Being Active and Home-Bound

While being home-bound it can be challenging to live an active lifestyle. However, it can cause you to create  fun new ways to get and stay active. It is a challenge for me being at home and balancing work, chores and physical activity.

Physical activity inside

If you are not a home body, working from home or having everyone at home can be a challenge.  This is the perfect time to find teaching videos or live streamed classes to learn something new or practice something you have forgotten. Share your activity goals and set up a regular check-in with family or friends.  Knowing that you will be accountable to someone else, is often a motivator to stay the course, as well as increasing your social connections to others.  Some great ideas for staying physically active inside are:

• Dancing
• Yoga
• Walking
• Zumba or Aerobic Exercise
• Stairs, Steps

Physical Activity outside

For many of us in Colorado, we love being outside.  However, with the social distancing requirements this may become difficult. If hiking or taking the dog for a walk are in your wheelhouse, it is advised to stay with trails that are close to home.  Colorado Trail Explorer is an app managed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife that can assist you with finding information about the trails.

Setting up a schedule

The first days or weeks of being home-bound may seem like a vacation, but it is important to create a schedule.  Creating a schedule that includes physical activity can help establish what is the new normal for you and your family including use of internet and computers.  Below are some tips to help:

• Wake up early to start your day with yoga or meditation followed by a nice breakfast and shower. It is important to get dressed to start your workday.  I find that when I wear jeans instead of yoga pants for work that I feel like I have set my intention to work for the day.
• Enjoy the quiet time of the mornings.
• Establish ground rules for work and family time. For example:
  • Work – 7 am to 11 am
  • School – 9 am to 11 am
  • Lunch and Physical/Family Activity – 11 am – 1 pm
  • Work – 1 pm to 5 pm
  • School – 1 pm to 3 pm
  • Family time – 5 pm until bedtime
• Dedicate a comfortable area in your home for work or for school.
  • Create a space for children to have the opportunity to learn and do school work as well as have active or imaginative play.
    • Design play stations such as puzzles, coloring or crafts for kids
    • Create school work space.  Many schools are going to online education, make sure that your child has a space to participate in this educational opportunity.
  • Create a space that is quiet for those conference calls or video conferencing.
  • Dedicate time for each person to be able to access the internet.  This is important if you are on limited data as a household.
• Write a daily to-do list and work on the hardest items first.
• Listen to music instead of watching TV while working.
• Don’t forget to end your workday and spend time with family.

Manage your Stress

Manage your stress, anger, blame, and depression in healthy ways. In tough times resilient people seek options, reach out to others for support, and do not give up. Resiliency is about facing stress as part of life and looking for ways to manage the challenges that emerge in life. The meaning that is attributed to any given experience influences how we react to it. Therefore, resiliency is a process of learning how to re-frame and adjust our thinking and reactions away from a sense of lack and toward a sense of figuring out our options.

Making choices based on the belief that we always have more than one acceptable option can help us take lemons and turn them into lemonade.  Identifying options strengthens and supports  a state of  hope, gratefulness and mindfulness.

• Mental Clarity
• Be thankful