#stayathome - How I Reestablished My Home Spa Routines
Apparently, we have a new calculation of time and live in the year 1 A.C. now (A.C. = After Corona Outbreak). A couple of weeks ago my boyfriend and I travelled through Denmark, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Austria. We ate sushi in crowded restaurants and met new friends in cafés, bars and public parks. I never thought nostalgia could arise so fast, but it feels like a different life now. Nowadays, everyone has to stay at home so that the Corona virus won’t spread. Okay, I got it! The numbers are increasing every day and the estimated numbers of unreported cases are frightening. The changing of our mentality went like this:
“Why is everyone freaking out about this virus? It has spread in China, fine, but we are on the other side of the planet.”
“You are doing home office? This is overreacting, isn’t it?”
“Hmmm, maybe we should only meet in smaller groups.”
“Please, mom and dad, stay at home. It could be dangerous for you.”
“Hey! You can only leave the house to buy groceries!”
In the beginning I really enjoyed the silence in isolation. It felt like a mix of home vacation, time off from school and paid laziness. It was Sunday on repeat… and another one, and another one... I literally kept forgetting what day of the week it was because I would wake up, eat, work from home, take out the dog, and go back to bed. It became a blurry routine, and then at some point, something incredible occurred to me and many of my friends: for the first time ever, we had too much time. We started to go running in the woods, cooking, and reading old Harry Potter books. We got drunk in our own apartments and had Google hangouts with people we haven’t seen in years. At this point I realized that I could finally do all the things at home that I procrastinated or that were “unworthy” of my precious time B.C.
Routine 1: Taking a hot bath
I used to be a big fan of taking hot baths with a strong scent of lavender, but it was always hard to really enjoy them. I felt like I wasn’t allowed to relax because my internal to-do-list was ticking like a time bomb. I was working full-time while also freelancing, and all these motivational speakers in my head would pop up. Andrea, work harder! Finish that book! Chase your dreams! Give it everything you have! You have to do something! NOW!
When I am on the edge of starting a new project, there is always something I could do, write, start, push, improve, overthink, increase… but wait, not in my current life A.C. Nowadays, I can just lie in my bathtub and look at the bubbles, because I have literally nothing else to do.
Try it out yourself and spend some time in the hot water! Light up some candles, pretend like you are in a spa and turn on a Spotify playlist that contains the words “spa”, “relaxing”, or “massage”. There are plenty of choices. Tip: If you don’t have bathing bath salts at home, check out my favorite bath salt on Shop Apotheke. They also have a lot of organic beauty and care products if you don’t want to go to a physical drug store.
Routine 2: Mixing my own face masks
When I was a student, I had this weird routine of putting on homemade face masks every weekend. I would just go into the kitchen, take a few ingredients from the fridge, mix them and let the mask sit for a couple of minutes. Homemade facials masks were cheap, effective and during the mixing process I could nibble and taste stuff for dinner. No studying, no calls, no papers – just me and my yoghurt mask! Now I am home 24/7 and can reestablish this super simple beauty routine. Here are some variations:
- Mix 5 spoons of natural yoghurt with 1-2 spoons of honey
- Mix ½ smashed avocado with fresh lemon juice
- Mix coffee powder with a pinch of drop of olive oil and honey
Also check out these homemade facial mask ideas from ELLE Magazine.
Routine 3: Start meditating again
It may sound cliché, but I finally found the time (and patience) to start meditating again. I’m not pretending to be a guru who can sit quietly for two hours, but I did download an app with guided meditations. It is super easy to use and comforting, because a calming voice in your smartphone tells you exactly what to do, how to breath and what to think. Try out apps with daily meditations such as Calm or Headspace.
Are you inspired to start your own home spa routine? As I said: for many of us it is the first time ever that we have too much time. Let’s use the free time to spoil ourselves! If you are interested in decluttering your apartment, also check out my bestselling book Perlen statt Plunder. We can inspire each other to do great things!
** In friendly collaboration with Shop Apotheke. I only write about shops and products that I personally use and support **
