COVID-19 Update: Helpful Shares, Health, Spiritual Reads, and Hair

Greetings!

I hope this post finds you and yours well! ❤

It’s been awhile since I posted. Since my last post, boy has much transpired. The world is grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the United States is dealing with the tragedy and after effects of the race-related deaths of Breonna Taylor, Ahmad Arbery, George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, and many others.

In this post I share content that I think can bless and benefit you. I know we’re busy right now, so I will aim to NOT BE longwinded. When I can, I’ll just settle for sharing content in the form of a list. If you’d like me to expound (more) on something, please drop me a comment below, and I will reply. 🙂 Much love!

COVID-19 LIST: The Best COVID-related Content I’ve Encountered So Far

1. A doctor on how to handle groceries to protect against the corona virus:

2. A (calming) article on how corona virus particles spread: https://www.erinbromage.com/post/the-risks-know-them-avoid-them

COVID-19 LIST: Material with Potential To Help You Maintain a Sense of Peace during the COVID-19 Pandemic

1. Awesome article “45 Things to Remember When the World Gets Scary”: https://medium.com/an-idea-for-you/45-things-to-remember-when-the-world-gets-scary-d2a085f4053d
2. Minister Tony Evans “Don’t Let Fear Control You during the Coronavirus”:

COVID-19 LIST: Things I’m Doing or Have Purchased to Nurture My Happiness and Joy during Sheltering-in-Place during the COVID-19 Pandemic

• I’m practicing excellent relational boundaries. I re-read the book “Boundaries” by Cloud and Townsend. This has been VERY important, as we have all been “trapped” in the house with our loved ones, which can be wonderful but also very challenging.
  

• I’ve been decluttering . . . and in the process making spaces in the house just LOVELY:
  • I threw away a HUMONGOUS tub of hair products . . . a tub I could sit in. It has been GREAT!
  • I completely decluttered my major bookcase.
  • I got a shoe rack and decluttered my shoes, keeping only those I always wear.
    

• I’m making the house and the yard a SANCTUARY for everyone who lives here:
  • We keep everyone’s favorite foods in stock.
  • Adults and children alike are getting awesome “toys” delivered to the house (a swing set and pool are on the way, etc.).
    

• I’m amping up the joy-factor in as many tasks as I wisely can:
  • I have a bluetooth shower radio that plays my YouTube playlists, and I dance and sing every shower I can.
  • I purchased bluetooth headphones [amazing!].
  • Etc.
• I’m mastering another language (Spanish) and having a BLAST doing so:
  • I use the Memrise app.
  • I purchased Mega Bundle #1 and Mega Bundle #2 from Island Teacher on Teachers Pay Teachers. These are bundles for creating interactive notebooks. I do the activities myself, and I use them when I’m teaching Spanish to my little nephew and cousin. Here is Island Teacher’s TpT link: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Island-Teacher.
  • I purchased “Speak Spanish Faster” because it says it focuses on training the ear, but so far I haven’t liked it as much as I thought I would. The Spanish is a little different than what I’m used to.
  • I’ve been watching Netflix with the language set to Spanish (aloud) and the subtitles set to English . . . then going back and doing Spanish aloud with Spanish subtitles. There’s a Google Chrome Netflix language learning app I just learned about that is supposed to be amazing. I just learned of it today. Here’s the link: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/language-learning-with-ne/hoombieeljmmljlkjmnheibnpciblicm.
  • Etc.
• I’m truly prioritizing my PHYSICAL HEALTH (no excuses!) and having a ton of fun with it (please see the HEALTH discussion below for details).

SPIRITUAL

I’ve been going DEEP with getting real about any spiritual beliefs/hang-ups I need to work out. This began by ACCIDENT, but it has been AH-MA-ZING for my soul.

I’ve recently read “God Can’t: How to Believe in God and Love after Tragedy, Abuse, and Other Evils” and it has changed my whole life and healed my whole relationship with God in ways I didn’t even know were needed.

Briefly: There are some things God can’t do. For example, the bible says God can’t lie. As the YouTuber apologists from “Whaddo You Meme?” discusses, God can’t, for example, create a rock that is too big for Himself to move. In the book “God Can’t,” author Jay Thomas Oord discusses the idea that God is love and in that love He doesn’t violate people’s free will. This has implications for how we should think about God and what He can and cannot do, Oord contends.

