options are endless. I do leg lifts on my yoga mat, all directions, then about thirty crunches and sideways crunches, plus an exercise bringing my opposite knee and elbow close together while on my back, on repeat. Another one I like is doing a full arc rotation of my leg, one then the other. This often makes my body creep along though so make sure you have space 🙂

Hand Weights

Buy some small hand weights. They are pretty inexpensive. I have both two-pound weights and five-pound weights. I use both. I often use the two-pound weights when speed walking uphill on my treadmill. But you don’t need a treadmill.

You can also use the weights to go along with other exercises. Deep squats are a great one to do while holding the weights. High knees while carrying weights is another one I do, plus raising them over my head for a count of thirty and abdominal twists for 100. I don’t do this every day, but I try to do it several times a week to stay toned.

My point is with this one … you can do things at home without expensive equipment. Make up a workout yourself or search online for ideas, but be sure to keep moving for your overall health and healthy weight goals. You don’t have to lift big weights to see the benefits of weightlifting. The point is to clear your mind, get healthier during this time, and prevent weight gain from being home more, eating more, being more sedentary.

Go on Walks

Spend more time walking in nature around your home. This is a perfectly acceptable activity now as you can easily stay back from others while outdoors. Explore places you’ve never ventured too now that you have the time to do so. Take your dog, your kids, your partner, and spend time exploring your nearby world.

Or go on a run or a bike ride or roller blade, or start a new leisure outside sport that you’ve always wanted to try like rip-sticking or skateboarding.

Be sure to enjoy yourself!

I hope you have found this post useful and I hope you find some time for self care.

Copyright © Julie Hoag writer 2020 . All Rights Reserved.

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