Rebuilding good habits- 5 ways:
“Take stock of how the pandemic has wrecked your daily routine—then resolve to feel better in the new year.”
The following written content by Emily Abbate
The past year has shown the limits of self-improvement culture in many ways. You can’t change the government’s response to coronavirus with a new habit. A shift in mindset will not make that guy wear a mask.
At the same time, it’s never been more important to fight back to protect your physical and mental well-being where you can. You can’t control the broader course of the pandemic, but you can control how you respond to it. It’s not a secret that lots of people have responded to it by stress-eating, doomscrolling, and working from the couch. No judgment here! It’s been incredibly hard. But the new year is a great opportunity to take stock of the new patterns you’ve fallen into and consider whether you would like them to change.
To help you do that, GQ talked to a panel of experts about five ways to help you undo the damage of 2020—or at least the stuff that’s undoable.
Fix Your Posture
If you’re fielding dawn-to-dusk Slacks in the same place you’re watching back-to-back episodes of The Queen’s Gambit, your posture may have taken a beating. “Our bodies like to move,” says Seattle physical therapist Miguel Almario, “and being stuck sitting for work or sitting on the couch binging TV can potentially affect your ability to perform the activities you like to do.”
If you’re rapidly becoming the Hunchback of Apartment 4B, try adding some motion. Almario recommends starting with three sets of 10 glute bridges, three times per week, which will get the hips moving better. Then bang out some push-ups. “They can help with getting you loose after sitting hunched forward,” he adds. “Focus on the slow lowering of your body to the floor, and then explode up.” Read more from GQ.
