Habits To Keep After The Pandemic (and those you should lose)
No matter who you are, or what you do, you have been impacted over the last year and a half because of the coronavirus. At this point, it might seem difficult to remember a time before this all started. Sometimes January 2020 seems like a lifetime ago.
During this time, we as a society have developed completely new habits in order to deal with the pandemic, some of them seemingly popping up overnight. Now that we appear to be headed towards a sense of normalcy in the summer of 2021, it’s an interesting time to look back on some of the habits that we’ve developed over the last year and a half. As with most things, there have been both positives and negatives to come out of this experience and today we’ll talk about habits developed during the pandemic that are worth keeping around after it’s over, and those that are probably worth leaving behind.
First, let’s start with the positives. While overall this whole experience has *not* been positive for most people, there are always good things that we can take away from any experience. In fact, I believe there are a few things that developed over the pandemic that actually contribute to greater overall wellness that are worth continuing and building upon for any athlete (or person).
Sleep schedule
When many of our daily obligations like a commute to school or work, traveling for sports, visiting friends and family, or vacations, were cut off due to coronavirus restrictions, sometimes it felt like the days all started to run together. In one important way, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Since most days felt more or less the same, many more people were able to create a new routine and put themselves on a consistent sleep schedule. The main reason being because they didn’t have to worry about staying out late or having to take a long commute in the morning. Now, for some people it was easier to maintain a consistent sleep schedule. Long time followers of the blog will already know where I’m headed with this, but needless to say I’ve covered the importance of good sleep hygiene in both the Fully Equipped Playbook and on the blog.
Long story short, your body craves consistency. A sleep routine that you can stick to (which was made easier for many during the pandemic), makes it easier to tackle each day with full energy and focus. It really is the foundation from which your entire career, athletic or otherwise, is built. If you take *anything* away from the pandemic, a consistent sleep schedule, with an 8-10 hour minimum time of being in bed, is something you should work to carry with you for the rest of your life.
Exercise
If you’re a serious athlete, working on your fitness and training for your sport should be second nature at this point. Even still, the pandemic has forced many of us to be resourceful in the way that we have conducted our training over the past year and a half. With there not being much more to do, especially at the beginning, exercise has totally taken off during the pandemic. Even if you’re one of those people who doesn’t necessarily enjoy the grind of practice, this time has been great for many people to push themselves to get in shape in a way that they otherwise would not have.
As the pandemic restrictions ease and we head back towards normalcy, it can be easy to let some of these new habits fall by the wayside. Don’t! While it will no doubt become more difficult to fit the extra work into your schedule, I can assure you’re not going to achieve your full potential by constantly doing the minimum required by your teams and coaches. After having eighteen months to get used to giving the extra effort (even if out of boredom), find the time in your day to make the extra effort and it will absolutely pay off.
Spend time with close family
Many of us had extremely busy schedules prior to the pandemic, where it felt like we were shuttling from one place to another without any sort of rest in between, and certain things, such as family time, could fall by the wayside. During the pandemic, our worlds totally shrunk, and we ended up spending more time with our family than any of us would have ever realized.
While sometimes we drive each other crazy, it’s really important to be around those closest to you and enjoy the time that you have together. In the Fully Equipped Playbook, I dedicated a chapter to your support system, and generally speaking your close family are the ones that are going to provide that. These are the people that are going to be with you through thick and thin, and will be there for you when the chips are down. For many of us, those relationships have grown stronger during the pandemic. Make the conscious effort to be around your support system. Find the time, trust me, it’s worth it.
Pursue your hobbies
You probably had more time than what you knew what to do with over this past year. Hopefully you were keeping up on your sleep and fitness and spending time with your family, but there was also plenty of time left over to pursue other interests, whether it was getting into chess after binge watching Queen’s Gambit, checking out a new book series or video game, or dusting off the guitar and giving it a few strums.
Whatever you did to pass the time, think about keeping it around as things get back to normal. As schedules start to fill back up and demands on your time increase, it will be harder to pursue outside hobbies, but having something that you can go back to that is outside of school/work and athletics is a great way to allow your mind to reset and you’ll end up feeling refreshed and satisfied afterwards.
Excuses
No matter how committed you are, there are times when you simply feel like you don’t want to put in the work. During the pandemic, everyone had a ready made excuse for why they didn’t want to head out for a jog or go to the gym, or maybe why you didn’t want to wake up to do your chores on time. Once you start indulging in that mindset, it is difficult to hit the brakes and reverse.
If you started to develop an excuse mindset it’s time to cut it out now! It’s hard to blame anyone for falling into this trap during the pandemic, but as we begin to return to normal, it’s time to cut it out and put yourself back into the mindset of no excuses.
When I think of this I always think of emotional stamina: Do what needs to get done, whether you feel like it or not. Let your actions drive how you feel, instead of your feelings driving your actions. ACTIONS > FEELINGS!
Diet
Hopefully, the quarantine 15 doesn’t apply to you. However, everyone has dealt with the stress of the past year in different ways, and for some of you it may have involved eating more often or in a more unhealthy way. Once again, it may have been easy to justify to yourself because of the special circumstances. Aside from sleep, this probably is the most important thing that you can do to keep yourself fit, keep your energy and recovery high, and ready to excel on the field. If you’ve been taking extra cookies from the cookie jar the last year, it’s time to start to refocus and put yourself on a path to healthy nutrition in order to be at the top of your game. If you need help getting kick started, there are tons of other articles on the Fully Equipped Athlete blog that can help you start making good decisions again about what you put into your body.
Zoom
Zoom and other devices that allowed us to communicate with each other during the pandemic were a way to keep us connected when there were no other options. Compared to previous pandemics, this was really a positive as it allowed us to feel closer to each other when we had no other option but to be apart. In fact, many of the great relationships that I’ve developed as a part of Fully Equipped Athlete have come through Zoom and other video platforms.
Now that it’s beginning to be much safer to see family, friends, and even strangers, it’s time to turn off the screens and see each other in person again. When you feel it’s safe, go see your aunt, or your cousin or your friend who lives in another town. Zoom is here to stay, but there is no replacement for face to face interaction, especially after everything that we have been through.
So there you have it. Above were some of the habits that you should hold on to as the pandemic ends, and a few that you should let go of. As you reflect back on your own experience, think about things in your own life that you think are worth keeping around and those that are better off left in 2020. Use what you come up with to make a plan to come out of this stronger and better than ever!
