The Best Activities to Help Ease Anxiety.

Hello DAMEs,

I’m writing to say that I’m thinking of you.

January can be such a tough time even without a pandemic. Lockdown is tough for everyone, there's no way to sugarcoat it! Anxiety levels are high, motivation is low.

BUT... The last thing we want is for anyone to feel blue or alone. The DAME community is here to support you. We might not be able to have a holiday break, but we can give ourselves a mental break.

When people feel low, it is easy to stop doing the things that we enjoy. Becoming more active is an important step towards lifting your mood and changing the way you think about things.

We’ve put our heads together at DAME HQ to bring you a few off-screen ideas for simple at-home activities plus a few rituals to help you find peace and connect back to what is important.

See if any appeal to you to try.

Celia x

LOCKDOWN ACTIVITIES TO TRY AT HOME:

• Phone a friend or relative

• Plan your New Year's Eve meal and movie

• Write a letter – see below for Sophie’s how-to…

• Do a jigsaw puzzle – Celia loves a jig-hole

• Look through or make a photo album

• Re-arrange your wardrobe in colour order

• Pleasure yourself

• Put all your plants in your bathroom and have a bubble bath

• Fix that thing that’s been bugging you for ages

• Bake some biscuits to deliver to your neighbours (all in a Covid-safe way)

MERRINEUM THINGS TO DO OUTSIDE YOUR HOME:

• Visit somewhere new

• Go for a drive with your favourite music playing

• Go for a random walk and take photos

• Buy yourself a treat at the shop

• Post a letter

• Pick some foliage to make a winter bouquet

• Go for a run or cycle

HOW TO: Write an unexpected letter

I adore receiving an old-fashioned letter in the post so it tallies that I love writing them too. I just don’t do it enough. Here’s my plan for some Merrineum correspondence:

• Choose one person to write to: anyone, from your childhood best friend to the parent you won’t be seeing this Christmas.
• Find a piece of paper – it can be anything from beautiful stationery to a piece of old newspaper.
• Choose a pen that brings you joy, a bright felt tip or an old fountain pen from the bottom of a drawer.
• Craft an envelope – the more original the better, using scrap paper if you want.
• Light a candle and congratulate yourself on being awesome.
• Dear X: write anything that comes into your head, just go for it and let it flow. Write it as if you were chatting to them over the phone.
• Seal it up, add a stamp and get it in the post box, quick!

Image credits: Anthony Shkraba, Samson Katt, Eva Elijas, Davide Baraldi, Alisa Anton, Tevin Trinh, Wendy Aros Routman, Lisa Moyneur