I stumbled upon “God Can’t” by accident while searching for a different book. It’s funny: I disagree with about 30-40% of the book. But the 60-70% of the book that I indeed DO agree with?!?? Wooooooooo! Life-changing. 🙂 I worship differently now. I commune with God differently now. Life-changing.

NOTE: Oord has a more academic version of “God Can’t” called “The Uncontrolling Love of God.” I have it and plan to read it.

I’m now reading the book “Divine Echoes,” which is a book about what prayer is like if God’s love is indeed an uncontrolling love. It’s written by a different author than that of the books I mentioned above. So far it’s been FANTASTIC. It’s making SO MUCH SENSE of prayer and all the thoughts I’ve had about prayer my whole life.

I purchased and started “How Reason Can Lead to God: A Philosopher’s Bridge to Faith” but have yet to finish it because I got so busy reading and reflecting on “Divine Echoes” (mentioned above). I will pick up this book again soon, Lord willing. It is extremely good so far. Just what I was searching for in order to talk with an agnostic or atheist about the likelihood of a loving God.

I have purchased but not yet read “Religious Refugees: (De)Constructing Toward Spiritual and Emotional Healing.” If the reviews are correct, I’m going to love this book. Just the topic alone! Wonderful.

HEALTH LIST: Things I’m Doing that Have Improved my Health

• Because I had to stop attending the (public) recreation center due to the corona virus, we purchased a spin bike. BEST DECISION EVER. It’s easy on the knees. It’s totally silent, so I can do my spin bike routine at 5:00 AM without disturbing the rest of the family.
  

• Soon after the spin bike arrived, I accidentally discovered spin cycle trainer Kristina Girod on YouTube. SHE HAS CHANGED MY WHOLE LIFE. I am now ADDICTED to exercising, and that is a GAME-CHANGER. I’ve embedded one of her YouTube videos below.
• I have a daily “winning” morning routine. I designed it based on what I’ve learned from public interviews with highly successful, spiritual people. It entails feeding and strengthening my spirit, mind, and body. I’ve loaded my morning routine into the app “Routinery.” It involves several tasks, including: (1) drinking warm lime water first thing in the morning to help remove mucus; (2) making sure that I go to the restroom EVERY morning, reading spiritual material while clearing my system, etc. With having and following a daily morning routine, I’ve been able to get a handle on the challenge of navigating this special time. I’m able to care deeply for myself while caring deeply for everyone who all of a sudden is in the house with me all day long. Bam! 😀
• I’m eating according to an intermittent fasting schedule, meaning, I eat during an 8-hour window of time and fast during a 16-hour window of time. This is is a relatively easy way to promote weight loss/maintenance.
• I am taking my vitamins, especially vitamin D.

HAIR

1. I have relaxed in all ways about my hair. I have taken YouTuber Star Puppy’s advice to have FUN with it. She discusses this in her YouTube video here:
   https://youtu.be/O7oTqRaEG1Y
2. I have streamlined my regimen MAJORLY. With everyone being at home, I simply don’t have the time for 6-18 hour (sometimes multi-day) wash days. Here’s my FAVORITE wash-and-style day:
   1. Cleanse in shower: Innersense Hair Bath
   2. Deep condition and detangle in shower: Uncle Funky’s Daughter Heal & Renew Intensive Hair Masque and the Flexy Brush (a godsend!!!!!!!!)
   3. Styler for installing twists for a twist out: Melanin Hair Care Twist Elongating Cream under the oil from the same line
   4. Notes: I wrap and pin my wet twists around my head to result in a super elongated twist out. I usually dry my hair under a standing hair dryer, but air drying works just fine. I pineapple my hair overnight to preserve the style, throwing a hair sock over it. Once the twist out gets too frizzy for my tastes to wear, I ponytail it and wear it. With this regimen, my hair stays stretched and gets hardly ANY tangles.
      

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Well, I hope something I’ve shared in this post is useful to you! As always, thank you for visiting my blog, and please feel more than welcome to chat with me in the comments.

I hope you and yours are staying safe and healthy and happy during this special time!

Many blessings!

Yours,

Yvette