Very soon after stay at home orders were instituted weeks ago I became a ball of mush, a literal couch potato. It’s no figure, I mean all I did 24/7 was roll around in bed and occasionally venture out to eat. That’s literally all I did for about two weeks and for some of you it may be all you’re doing now, but that can change. 

I started by just thinking about what I was going to do to implement change. Since doing was too much for me to handle at the time (not really, I’m just lazy), I decided to pour my energy into planning. Here’s what I came up with in the end: every day drink 60 ounces of water, some type of fruit, and do a simple workout. It seemed simple enough so I gave it a go. 

I’m going to be honest, the first week I hardly kept up with half the things on my list. There was the sporadic workout which consisted of about 25 crunches before I called it a day and an apple here and there, but that’s really it. 

As time went on, though, I slowly got the hang of it. The second week I crossed a little more off my list, and by the third week no box was left unchecked. Every day I did what I set out to do and that returned a sense of normalcy. The improved sleep, mood, and physique were all great but this may have been the greatest reward.

I mean, the routines of school had to be replaced by something. There is truly only so long one can go just moping around and I had very quickly met my limit. I never thought I’d miss the routines of school I was once so certain were making me crazy. In reality they were keeping me sane. 

So I encourage you to make a schedule, a routine, or even just set some goals. You don’t have to meet them all at once, you just have to work towards them bit by bit. If it makes you feel better, divide each goal up into smaller tasks that can be crossed off routinely. For instance, if your goal is to eat better then make a chart of the daily things you will do to get there: for breakfast eat protein so you won’t be as hungry at lunch, at noon eat fruit and some sort of sandwich, for dinner have a hearty meal so you can start the next day fresh. If you want you can get really fun with it, make a Pinterest board of recipes you’d like to use. Right now, Pinterest surfing is one of my major sources of inspiration and as of yesterday, the newest addition to my growing list. 

You see, these simple tasks will be so satisfying to mark off your list that you’ll want to make more. Eventually, your three part plan will grow to something like five, then maybe even seven. It may seem daunting or completely out of your realm but it’s so worth it to feel normal-ish again. I never in all my years imagined that I’d be one of those flair pen girls with bullet journals and multi-stepped checklists (and maybe I’m not at their level quite yet) but here I am, living proof.