A Stay-at-Home Survival Guide from Your Reformed Hermit Friend

I always wear "real" clothes, whether I'm going anywhere or not!

Okay, so "Survival Guide" might be a bit dramatic, but you've got to acknowledge that when it comes to staying at home and not going batty over it, I'm kind of a pro.

See, I've been a stay-at-home-something for about a decade and a half.  Well before Government-Mandated Sparkling Isolation was handed down from On High to a nation that literally has rebellion against authority hard-wired into its blood, woven into its fabric, there were weeks-long stretches of time when I didn't leave my house.  The only people I'd see were my dog and my husband, and when she finally came along, my daughter.

I'm not agoraphobic or anything.  Never was.  I just had no real need to leave my home, so I just stayed put.  I'd go outside with the dog.  I'd go to essential appointments.  I'd make grocery runs.

Sound familiar, yeah?  Well, the difference is that it was all by choice, not order.

But we have to bloom where we're planted right now, Babies, and we can do it.  I have a few tricks up my sleeve for keepin' feeling "normal" (whatever that means for you), even if you've got to stay home.

1. Go to bed and get up at the same time every day.  We're creatures of habit and our bodies like predictability and routine.  
2. Shower.
3. Put on real clothes.  You can fight me on this if you love staying in your jammies all day.  That was never my deal, unless I'm so sick I can't even get out of bed.  I'm not really even okay with leggings and loungewear during the day, because it just throws off my whole deal.  So I wear real clothes, like you'd see me wearing if I were out-n-about.
4. Do your hair.  Even if I know I'm not going to see anybody, I feel better about myself if my hair's did.   It doesn't have to be fancy.  Just not all up in a weird bunnamabopper or that thing where it looks like I stuck my head in a blender and jammed in a few dozen bobbies.  Sometimes my hair eventually ends up in a weird bunnamabopper, and I'll stick in pens and pencils if I'm really in a Project, but I start out the day with it in some semblance of "done," whether it's air-dried, blown straight, or up in a braid.  Because practicing doing my hair on days when nobody's going to see me is good practice for when I have to get out the door fast on days they do.  This is just me.
5. Put on makeup.  Ev-uh-ree.  Dang.  Ol'.  Day.  I do it all.  Bondo, primer, color, clear-coat, mascara.  A little lippy, usually.  Whether people are going to see me or not, because again, it's good practice for trying out something new (hiya, winged eyeliner!), and also good insurance that I can be pretty fast and accurate at slapping my face on my face for when I need to zoom out the door.  Also, it's hella unsettling to see my face in the mirror without makeup on it.  A girl can jump and shout out "Jee. Zus!" only so many times in a day, yo.
6. Fellas, do your grooming routine and shave your damn neck-hair.  Not telling you how to live your life, but you don't have to look like you're homebound in gaming chair in your mom's basement.  Just keepin' it real.
7. Eat regular meals.
8. Hydrate properly.
9. Social Media is a lifeline in these times.  Also, the phone.  Face-Time.  Email.  Snail-mail.  zOMGWhatFun- could you imagine getting and sending pen-pal mail through USPS from everybody you can't see in person right now?  Or if that's not your bag, there's still Social Media.  Seriously.  When I finally came to the Facebook party (in 2008), it was a game-changer for me.  My friends had scattered to the Four Winds, I wasn't super-great at creating opportunity to make new friends, but with Facebook and social media, it's like we're all together, even if we're in different states, cities, countries, continents.  And I've been led to a lot of friends that I now see in real life, because we got to know each other better on Social Media.  It has been a literal lifeline for me in my adult life!  Like any other tool, use it responsibly.  Don't be a drama-llama.
10. Have something to look forward to every day.
11. Pick up a hobby that you've wanted to get to or get back to.  Bluprint, CreativeBug, JoAnn, Michaels, YouTube... they've got a wealth of tutorials out there, if you've got the time... and Time is something we've all got right now!
12. Maintain a good sense of humor.  My favorite advice from my grandfather.  Being able to laugh at the absurdity of it all, at the absurdity of ourselves... that's pure gold, right there.

This is just my run-down of essentials that I practice when I'm not going out of my house.  I can hermit like it's my job.  Sometimes, it IS my job.  It's all our jobs, now.  And we're going to be all right.  Maybe a little cramped in the style department, because as a nation, we were founded on the practice of pushing back and shrugging off authority.  We're a nation of rebels.  We don't like being told what to do, even if it could be in our best interest. We'll be back to going out-n-about soon (in Grand Scheme of Things Thinking).  In the meantime, try to keep yourself feeling as normal as possible.  It'll help a little bit with making this weird situation we're all in feel a little more bearable.  I promise, Friends!