How to not practice ’emotional distance’ during a social distancing time

Hi everyone! It has been a minute since I have blogged and we all know I love blogging however the words just have been all over the map for me lately. Lately, they are coming to me after a run or 11:30pm at night when I need to go to bed. So of course per usual its probably my best content but at the same time, I always tell myself ‘I will remember this later.’ However lets be honest I never remember.

But recently I had a lot on my heart with this virus. I know many people have a lot of feels. They are scared, feeling anxiety, anxious, nervous, sad, depressed and others feel that it won’t affect the, and are fine. I want to validate first off that emotions during this time are OK and NORMAL. So many people are feeling so many feels. Whatever you are feeling, please remember service providers that serve PEOPLE are getting hit, including Self Love Beauty.

Right now we are all being asked to social distance and I don’t want to sugar coat what that means, that means cancellation for us and innovative thinking. It means that our 6-8 programs for the next month or so will be cancelled. And if I am being honest, I cried…more than once. I thought of all the people that won’t have these opportunities to become closer to others, their families and themselves. Self Love Beauty’s key focuses this year are confidence, community support & life skills, therefore, I knew I couldn’t let you down, so I picked myself. I decided that I cannot change what is happening right now but I can be the solution. I can educate each and everyone of you on WHY we cannot become emotional distance during this social distancing time. I beg you to consider this.

Emotional distancing (or disconnection or detachment) is the inability to connect to others on an emotional level as well as a means of coping with anxiety by avoiding certain situations that trigger it. It refers to the evasion of emotional connections.

While there are many things that can cause emotional distancing, right now I want to talk about how the current events in our world are causing this. Since many things are negative on TV during this time, it can impact your mental health. You could either become more emotional and upset or have the opposite impact where you feel as though no one cares anymore. Not only is this causing it but right now we have less touch and feel with friends and family therefore we are missing hugs, hand holding or just being close to others. If we don’t make the effort to continue to work on ourselves, self-love, confidence, life skills and relationships (community), we will not have strong emotions when this is all over.

So what can you do during this time to make sure you are not practicing emotional distancing (with yourself & others):

1. Attend a Self Love Beauty virtual workshop: To make sure you are connecting with people across your community and the United States. We have put together events throughout the next months. Visit our website or Facebook events to sign up. We have them for our youth, teens and adults.
2. Listen to the Confident Girl Podcast: This podcast is filled with uplifting news and ways to improve yourself self-love & confidence. It also have many guests on it that we can relate and learn from.
3. Practice Affirmations: Pick 3 things you love about yourself and write them each out 10 times a day. For example they can be I am strong, I am beautiful, I am capable. You can also join SLB for their virtual Affirmation Day. Sign up for FREE today to take part on May 12.
4. Find a self-love and confidence coach: Work with one of the Self Love Beauty coaches to help you during this time move to the next level in your own emotional, self-love & confidence journey to become a better version of yourself. Email the team at [email protected] and explain what you are looking for and we will find the best coach for you.
5. Practice the three 3’s: Sleep, healthy eating and exercise. During this time it is important that you continue to get the sleep you need to function, eat healthy and get exercise everyday. With many of us being stuck at home or at work, it is important that you at least get these 3 things everyday.
6. Call someone up, Zoom or FaceTime: Some of us are with our families, boyfriends/girlfriends, children or by ourselves. It doesn’t matter if you house is filled or not, getting on the phone to connect with others is super important to keep emotional relationships, friendship and be there for others.
7. Download music that is uplifting and have a dance party: We are all going to have our moments of loneliness, depression or some type of sad feels through this so turn up the jams and give yourself a dance party in these moments. You bet my puppy Denver & I will be having many when I need a break from work.
8. Give Back: In this time, nonprofits and local businesses are going to be hit and we need your help. Self Love Beauty would love your support through this time. Donate to their programs or join their Giving Club today!
9. Practice Gratitude and Love: Write letters or emails to those close to you, tell people you love them and thank them for being their. This is an easy way to appreciate those around you during this time because at the end people are much more important than people.
10. Challenge yourself: Try something new such as doing more strength workouts, take a SLB class, find a coach or find a hobby. Challenging yourself is a way of finding ways to work on your emotions.
11. Journal: Write out your feelings and work out things on how you are feeling. Take this time to dig deeper.

If you’re still experiencing an inability to connect on an emotional level, there is no shame in talking to a therapist about what you’re feeling.

During this time of many fears, unknown and uncertainty, we have to give each person grace, understand we are all in this together and that you have to put more effort than ever to make sure you continue to work on yourself, and not have emotional distancing.

Self Love Beauty is here to help in anyway we can. We just want everyone to NOT become emotional distance during this time. Remember, we are all in this together.