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luthienne

Frank Bidart, from Half-light: Collected Poems; “Guilty of Dust”

cafe-solo

aliceinwondercloset

comfydarkme

I sit with my grief. I mother it. I hold its small, hot hand. I don’t say, shhh. I don’t say, it's okay. I wait until it is done having feelings. Then we stand and we go wash the dishes.

-- Callista Buchen, from Taking Care

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Source: pinterest.com

areasonablydressedwoman

staff

How can I keep myself healthy and safe?

From a personal perspective, I’d already gone on a bit of a health kick a few weeks back, which has meant trying to eat healthily (lots of fruit and veggies), exercising regularly, and quitting smoking and drinking (yes I do recognise the hypocrisy of being a doctor who occasionally smoked!).

I think one of the best things you can do during this time is to quit smoking or vaping because smokers are more at risk of respiratory infections. I wrote a little tweet-guide as to how I did it.

Vitamin C has been shown to help stave off the common cold. In general, I’d suggest you make sure you’re eating healthily. You can get natural sources of vitamin C, which include citrus fruits, kiwi, and broccoli.

Zinc has also been shown to be beneficial for colds. Natural sources of zinc include pumpkin seeds, dark chocolate, and chickpeas.

If you’re eating a sufficiently varied diet, then you won’t necessarily need to take oral multivitamin tablets. However, as we’ll all be indoors more, we may find that we benefit from a vitamin D supplement (which we usually get from the sun).

If you’re living in an area where you can still go outside, then walks can be good for your physical and mental health. Try to maintain a good distance from others, and wash your hands for 20 seconds—especially when you get back home. As we still don’t have all the information about how long COVID-19 remains in the air, if you’re particularly at risk, I would perhaps advise staying at home.

I know COVID-19 is really scary; make sure you’re taking the right precautions, but also be sure to try and spend some time every day doing things you enjoy and taking your mind off the virus. My friend has put together a guide to ensuring good mental health at this time: