Gosh, such a weird week, right? To be honest, I’ve been confused with exactly how to show up for y’all. Part of me thinks going about things *normally* might serve as a little escape/entertainment from what we’re dealing with. Then the other part of me feels very selfish and just WEIRD producing content about clothing or whatever during a pandemic and when so many people are suffering in serious ways!

So while I’m just trying to do a little of both because that’s what feels right-ish, I do want BTD to serve as a resource in its own way. Obviously BTD isn’t the place to come to for breaking news or serious health advice, but what I can give y’all are lots of resources on how to brighten your day :) As much as possible during this time at least!

To start, I thought it’d be nice to talk about some ways I’m getting through this time. Obviously, I’m not suffering health-wise, and TBH, my work life feels *somewhat* normal since I do work from home all the time – so I don’t want to come off as insensitive or naive when I say “ways I’m getting through this time”. But even though my work life doesn’t look much different than it did 2 weeks ago, things certainly *feel* very different.

5 Things That Might Help You Through This Difficult Time

We’re ALL struggling in some way. Whether it’s because your kids are home and you’re trying to work, you’re worried about elderly family members, your anxiety of the unknown is off the charts, you’ve been laid off, etc., I hope we all come to the agreement that this is a hard time. So with that, here are some ways to get through this time…

1. Equilibria (CBD)

I started talking about my journey with CBD back in October of 2019. I was incredibly resistant to trying it out, but like I told y’all in this overview blog post I wrote a few months ago, I’m a BIG fan. And honestly, it has been really great over the past week or so as things have been super tense with all the news and change that has been happening.

I initially started taking equilibria to help with my anxiety and balancing my moods and hormones.  I talked a little bit more about what I originally started taking it for in the blog post about 8 things I do everyday and why.

But with all the added uncertainty and craziness going on right now, I’ve had a really hard time focusing on one task at a time. So I’ve been taking more of the droppers (in addition to my capsule that I swallow). It has helped me to calm down when feeling overwhelmed (which I’ve felt A LOT of lately) so that I can focus on one task at a time – regardless of how silly or insignificant that task my seem in the grand scheme of things.

What I take – I take one 25mg capsule in the morning and one in the evening before bed. I will sometimes take a dropper at lunch if I’m feeling overwhelmed or anxious. And then I use the relief cream on sore muscles and sometimes cramps.

If you want to try Equilibria (which I encourage you to do so), you can use my code BRIGHTON for 20% OFF. I highly recommend subscribing for 1-3 months to give it a fair try. CBD works best when it is taken consistently. And like I told you above, it took me a couple of months to really benefit from it, but I’m so glad I stuck it out.

2. Self-reflection

The one silver lining with all this craziness is that with things being canceled and basically no social life, it frees up time. I’m actually writing a post on things to get done during this time which will be live tomorrow, but to start, I’ve been working on self-reflection.

I recently found this self-reflection guide that I REALLY like! That’s the one I’m working on now. I find that doing self-reflections just makes life feel better – and it’s always a good thing to do when you feel in a slump or blah (which I’m pretty sure we’re all feeling right now). You know I love a Brain Dump if y’all don’t have time for the full self-reflection!

Sometimes self-reflection makes me want to implement all sorts of changes and make plans. But I can’t really do that right now with things being so uncertain. So I’ve been journaling and using self-reflection as a way to truly slow down. I’ve been trying to put things into perspective and remember that not all things are as important as they *feel*.

Speaking of making plans for the future, that has been one of the weirdest parts of this whole virus thing. I feel like I can’t make any plans because I have no idea what the next few weeks will look like, you know?

And honestly all my plans feel sort of silly (or pointless?) in the face of what’s happening. I’m talking about work content plans, travel, personal goals, etc. BUT taking time to self-reflect has helped me keep zooming out and refocusing on the things that are less tangible: like priorities, maintaining balance, health, serving others, faith, and just getting trough things one day at a time.

3. Give back

As I’ve mentioned before, I am very aware that my suffering during this time is NOTHING compared to many people out there. Just like giving back in general, this is the time to spread love and kindness and help in whatever way you can.

Whether it’s offering your elderly neighbor to go to the store for them, leaving them a nice note and maybe some chocolates, donating to a local food shelter, or calling a friend who is alone during this time, do your part to give back! We’re all in this together after all!

I’d love to hear ways y’all are giving back to your community or the world right now – please share in the comments!

4. Limit social media and news coverage

Y’all probably caught me going down a DARK RABBIT HOLE last week on IG Stories when all of this news was breaking and WOW. I basically became consumed by the news, like I’m sure a lot of y’all did, and it was NOT doing me any favors!

While it’s imperative that we’re all aware of what’s going on and how to stay as safe/healthy as possible, watching the news coverage 24/7 might not be the healthiest choice right now – at least not for me.

I’ve been limiting myself to about 30 minutes in the morning and 30 in the afternoon so that I’m informed but not consumed. The same goes for social media if your feeds are full of info.

5. Be productive

I’ve been working on the Spring Capsule which I can’t WAIT to share with y’all and though it’s been hard doing it solo (it’s a really big task and my assistant is home for the next couple weeks), I’m getting through it!

No matter what you have going on with work or home life, I suggest trying to keep your regular to-do list as normal as possible. It really helps me to take things project by project and dumb down my to-do list as much as possible (like write down every single step! It helps take some of the uncertainty out of things).

I think it has to do with controlling what you CAN control that makes me feel…more in control of this uncertain time. We might not be able to control a lot right now but we can control what we do with our time. I think everyone is having to make sacrifices right now and our new normal just looks and feels different. We (especially me!) need to accept that and give ourselves grace in the process.

I’m also working on a work form home guide to help those of you that are working from home for the first time! Are you? How’s it going?

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Alright y’all, heading back to shoot the Spring Capsule but I hope this post served you in some way. I’ll be sharing things y’all might consider doing during this time tomorrow, but let me know ANYTHING ELSE y’all would like to see during this time – or not see? Hope y’all are staying well!

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