What Are You Doing for Self-care This Year?

2020 has been a helluva year.

It brought an end to the Trump presidency, so maybe civics education can get back to normal next year.

But it also brought Covid – and along with it remote learning and lots of anxiety. Teaching remotely is tough, but going to work in a school building where Covid could be transmitted may be even tougher.

Like many of you, I’ve been working from home for much of 2020. It’s been tough mentally to be tucked away in my office, day in and day out. I miss seeing people – colleagues, students, parents. Zoom just isn’t the same.

But the one upshot is that being home has allowed me to focus on running. I’ve always been on and off with running, and I was trying to recommit to running in January. I wanted to move more for my health and to maintain my weight, and spending time on the hiking trails near my house helped me clear my head.

When everything shut down in March and I started working from home, that just meant more time to run. I’ve always had trouble with consistency, and this year I’ve been more consistent than ever.

To help keep myself committed to running, I started another blog – Running with Rock. I’ve been writing things about trail running there, and I’ve been exploring the trails near my house.

One of the benefits of trail running is being able to spend time outdoors. Research has shown this to be good for your mental health. Running in general is meditative, but running in nature is even better. For me, it’s helped keep me sane – and it’s been part of my self-care for 2020.

So I’m curious – how have you been taking care of yourself in 2020? What’s keep you sane in these crazy times?