There are lots of wonderful *and very common* cures for cabin fever! I’m sure you know a few of them: get lost in a book, get outside, pick up a new hobby, eat healthier, take a bath, get some exercise, have folks over.

But right now, we need specific, actionable, and mindful ways to cure our cabin fever, rather than solely general catchall ideas.

We also need SAFE ways to manage “cabin fever” right now. With COVID-19 shaking up our world, we’re more cooped up than normal and it’s leaving us feeling….in a funk, lonely, bored, irritable, uninspired, stagnant, and frazzled, not to mention anxious.

Anyone feeling any of those ways? *raising my hand

Living in a remote cabin in the woods, you can bet your sweet tush that cabin fever strikes me every year! I’ve noticed, it typically gets me for two weeks at the end of February/beginning of March, which means I’ve just popped out on the other side of this year’s case.

Just in time to hunker down to weather COVID-19!

But I’m ready. I’ve got a toolbox full of tools to combat the symptoms of cabin fever, which I’m seeing a lot of folks trying to navigate right now as a side effect of self-quarantine.

So I dug into my toolbox and picked out 7 (and a half) different things to share with you. All 7 are very specific and I’d like you to think of them as tools you can put in your tool belt as we tackle this uncertain time together.

Let’s start with tool #1:

The ’90s Dinner

Yes, I’m a ’90s baby. I realize this one might get some chuckles from ’50s, ’60s, ’70, and even ’80s kids but stick with me!

When the cabin fever has a tight grip on you, whip out this tool. Works every time!

Here’s what I want you to do:

Pick one night this week to cook a meal with your hunny, your kids, your parents, your room mate, your grandparents…whoever you live with.

Decide on a night and a meal.

When the evening rolls around, I want you to physically turn off all your devices. Shut down the television. Turn off your phones and put them in a drawer. Power the laptops and desktops down. Tell Alexa to go to sleep.

Turn the radio on for some mood music but shut out the rest of the world like it’s 1995.

For one night, the coronavirus is off the table for discussion.

Cook a meal from start to finish and then sit down together to share it. Be present. I promise, your cabin fever will slink back into its shadowy cave.

I know, you’re probably thinking, “Ashley, come on, this is such a simple thing to do…cook a meal…we do that all the time.” But how often do we reeeeeeaaaaaaally do this anymore? Fully disconnected from the virtual world and grounded in our physical world?

“We check our phones every 6.5 minutes on average. 42% of us NEVER turn off our phones.”

-Lost Connections by Johann Hari

If you regularly shut down technology and share a meal with loved ones, kudos!! But if you’re part of the 42% of us who never turn our phones off (yes, I’m in that group) then give the ’90s Dinner a shot as a cure for cabin fever.

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The Crystal Ball

Careful, this tool may sound fragile but it packs a punch!

Having something to look forward to is like kryptonite, the ultimate of all cures for cabin fever! So let’s take a peek in your crystal ball and find something for you to anticipate!

While it’s extremely difficult to make plans for the future right now, you’ve probably had to cancel most (if not all) of the plans you had as of a week ago, it’s important that we have something to look forward to.

But how do we do that when we don’t even know when we’ll be able to go back to school or work, much less take a vacation or attend an event?

I tackle this question every year when the river is freezing up and I’m stuck on the non-road side. For the most part, I don’t plan to go anywhere during the month of November.

Instead, I draw inward to take inventory of what I need then I come up with “events” I can look forward to that will meet my needs. I put the word event in quotations because they’re not grand events. They’re self-made things I put on my calendar and intentionally build anticipation for.

For example, right now my skin is dry and I’m feeling grungy. So what can I do to fix that AND give myself something to look forward to?

Tuesday “spa night”, complete with face mask, pedicure, and a good old fashioned chick flick (with a makeover montagé, of course).

It might sound silly but it works!

Actionable Step:

Sit down with a planner, a journal, or post-it note and write down three things you can do this week that’ll create positive anticipation.

Transition your mindset from “big things” like vacations and concerts to “little things” like starting a new book, attending an online yoga class, a movie night with your family…the list could go on and on.

Here’s a shareable list of things you could put in your crystal ball and look forward to:

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The Escape Friend

Remember in Finding Nemo when Crush asks Dory and Marlin to find their exit buddy?

This is sort of like that.

“The Escape Friend” is one person you’ve designated to be your safe zone when cabin fever is getting the best of you. Likewise, you are that safe zone for your Escape Friend.

Normally, I’d suggest choosing a friend you can go for a walk with but since we’re all practicing social distancing, I want you to pick a friend who you can call/message/email and chat with.

Mine is my neighbor, Cassidy. We’ve both been feeling cabin feverish lately and we’re not afraid to let out all of our nerves and thoughts over text message to each other.

