Social interaction protects you from all kinds of depression and stress. It lowers stress hormones and your blood pressure as well. I know that the times are difficult due to COVID-19 but if your friend or a relative is one block away, go meet them. But do not forget to warm up as we have to take care of physical health as well.
If you can’t see your loved ones, try communicating with them. They are sometimes a call or text away. If you want to write a letter to them, do it, if you want to have coffee with them, do it. You can address your underlying mental health issues and get help from your loved ones.
When buying coffee, at the gym, sitting on a bench at the train station, or traveling in local transport, notice people around you. You might notice someone you would like to talk to and approach them in a friendly way. Talk to them about your surroundings, the weather or where they are going or what they like about the place. Ask for their number and make it clear that you would like to go on a date with them.
Pouring out your thoughts can help offload your stress and make anxiety manageable. Plenty of self-care apps are available that feature a mood-tracker and mood-journal. Express your thoughts there and look for potential patterns. You might find your triggers and you can look back later to learn about your thought process when you felt anxious.
Nevertheless, even writing on a piece of paper is an excellent way to deal with anxiety inducing thoughts.
Don’t end it on a message or a phone call. The person you want to remove from your life has the right to know why you are doing this. Meet them in-person at home or in a public place. If your partner can become violent and angry quickly, have a friend near but don’t involve the friend in the conversation. Tell them to wait outside or sit somewhere else.
The government offsets the cost of higher education by offering valuable tax credits. The American opportunity tax credits provide a maximum credit of $2,500 per student per year and it can be claimed for the first four years of college.
A zester makes long, fine, curling stripes of lime. Hold the lime in one hand and the zester in another. Put the sharp edges of the zester at the top of the lime, press it slightly and pull the zester down. You will see long and curling strips at the end of the zester. Continue this process till you have enough zest needed. If you have collected more zest than is required, you can store it in a zip lock bag and put it in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.
There are several tools available online that will help you save and organize your recipes. Some of my favorite tools are Paprika Recipe Manager, Plan to Eat and Pepperplate. Paprika works on iPhone, Android, Mac, iPad, and Windows OS. It is cloud-based, so takes very little storage space on the device. Plan to Eat allows you to not just save the recipes but also share it with friends. And lastly, PepperPlate will help you seamlessly manage recipes and create menus.