Was deleting some of the pictures on my phone and realised it’s been now 3 weeks that I am in lockdown #2 in Nice, France.

Honestly, these weeks have felt much longer than the lockdown #1 and as much as I appreciate being in my own environment, this experience has been quite different.

First, I didn’t expect it would come into effect so immediately, not giving me the chance to try to get out of the country and go self-isolate with whom I wanted (instead of being alone). Second, I did not expect we would go back to having to have a written declaration of where we were going and being allowed to be out and about once a day, 1 h max, 1 km around the house. That makes me feel trapped and as much as I am very lucky to be close to the sea and I have my palm tree photo project… it just doesn’t do.

So, I called in the “heavy artillery” and decided to do daily ME TIME…

Just to be clear, me time is defined as “time spent relaxing on one’s own as opposed to working or doing things for others, seen as an opportunity to reduce stress or restore energy”.

This includes, in no particular order, nor are all of these necessary daily, however weekly there are a must, in order to keep: optimism, morale, feeling better about one self and one’s life situation, even in Corona times.

So:

#1 Time moving body – be it yoga sessions with fabulous Strasbourg teachers online, classes on YouTube or Yoga App on phone. Otherwise, trying to slowly get back into running… Not aiming for 5km anymore (that is how I started training ages ago and achieved my goal to participate in a Breast Cancer Awareness Run) but aim to get blood pumping and heart rate up and work up a good sweat and get some rosy cheeks in the process – if I can shed a few pounds, that would be ideal. But not a necessity right now.

#2 Body scrub – One life pleasure of mine is massages and scrubs… and I do that ONCE a year for some crazy reason, usually around my birthday. I always say I should do it more often, but I never manage. Well, NO MORE of that I say! I have found a fabulous Australian brand sold by Sephora and I scrub and pamper myself every evening if I feel like it.

#3 Hair mask – A necessity. Since I forgot how it is to have long hair and I think stress makes hair fall out. Another amazing discovery… on how to spend money and do smth good for your body and soul, a Swedish brand that smells like heaven.

#4 Do creative things – This has mostly included taking photos of palm trees around Nice, you can see that on the blog too.. and in lockdown #1 I did write a lot here. And that helped. Thus, here I am again.

#5 Cook – For PLEASURE. I use this as therapy as well too. I don’t enjoy cooking every day and honestly I have asked myself how women have been able to work, take care of their kids and house … since to me there are not enough hours and not enough energy. But we’re not all built the same and we are not all expected to live the same way. Plus, we have come a long way from the nuclear family and gender roles…

#6 Netflix – Thanks to my love, I have finally gotten on the Netflix bandwagon this summer. And it has been a hell of a ride! From Narcos Colombia – which made Pablo Escobar so charismatic – that Brazilian actor did a damn well job – chapeau -, to Mexican telenovela, looots of romantic comedies and now The Crown. Which.. I’m not so sure about. Maybe the Spanish speaking drug lord stories are more my mood atm 😀

#7 Last, but not least, be in contact daily with PEOPLE that you love and LOVE you back. That care, listen and support.

I hope this inspires more of you out there to take better care of yourselves and make your own ME TIME list.

After all, we can’t pour from an empty cup.

And these are hard times for everyone.

If you want to know the secret scrub or hair mask brand, drop a line.