The Escape Friend is part accountability partner and part therapist, one of the true community-driven cures for cabin fever.

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A Walk with John, Paul, George, + Ringo

…or whoever your favorite musician is!

This might be my favorite one. We’ve got walking AND music, a potent combination.

Here’s what I want you to do:

Let anyone who might be depending on you (kids, spouse, parents, roommate) know that you’re going to take 30 minutes for yourself.

Grab a pair of headphones, whatever device you listen to music on, and a pair of walking shoes. Choose a playlist. Borrow one of mine if you want. My favorite one is this oldies playlist:

Head out the door! The most ideal location is the woods but if you’re restricted because of the coronavirus, walk laps in your backyard or in the stairwells or in your kitchen. Wherever you can move one foot in front of the other, that’s where I want you to go.

Bonus points if you can sit down somewhere outside half way through your walk to just breathe and soak in some sunshine!

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The Permission Slip

Are you cooped up and feeling overwhelmed, uninspired, and/or unable to focus?

This is what really gets to me when I have cabin fever! I get so in my head and frustrated when I can’t meet my productivity goals. It feels like creativity has up and left me entirely.

Do you know what I have to do to fix it?

I give myself a permission slip to do NOTHING. Whether it’s for one hour, an afternoon, a whole day, or an entire weekend, I give myself permission to set my goals aside, to not multitask, to reset.

With that being said, sometimes it’s hard to write that permission slip for yourself. If that’s how you feel, I wrote one for you:

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Mrs. White Gloves

I’m sure you’re thinking, “What the heck is a Mrs. White Gloves?” Hang in there with me, it’s so simple!

When I was a camper at the sister camp to the summer camp I own, we had to keep our cabin tidy. Every day, while we were out doing the fun activities campers do, a mysterious figure known as Mrs. White Gloves would come by to inspect our cabin for cleanliness.

If it passed her inspection, she would leave a white glove on our table. If it wasn’t up to par, our table would be empty.

Coming back to the cabin to discover a white glove meant the entire cabin could visit the camp store after lunch to choose a treat before rest hour.

Ok…but why am I telling you this summer camp story?

Because I still use it today as one of my cures for cabin fever! Minus the physical white-glove part.

When I’m feeling bored or going stir crazy, I clean my cabin and then sit down in said clean cabin with a bar of chocolate as I admire how organized and fresh my space is.

(It’s ok to chuckle, even I’m laughing as I read that sentence)

But I’m telling you, it’s a winning combo. Typically, I’ll blast some music or maybe put on a tv show in the background as I clean. Then I have the treat to look forward to once I’m done.

The “cluttered mindset” symptom of cabin fever doesn’t stand a chance against my broom and a bar of chocolate.

*Side thought: Does that make me Mrs. White Gloves? Woah.

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The Ugly Journal

I’m really not sure if anyone else has this issue with journaling but sometimes I get stuck in my head and don’t know what to write so I intentionally stray from the page because I don’t want to mess it up…

…as if journals are made of gold or something.

I have this issue the most when I’m experiencing a bit of cabin fever. Yet, I find this is the time when letting all my thoughts out into a journal is the most beneficial, the biggest bang for my buck.

If you have this problem too, I’m going to suggest you do the following:

Crack open your journal to a fresh page and write the words “SACRIFICIAL PAGE” at the top. It seems a bit silly, I know, but this simple trick clicks your mind into a somewhat carefree and uninhibited mode of writing.

Underneath the title, I want you to press your pen to the page and start writing words, whatever comes to your brain. Just start! We call this a stream of consciousness. If a drawing or scribble or graph or number comes to mind, go for it! As long as ink is hitting the page you’re good. Who cares what the quality is like, this is a sacrificial page!

This is the messy warm up your mind needs when it’s cooped up.

If you’d like a little further guidance after your stream of consciousness, here are a few prompts for you to keep in your arsenal:

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Bonus: Christmas in March

This might just be me (90% sure it’s just me) but in the off chance it’s not, I’ll share my secret weapon with you.

I’ve found there’s hardly a blue mood that Christmas music blasting through the house cannot fix. This is like the mac daddy of cures for cabin fever, in my Christmasy cabin world anyways. Again, this is not a one-size-fits-all sort of tip.

That being said, I’ll leave my Christmas playlist right here for ya in case you need it.

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That’s a wrap, folks!

Add these 7 (and a half) tools into the mix of general cures for cabin fever such as “get outdoors” and “get some exercise” and “eat yo greens” for the most effective butt-kicking self-quarantine survival plan ever!

I’ll leave you with one last word of advice, remember that “this too shall pass.” Cabin fever never sticks around forever and when it clears you’ll feel bouncy and light and free again.

Hang in there, friend!

Happy Trails,