19 Self-Care Tips for Introverts in Lockdown

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You’ve seen the memes.

You’ve probably even made a few jokes about it to your friends and family.

Sure, as introverts we’ve been “training” for this lockdown and quarantine period our entire lives. For some of us, our pre- and post-coronavirus lives aren’t that different really.

However, even though we’re a lot more comfortable spending all this time at home than the extroverts in our lives, there’s nothing normal about this situation for us either.

Introverts are stuck in close quarters with our partners, children, roommates, etc. (We love you, but eek!) As a result, we’re being forced to adjust to constant interaction and somehow still find ways to recharge alone.

It’s important during this crisis to make sure we’re taking care of ourselves and our mental health too.

So I want to take some time today and share some self-care tips to help us introverts get through this. Not only tips to keep our energy balanced, but also our households conflict and frustration-free!

Here are 19 self-care tips for introverts in lockdown that I know are helping me tremendously, and I guarantee will help you too!

1. Communicate your need for “me” time.

I’ve listed this as number 1 for a reason. If you read no other tip in this article, THIS is the one you must take away and action.

By now, the people living with you are probably aware of your introversion. But that doesn’t mean they fully understand it or know how it affects your needs.

Introverts need “me” time. We’re most rested and relaxed when we’re alone. Especially during this time, we need “me” time to recenter our minds, tame any anxious thoughts we’re experiencing, and recharge our batteries.

So don’t be afraid to communicate with your partner/roommate/whoever you live with that you need some time to yourself.

Don’t wait until you’re absolutely exhausted and potentially lash out in a negative way…I’ve been there!

Talk to the people in your home. Make sure they’re aware of your needs, so that everyone can find a balance between interacting with one another and allowing you that oh-so necessary “me” time.

2. Make a schedule for the week.

It took my boyfriend and I a MONTH into lockdown to create a weekly schedule. A MONTH. Haha.

It seems silly, considering the fact that each day neither of us knew: who was taking the dog on his walks, making coffee, or cooking dinner…or when we needed to work, or what we were going to do that evening…

Avoid all the confusion and potential arguments by making a weekly schedule! Write it on a whiteboard or post it on the fridge. Somewhere everyone can see it!

You should also include “me” time on this weekly schedule, especially if you’re dating an extrovert.

Having a schedule will give your time more structure. You’ll be more productive, have set “me” time, and ensure the weekly chores and to-dos are divvied up.

3. Work during working hours.

If you’re new to the remote work life, make sure you’re not letting your work consume your days.

You should be limiting work and work-related tasks (such as emailing) to your normal working hours as much as possible.

I get it: It’s hard to define a start and end to your working time when you’re wearing your pajamas all day. But try sticking to your typical 8-4 or 9-5 etc., and make sure this is included in your weekly schedule.

Working remotely doesn’t have to be drawn out across an entire day! Work during working time and let yourself mentally relax outside of those hours.

4. Set personal / financial / professional goals.

Introverts, we love a nice, lengthy reflection session.

And now is the perfect time to evaluate existing goals and set new ones for yourself. Doing so, will help your thoughts become more positive and keep you focused on personal growth/development opportunities that are within your power to change…even when it seems everything else isn’t.

Here are just a few questions to get your goal-setting started…

Personal goals:

In what ways would you like to improve yourself mentally, emotionally, and physically this year?
How can you be kinder to yourself and others?
What are the 3 biggest things that cause you stress and anxiety? What are some ways that you can better cope or alleviate these?

Financial goals:

What financial goals (savings, earnings, investments) would you like to achieve by the end of this year?

Is your budget working for you? Why or why not? What are some expenses that need cutting?
How can you be a bit more frugal and what must you do to action these?

Professional goals:

What are the things you appreciate about your job? Why?
What are some things that make you unhappy at work?

How do you feel at the end of the day—energized or drained? Why?
Do you find your job fulfilling and meaningful? In what ways?
What promotion opportunities would you like to pursue in the coming year?

How can you boost your current income? What side-hustles do you think you could start this year?

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5. Write. Then write some more.

Journaling our thoughts helps us connect with ourselves and figure out what makes us tick. And as introverts, writing our thoughts down allows us to truly reflect and piece together our emotions and experiences.

