My Quarantine Goals and Challenges: Mental and Physical Health

Things really aren't that much different for me during this Covid quarantine as far as the amount of time I have.

I'm still teaching piano, I'm just doing it from home now online. I suppose I have gained an extra 3 hours a week though from not having to drive to the school, but I have also increased the amount of time preparing for lessons so I think that evens out.
I set up an overhead clip on my mic stand that will hold my phone so my students have a 2nd camera view to see my hands for the purposes of demonstration.
I've also had to purchase all the music my students have so I can share the screen with them and make notations.

In my last post about my life during quarantine, I talked about my situation being not all that different due to the fact that I'm a socially awkward introvert that doesn't socialize lol.
I enjoy spending time at home with The Husband and The Cats working on music, art, and blogging.
So there's not that much different there as far as this quarantine.

With all that being said, I do have goals during this quarantine period.
Well, I always have goals lol.
I have my regular long term goals that I organize into daily goals via lists.
Most involve music and art projects.

But I do have a very important goal that I'm going to do my best to achieve during this time.

Mental and Physical Health

I have had anxiety and depression for most of my life. It runs on both sides of my family.

So, when there are circumstances that would cause anyone to feel anxious or sad it's like pouring gasoline on an already lit fire for me.

Basically, my eldest cat dying and this Covid situation have both put me in ... I really don't know how to describe this with words ... I guess a place where I don't want to exist.

My way of dealing with it is to sleep.
The anxiety exhausts me to the point where I just want to sleep all the time and the depression is more than happy to accommodate that desire.

The Plan

1. Each night I will go to bed 15 minutes earlier than I did the previous night until I am back to going to sleep at 1:30/2:00 AM. I started 2 nights ago.
   I will also, no matter how crappy I feel, not sleep in the middle of the day anymore.

2. I will start doing yoga and walking again. I started yoga 3 days ago in the evenings before bed. I plan on alternating each night with yoga and walking. I need to be outside more in nature.

3. Eating healthier: I am going to buy vegetables and rice and sautee them and I'm going to stop eating pop tarts. This starts tomorrow after grocery shopping.

4. Banish all negative thoughts. I have had this as a daily reminder set in my phone for years.
   It doesn't come naturally to me at all so I need to be constantly aware of my thoughts. This is actually the most important goal for me.

Gif by @derangedvisions