Staying Sane During Lockdown

Like pretty much everyone else around the world we're in lockdown.  I was still in New Zealand when they went into lockdown on 26th March and my flight back to the UK was then cancelled, so I'm still in New Zealand waiting to see what will happen.  I've been pretty lucky during this lockdown in the fact that, despite not being in my home country, I've had somewhere I can stay and as I'm not someone who is particularly social this whole social distancing thing hasn't been a particular issue for me.

However, I am still dealing with the other constraints that we are all needing to do to control Covid-19.  Of all of them, the reduced outdoor time is definitely the biggest issue for me as I'm just not used to being within four walls for this length of time anymore.  To combat that I've come up with some things that help me stay busy and a little more sane during these times.

Routine.

Most experts, including astronauts who definitely know about being stuck in a confined and dangerous location for extended periods of time, suggest that having a routine is important in situations like this.  I don't stick to mine strictly as it's important to have flexibility during your day, but I have blocked out my day into rough sections to give my days structure.  I've also left my weekends completely free so that each week this has a similar feel to what used to happen in the past.  At the moment I don't have as much work to do in the afternoons as I had hoped, but hopefully this will increase over the next couple of weeks as I carry on trying to find online side hustles I can do.

Exercise.

Staying healthy is always important, but that especially true during stressful moments like this.  My diet is already pretty healthy and well rounded, with a few naughty treats here and there, so ensuring I get enough exercise is what I'm concentrating on at the moment.  As lovely as long lies in bed and curling up on the sofa are it's not something I want to be doing all the time.  Exercise is also good at helping to relieve stress and mental health issues, so definitely something I wanted to block into my days.  In New Zealand we're still allowed outside once a day so we're taking this opportunity to go running outside three times a week and to have a long walk on the other days.  I'm also doing yoga every day, which a really good form of exercise for both stretching and building strength without needing additional equipment, and the added mental exercises that are added into each lesson are really helping.  

Reading.

I love reading, I always have, but I don't always have the opportunity to read as much as I would like.  However, now I have a lot more time now to read then I did before, funnily enough, and I've been really enjoying it.  I've now read through all the physical books I brought with me on this trip so I've started using library apps to borrow digital books for free.  I have to say that technology has definitely made this lockdown a lot easier to deal with then it might have been, even just 50 years ago, including helping me stay in contact with my family on the opposite side of the world.  I could, of course, borrow books off the other people I'm staying with, but I'm still wanting to carry on reading through the books I have stored at my parent's house and have managed to find a number of these at the digital library.  Once I get back to the UK these will be donated. 

Crafting.

Whilst I can't necessarily be as active as I would like to be I don't want to spend my whole time being completely sedentary.  I do let myself watch YouTube (my feed is mainly full of Ted Talks and people walking and camping outside at the moment) and TV (probably a little bit more then I should), but I wanted to do something that requires a little bit more brain power.  Some of this has been covered by doing jigsaws, but for the rest I have gone back to crafting.  I did manage to grab a few supplies before we went into full lock down, but the rest has been done with items I already had and that were already in the house.  So far I've made a few wash clothes /cleaning rags, a couple of pillow cases for some overly large pillows for a bed sheet that was no longer needed (I'm writing a separate blog on how I did that), am now knitting my first ever jumper, and have some alterations to some clothes in the pipeline.  I might even attempt to draw again, though that might be pushing it a little.   

Time to Declutter and Organise.

As I was only expecting to be in New Zealand for 4 months I don't exactly have a lot of items with me at the moment any way, but I still decided to go through what I had to see if anything needed to go.  The good things about this declutter section was that the lack of items meant that it had become very obvious to me what I haven't been using and what items no longer really worked for me.  This led to me getting rid of a few more things, mostly clothing that just didn't fit anymore.  My partner also went through a number of his items and we then organised his bedroom so that we would both be able to stay happily in that space for the duration of the lockdown.  This is definitely a good time to do a big declutter and re-organise, what else do you really have to do.

Keeping myself informed, but not too much.

Whilst it's important to keep yourself up to date with what is happening at the moment, gathering too much information throughout the day every day can be really unhealthy and actually lead to overwhelm and stress.  I do watch the evening news regularly, but not every day, and instead chose to subscribe to a couple of sites that email me information which is specific to a Brit staying in New Zealand at the moment.  For more in depth information I'm turning more to science rather than just the media and am listening to the scientific podcasts that I was already listening to, and trust, before this pandemic started.  I like these because they keep me up to date with what is happening all over the world, but in a more factual rather than emotional way, as well as what our latest understanding about the virus is and, therefore, the most up to date understanding on how to reduce the chance of it spreading.

So there it is, that's how I'm staying sane during the Covid-19 lockdown.  It's not going to work for everyone, but I hope it will help just a few of you if you're struggling during these times.  Perhaps the main thing for me has been knowing that, despite it all, I'm still very lucky.  It's not just because I stuck in doors with someone I actually like, but also because I'm in a country with good health care and a Government who has been working very hard to look after us.  Support of is being put into places to help during these times and, whilst finances might be a little tight, I'm still safe and healthy.  And, of course, there's always more books to read.

Stay safe everyone!