Take this time, some of your “me” time perhaps, to journal.

As listed before, write about your goals for the next 1, 5, 10 years. Do some creative writing. Reflect on your current experiences and how they’re affecting you mentally and emotionally.

Shut out the world, and get in tune with yourself.

Writing can be incredibly cathartic and it gives us that bit of emotional relief we need right now.

6. Make to-do lists for each day.

I don’t know about you, but I absolutely love checking things off a to-do list. I love checking things off them almost as much as I love creating them in the first place!

Sitting down to make a to-do list either the night before or first thing in the morning will help you stay organized and give structure to your days.

As well, to-do lists will give you that feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day, knowing that you’ve gotten things DONE. To-do lists give us that calming bit of control over our lives during in these uncertain times.

7. Exercise, better yet: DO YOGA.

It may not feel like it as your motivation to complete that last mile of your run wanes, but studies have shown that exercise is beneficial to your mental health as well.

Psychology Today states how, “exercise appears to be as good as existing pharmacological interventions across a range of conditions, such as mild to moderate depression, dementia, and anxiety, and even reduces cognitive issues in schizophrenia.”

If you’re not interested in a cardio-heavy activity like running, research is showing that yoga can be equally as good for your cardiovascular health. And we all know that yoga has tremendous psychological benefits because of its incorporation of breathing and relaxation techniques.

Here are some ideas to get your exercise routine started at home!

8. Practice meditation.

Meditation isn’t easy, especially when your mind has 50+ things to be thinking and worrying about right now.

But taking care of your mind is just as important as caring for your body.

Start using apps like Headspace and start simple. Do 3, 5, or 10 minutes a day, whatever you think you can maintain and make into a habit.

The important thing with meditation is that you don’t give up. EVERYONE’s mind wanders, even monks’! But through consistent practice, you can learn to tame it and be mindful of your emotions and stressors, without letting them exhaust you.

9. Say “NO” to Zoom/Skype calls.

I don’t know about you, but I feel like I have a never-ending queue of Zoom calls.

The issue is that since most of our extroverted friends/family are at home, they have EVEN MORE time to chat than they would normally.

Don’t get overwhelmed by the virtual hangouts! It’s okay to say no to some of these and preserve your energy and take control of your time.

Find a balance between staying in touch, checking in…and recharging your batteries.

10. Reconnect with friends.

I’m terrible at keeping in touch with people.

It’s not that I don’t care about them or don’t think about them regularly. In fact, I think about my friends and family every single day!

But do I call or text them regularly? ….umm….

As introverts, we’re often living inside our heads. And when it comes to calling or texting people out of the blue, we’re quick to come up with excuses—“Eh, they’re probably busy,” or “I don’t have anything to share, and if I did, they wouldn’t care too much,” or “I’ll just be a bother.”

Stop this kind of thinking and reconnect with the people you care about. It’s better therapy for our isolationist tendencies than you realize.

11. Make time for hobbies/interests.

You’d think with all this time at home that we’d be hobby-ing up a storm, but for many of us this isn’t the case.

We’re still working, constantly around our loved ones, and doing more tasks/chores around the house than we might otherwise have.

But now’s when hobby-ing and indulging in our interests can help us find even greater peace.

Dive into that new book, watch that film you’ve never gotten around to seeing, get your knitting game on, play some video games, create some art, or start that blog!

12. Read through your bookshelf.

Maybe you read all the time, but with everyone home, it’s far more difficult to finish that book.

Make time to read. Finish all those books on the shelf that previously you’ve had so little time to dive into. Reading will relax your mind and give you that much needed escape from the stressors of life right now.

13. Find a TV show just for you.

Part of quality “me” time is finding the perfect guilty-pleasure TV show to watch when nobody’s looking.

I recently devoured Love is Blind on Netflix in the course of a week and it felt great. I turned off my overly-critical film degree brain and just enjoyed the emotional rollercoaster.

There are times to watch a show with someone else, but also times to enjoy a show only YOU are interested in.

Revel in it! Make popcorn for yourself, light some candles, and press play.

14. Share your hobbies/interests with your partner.

Now that you’ve set aside “me” time and are giving yourself more time to hobby—share these things with your partner!

