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Welcome to the Me, Myself, and You podcast.
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My name is Sara and I'm your host and I'm so glad that you are here with me today.
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I wanted to talk a little bit about mental health during quarantine.
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It has been almost six months now of quarantine.
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I guess it's probably about six months when you're actually hearing this episode, which is crazy.
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I literally haven't been to my office for my full-time job since early March, I guess.
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I just wanted to kind of address.
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How I try to improve my mental health during quarantine and let's be honest.
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I am not perfect at it.
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And in fact lately, I've been completely sucking at it, which I'll address in probably the next episode you hear it's
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hard.
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It's the isolation that comes with quarantine is incredibly difficult.
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I definitely sympathize with a lot of my co-workers and friends that live alone instead of with family or husband or
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significant other whatever it might be.
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I mean, I can't even imagine being completely.
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Lee alone that just experience of isolation is got to be really strange and for me there's definitely the aspect of
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isolation but there's also the aspect of being stuck in the house all day with just my husband and son and dog but having
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only your spouse to talk to don't get me wrong I do get to interact with my co-workers on Zoom calls, but that's
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definitely a different thing.
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So I just kind of wanted to run through a few ideas for what can help what has helped me in the past.
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Asked what I need to work on doing but I know does help when I do it.
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So let's jump into that.
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So first get outside get fresh air.
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I know here in Texas.
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It really sucks right now.
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Like I don't want to be outside at all because it's so miserably hot.
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It's over a hundred most days.
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I feel like which is not enjoyable.
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Like you really do have to be up really early to be able to go outside and it be somewhat tolerable.
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I'm waiting for it to cool down, but do try to get outside and get some fresh air.
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Even if it's just for for a few minutes if it's boiling hot where you are like it is for me find a routine.
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This has been one of the hardest things for me to pick back up since I gave birth to my son.
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We were quarantined for the last three three and a half months of my pregnancy and I definitely found a routine in that
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there was a lot of walking every day.
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We found a flow that worked really well and we haven't fallen quite into the same routine now, He's here.
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He's two months old as of August 23rd.
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So that's a guest been a little more difficult for me personally, but finding some semblance of a routine can definitely
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help you feel a little more sane in this quarantine because if you're just kind of not following that structure that you
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would normally have if you were going into the office day-to-day if you were furloughed maybe you've been laid off finding
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some structure I think can definitely help with your sanity.
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Tea and maybe that's as simple as getting up at the same time and going for a walk or maybe you have a full-on morning
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routine kudos to you.
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So there's that next make time to engage with people during quarantine and safe ways to me.
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This is something along the lines of phone calls texting regularly Zoom calls.
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I have found that can be helpful.
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I feel like my experience is definitely a little bit different.
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Because I have a newborn that definitely is a good way to engage with people safely.
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I have not been great about setting these times to go engage with people via Zoom or via phone call.
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I've been doing okay with texting some of my close friends and that definitely helps to talk to somebody else and then
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because I am working full-time having the opportunity to have zoom meetings with my team has been really great.
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That being said, I have an amazing work team that it's very much a group of friends and And not just co-workers.
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I don't know if that makes sense, but it's a very close-knit group and that really helps give me some social engagement
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and not just be totally isolated during the work week lastly use this time to focus on your goals.
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Just do something productive.
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This is definitely something I've struggled with a little bit.
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I haven't had the motivation but there's a lot of other stuff that plays into that.
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I think Beyond just being in quarantine as we've been in this longer and longer.
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I think this can be a really good time to focus on your goals.
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I know at the beginning there was kind of a lot of back and forth with this where some people were like.
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Oh, yeah.
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I'm going to use this to reach my goals and other people were like, it's okay.
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If you're not feeling up to doing that.
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I feel like absolutely it's definitely a struggle mental health wise during this time, but I think as we've been in this
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longer as you've been able to process kind of what's happening in the world.
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I think it is feasible and healthy to work towards some of your goals to maintain your mental.
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A thin to feel better overall.
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I hope that makes sense and I want to be clear that that doesn't mean that it's not okay to have tough periods of time
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where you're not that's absolutely okay and normal do what you can I just think that taking some time to focus on your
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goals can be very helpful.
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I think that's about it.
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Just ideas to try to help maintain your mental health and overall sanity during quarantine.
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I hope you found some of this helpful.
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I hope you enjoyed if you like my podcast definitely share it with a friend.
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I'd love to have more of you.
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Listening subscribe to it.
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Apparently most of you list them on Apple podcasts, which I find interesting because I am personally Spotify user but to
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each their own and definitely give me a follow over on Instagram.
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You can find me at Sara Strives or on my blog sarastrives.com.
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I will talk at you again soon.