17 Women Around the World Share Their Quarantine Self-Care Routines

May 20, 2020 at 05:50PM

There are so few human challenges—most all of them intangible—that everyone, regardless of background, inevitably has to weather at some point in life. Romantic heartbreak, death of a loved one. It’s genuinely hard to think of more. The COVID-19 pandemic is so prodigious because it’s not only an experience that everyone is dealing with but one that everyone is dealing with at the exact same time. Personally, I start to freak out a little bit any time I come up against a challenge so rare that my mom has never seen it before. Needless to say, COVID-19 has set off those panic alarms, which I’ve spent the past week and a half attempting to quiet with the best self-care rituals and products available to me—a journey that is by no means complete.

There’s nothing like a crisis to bring out both the best and worst in us. For every ounce of compassion and selflessness that’s emerged from this, there’s an equal amount of agitation and impatience, arrogance and shaming of others. Because this is something that nearly the entire human population is tackling, there is an overwhelming quantity of information (some valid and helpful, some less so) about how we should be spending these uncertain times. I’ve seen memes advising the internet to make good use of the quarantine—to look on the bright side by starting that novel you always told yourself you’d write or by taking this “precious” period to “pause” and “unplug”—the creators and sharers of which were no doubt well-intentioned but maybe not considering the millions of people dealing with everything from homelessness to cancer to depression who don’t have much of a silver lining right now. As connected as we all are by this crisis, coming across the wrong information at the wrong time can make one feel even more alone.

The most helpful sentiments I’ve scrolled past all voice a similar message: As long as you’re abiding by the recommendations of the government and WHO, taking every precaution to keep yourself and others safe, there’s no “right” way to do self-care. You don’t need to write that novel, alphabetise your food cupboards, get in amazing shape or somehow spin this whole experience into a good thing (unless you want to, of course). The only thing any of us “needs” to do is protect our own health and the health of our communities. The rest is going to look very different from one person to the next. 

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I was talking to a friend on the phone this morning for whom this quarantine has served as creative fuel. “I’m going to write a children’s book,” she told me. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while now, and I’m finally going to do it.” For her, self-care looks like artistic output, which is wonderful. “You go, girl,” I replied. But for me? Self-care these days is a little different. I’m being really gentle with myself, avoiding negative self-talk when I find myself sleeping until 11 or feeling unshakably squirmy about the future when I know I’m comparatively so, so lucky. I’m not alphabetising anything or exercising much, but I am doing other things. Namely, a lot of face masks. I’m also pushing my skincare routine in a more sustainable direction, like by swapping disposable facial cleansing wipes for reusable options. I’m also reading my little heart out. (I just finished Such a Fun Age, a novel by Kiley Reid, which was phenomenal.)

To get a sense of what other people are doing right now to care for their minds and bodies, I reached out to 20 women from all over the world, who kindly responded with their quarantine self-care routines. From Italy to South Africa to Australia, here’s how women from a variety of cultures and experiences are spending their lockdowns. While there is certainly no “right” way to do self-care, here are some ideas from across the globe.

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Author Amanda Montell | Whowhatwear
Selected by CWC