Well-being during isolation

Jane S. sent me this list, which I can probably use for my well-being.

• Shower, take my meds, and drink 6-8 glasses of water a day.  Each glass is 8 fluid ounces, so drink 48-64 fluid ounces a day.  Got it, but don't we need six or eight little boxes to check off?
• Clean one thing/space.  I've been sorting through books and papers, tossing some and trying to arrange my bookshelves so they make more sense for me.
• Tend something growing/living.  That would be Clawdia, who doesn't hesitate to tell me when she wants to eat.  I used to have spider plants and other potted plants, but I gave them away because Clawdia could get sick or die from nibbling on some of them.  And she did nibble.  She is also feeling stressed out, picking up on the feelings of humans around her and our strange behavior, like wearing masks just to walk to the trash chute.  Clawdia likes to get out of our apartment by walking to the other end of the hall with me, but lately she stops at our door and peers out fearfully.  Sometimes, she turns around and hurries back into our apartment.
• Be mindfully present to a sound or song.  I hear the sounds of traffic on the highway, and Clawdia alerts me to any noises she hears coming from the hallway outside our apartment door.  I have learned to tune into the sound of sirens, especially ones that cut off suddenly, and I go to my windows to see if an ambulance is arriving at my senior living facility.  Yeah, it happens too regularly.
• Be mindfully present to a sensory feeling.  The five senses are seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching.  Let's see, I definitely check my sense of smell frequently, knowing that loss of smell is a symptom of the Coronavirus.  Yes, I can smell and taste the tomato, the corn, the mushroom barley soup.
• Be mindfully present to something I see.  I've been noticing the people in my neighborhood, now that I've spent months staying at home and looking out my windows.  People walking dogs, delivery vans, family groups with baby buggies.  I've been surprised how many walk in the street.  Part of that is that they are distancing themselves from slower walkers on the sidewalks.  I can see Walgreen's from my kitchen window, and recently I saw a young man apparently walking home along my street, swinging two big bags that each looked very much like 12-packs of toilet paper!  Aha, that young man is stocking up again.
• Be mindfully present to a spiritual practice.  Meditation is a spiritual practice that I do.  Clear your mind, and sit quietly for a few minutes listening to this music from YouTube.  This one also has calm, relaxing photos of pleasant places.  Enjoy it, and relax as you are being mindful.
• Reach out to a human outside my home.  I text, talk on the phone, and send private Facebook messages every single day.  I don't always have to do the reaching, either, as others also want contact.
• Do one thing to get my heart rate up.  I need to work on this more regularly.  It's easier to exercise when I have to meet with a group on a regular basis, than it is to make myself exercise alone in my apartment.
• Do one thing I'll be glad I did later.  Making myself go to sleep at a reasonable hour is something I'll be glad I did, but it's hard to stop reading when there's nowhere I need to go tomorrow and nowhere I need to be.
• Do one thing just because I want to.  I love to write, so writing this blog post is what I enjoy doing.
• Get in at least one good laugh.  I like puns, so posting puns on my blog and on Facebook keeps me laughing.  Let's end with this one from The Book on the Bookshelf by Henry Petroski, 1997, page 222:

"The more things change, the more they remain insane."