Oh, how the meaning of “Get Involved” has changed!
This month, we’re talking about all of the ways we’ve gotten creative with our self care and community care in the age of COVID-19 and quarantining. We want to hear from you! How are you engaging with yourself and your community right now?
Staff Self Care Favorites
- “Listening to a friend’s livestream of them reading The Little Prince“
- “Reading one of the 8 books stacked next to my bed, long phone conversations with folks I care about, and poems”
- “Learning new things about my kiddos”
- Sitting on my back porch and looking at all the things budding in my backyard, and the birds building a nest in my apricot tree”
- “At-home pedicures using polishes with names like ‘Sticks and Stones'”
- “Singing ‘Africa’ by Toto”
- “Eating Hot Cheetos and fussing over my cat, Greg”
- “Gardening and PIE!”
- “Lifting weights I randomly found in my basement”
- “Listening to COVID-19 podcasts while walking the dogs? (I might need some work in this area!)”
- “Baking, watching the birds in my bird feeder, and running!”
- “Dancing it off in the kitchen with my partner and dog while making dinner, and organizing every nook, cranny, and closet in my house”
- The winner by a mile: Hot baths! Some with mineral salts, some with Enya, some with a book—some with all of the above!
Staff Community Care Favorites
- “Checking in on my friends, family, and loved ones, especially my grandma, every week”
- “Virtual happy hours, hangouts, and board games with friends”
- “Sewing surgical masks for rural healthcare clinics”
- “Proactively reaching out to friends and family with fun distance activities like watching movies, playing games, swapping handmade zines and cards”
- “So many people offering to go to the grocery store, bring paper goods to our house”
- “Friends dropping off a bottle of prosecco on our porch with a beautiful card saying they looked forward to the day when we could all get together”
- “Care packages filled with puzzles and dried foods”
- The winner: supporting local businesses! Whether it’s buying online giftcards for friends, Venmo-ing badass local chefs who are donating their time, talent, and food to nonprofits, taking up a tip collection for our favorite pub’s laid off staff, or paying for haircuts we badly need but can’t get—we love our local businesses!