I've been meaning to write this post for a while, but hadn't gotten around to it. With the unfortunate state of the world due to the COVID-19 outbreak, now seems like a better time than any for some self care tips.

Morning Exercise

Ever get tired in the middle of the day? Maybe closer to the end of the day? I know the last thing you want to here is try exercising in the morning, but a super quick, light workout can do wonders for your energy throughout the day. My recommendation is just 10 minutes of yoga every morning. This can range from just some simple stretches to a fully generated yoga workout. My personal recommendation is the Down Dog Yoga App. This application includes randomized workouts of whatever length you desire. You could use this application for your morning wake up, as well as your evening exercise.

Easy Diets

I hate dieting. I've always been behind the idea of "if I exercise enough, I can eat whatever I want." Sadly a recent doctor's visit disproved this idea. I had mildly high blood pressure, which with the help of my wife we quickly reduced to a healthy level. Making healthy meals every single night, and worrying about it for lunch became a pain. I gave the product Huel a try and was pleasantly surprised. I had tried the very similar product Soylent, but felt slightly ill and still hungry. Later I learned that this effect may have been due to my auto immune disease. Both of these products taste great to me so if one doesn't work for you, I recommend trying the other. These are shakes that make for nutritionally complete meals. With Huel being pretty low in sodium, after drinking one shake for breakfast and another for lunch I am comfortable with eating most foods at dinner. This has come even more in hand now as we stock up for food during this shut-in due to COVID-19. Can't speak for Soylent, but my brief interaction with Huel's customer service has been stellar. There is also a huge community for baking and mixing Huel in various ways, but the company provides flavor enhancers themselves as well (I have yet to try these). I have been happy enough with the plain Huel powder flavor and mixing the chocolate Huel powder with some peanut butter protein powder.

Hydration

Sounds dumb, but seriously... just buy a big insulated jug to put water in you keep it with and filled for most of the day. I find myself drinking subconciously now and I feel so much more awake and full. Feeling sluggish or having random cravings? Drink more water.

Dungeons and Dragons

Say what you want about D&D being nerdy and all, but it is one of those games that is what you make it. Playing games like Apples to Apples is dreadful to me with family, but with a close group of friends all games become so much better. I've been playing D&D for maybe 3 years now and after a few months of not being so sure how I felt, I now love this game. It's just a game where you can do whatever you want and goof around with your friends. Finding someone confident enough that understands the group's humour and style is very critical, but once you establish this group of friends you all will make memories for life. Check out Critical Role if you want to see some of the best voice actors play, but don't let that discourage you. Like I said, the game is what you make it and there are several tools to make the game less daunting. If you like to get together wither your friends in person, check out DND Beyond to get started. You can purchase the books and share with your friends if you are running your campaign through the website. To run your session entirely online you can use Roll20. My group and I use this every week, but I have not personally run a session this way as the Dungeon Master before. There are several different One Shots you can try in the official source material or just by searching online (One Shots are single sessions where you can play the entire story in one 1-4 hour sitting).

2 Player Board Games

Got a significant other that you love to binge TV shows with all of the time? Find yourselves some nights just drifting away looking at your cell phones? There are so many great two player board games out there to play. My wife and I just started a trend where we pick up a new board game each month to try out and slowly build our catalogue. So far we have really enjoyed Patchwork and 7 Wonders - Duel. Both of these games are stricty for 2 players. Duel is fairly complex, so I recommend Patchwork over that for the less experience board game players. Many hobby shops have sections dedicated entirely to two player games. Oddly enough what inspired me to do this was that my wife and I had a blast playing table top RPGs such as Dungeons and Dragons 1 on 1, but I wanted something with less role playing involved for a more casual setup.

Got any tips?

These are just some recent things that have brought me joy that I wanted to share. Please let me know some of your tips or what you think of these if you try them. Chat with me on Twitter!. Until next time.