There are many of us that have learned so much about our partners while being stuck inside with them, even though we were certain we’d already figured them out!

Share more with each other, now that you have the time to do so.

Maybe you painted something new—share it with them! Maybe you just finished an extraordinary book—tell them what you found so fascinating about it.

If we can’t grow closer when we’re in lockdown together, then when can we?

My boyfriend and I absolutely adore the School of Life’s question boxes. They’re fantastic conversation starters that’ll get you guys engaging in deep, meaningful conversations and truly learning even more about one another.

School of Life offers the 100 Questions Toolkit, 100 Questions Family Edition, and the 100 Questions Relationship Reboot!

15. Go screen-free.

Put the phone away. Close that laptop. Turn off the TV.

Great conversations with your partner can happen when you’re not distracted by those pesky notifications dinging on your phone, and the news rambling on the TV, or the emails that just keep coming to your inbox.

Take time out of each day to go completely screen-free for at least an hour. Read a book. Talk to your partner. Put your phone on Do Not Disturb, don’t touch it, and listen to a podcast or some music!

You’ll rest your eyes, your mind, and all the noise surrounding us each day.

16. Develop new skills.

If you’ve got more time to be productive, boost your skills, or learn something new…do it!

There are online courses for literally everything now. If you’ve been wanting to learn how to knit, now’s the time. If you want to level up your photography skills, there’s a course for that.

Take a look at websites like Udemy, Lynda.com, and Skillshare to find the perfect course (or courses!) just for you.

Better yet, start a blog! You’ll learn so many skills like website design, SEO, blog post writing, and so much more. Blogging offers that wonderful mixture of skill-building with a passion project.

Here are some of the best courses out there that’ll help you start a blog TODAY:

Create n Go — I’ve purchased Lauren and Alex’s ProBloggerBundle and I have to say, to get your blog started the RIGHT way, it’s worth the investment. It includes their Launch Your Blog Biz, Pinterest Avalanche, and Six-Figure Blogger courses all for one discounted price.

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing — Michelle’s course on affiliate marketing is a staple of the blogosphere. She breaks down the strategies to get your blog making passive income through affiliate marketing.

Stupid Simple SEO — SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is like the holy grail of bloggers. If you can get your posts ranked on the first page of Google, you are able to drive some serious, consistent traffic. But like the holy grail, it’s not easily attainable and there are a lot of intricacies to it. People have entire careers in SEO optimization! Luckily, Mike’s course Stupid Simple SEO really breaks it down for you, so even tech-newbies can understand the formula behind SEO success.

Using this time for personal development, growth, and skill-building will leave you feeling better about this entire experience once it’s all over.

17. Minimize your wardrobe.

For ladies, frugal living starts with the wardrobe!

Tackle that massive closet of clothes. Read Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and discover which items you truly need.

All those items you’re getting rid of? Sell them or trade them in! Ya never know, you might make a pretty penny after this!

Minimizing your closet is not only one of the best ways to start living frugally, it also declutters your mind as well! Afterwards, every time you look into your closet, you’ll only see items that you like and bring you joy.

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18. Organize your space.

Being trapped inside is made worse by a messy space.

It’s time to move the couch and find out what’s under it…aaah! It’s time to dust the top of that ceiling fan and feng shui the place so that your space is optimized.

It’ll be time consuming, but cleaning thoroughly, getting rid of stuff, and moving around the furniture will make your space feel brand new.

Your home will get a little makeover, HGTV-style…and who doesn’t want that?

19. Go for a walk in nature.

Nature heals, it’s true.

If you can go for a walk, even if it’s just for 10 or 20 minutes, do it. You can slip away from the people you live with and recharge in the beauty of nature.

Final Thoughts

Hopefully you’re already following some of these tips, but just needed a little kick in the butt to start the rest. …*cough* exercise *cough*…

But the most important thing right now is that you’re taking care of your loved ones and you, as holistically as possible.

Communicate your needs to one another. Find a balance between spending time together and recharging, relaxing, and being productive alone.

We introverts need to continually check in with our own needs as well! Self-care is necessary for all of us at this time—introverts, extroverts, and ambiverts alike.