I don’t think I’m the only one here who feels like recently – life has felt like a movie, and I’m not talking the funny rom-com kind!
To me, it feels like in the space of one week we’ve gone from Friends to The Walking Dead! Ok so the latter is a bit of an exaggeration…but things have changed very quickly and I’m not going to hide the fact that at times it’s all been a bit overwhelming.
I wanted to write something, not as a platform to spread anxiety – but to as always be honest, open and hopefully share some positivity.
So firstly with the honesty bit
I have really struggled with my mental health over the past week because of the “C-word”, particularly as things have escalated. I think for me personally I have struggled with the fact that there has been very little rest bite which has meant I have had very little time or space to process my own thoughts and feelings about it.
This is where I am so thankful that I have my journalling and meditation in place – as they have been invaluable in giving me some much-needed space to centre myself and to address any anxieties or negative thoughts I have been having.
Keeping in contact and reaching out to my nearest and dearest has also been invaluable, especially as I haven’t really seen them due to a lot of my weekly activities stopping.
So after a bit of a minor meltdown yesterday – which for me always involves a lot of crying and talking – I am pleased to say that I am now feeling a lot better. I’m not for one minute saying that I’m ok with the situation, but I feel like I have accepted it and, made peace with the fact that this is a necessary and temporary position we all find ourselves in. Most of this is out of my control so therefore I have to focus on what I can control – ME!
So I can either stick with my Alice brain (for those who haven’t met Alice – read my review of The Chimp Paradox ) which means I continue with the spiral of anxiety and negativity. Or I can switch to my Amy brain – and start thinking of positive, productive and creative ways to make the best out of this situation…I’ve decided to get my Amy brain in gear!
Now I want to add a note here that everyone is totally entitled to deal with this in whatever way they can – these are unprecedented times for everyone! It doesn’t matter how silly your worries or feelings may feel – they are valid to you so make sure you take the time to process them and feel whatever you need to feel right now. You do you!
Making a few lil changes
I am very fortunate in the fact I am able to continue working from home. Not only does this give me some stability, but it also means I can keep productive throughout the day. The thing I know I am going to struggle with is adapting the “out of work time” and routine I had before in terms of my exercise and social activities.
I’m going to write about each of these in a bit more detail in separate posts – but here are just a few things I’ve decided to have a think about and focus on over the next few weeks.
- Sorting my shit out physically – the home edition – My fitness routine has become really important to me in maintaining both my physical and mental wellbeing. So this is something I’m going to need to definitely keep going whilst in lockdown.
- Limiting my screen time – Between looking for news updates and trying to keep in touch with people, the temptation is to spend more time on our screens. I’m going to be looking at how I can manage this so that it doesn’t negatively impact on my mental wellbeing.
- Keeping busy – it’s easy to put out there the whole “now I have all this time I’ll do this…” and end up with a huge list of what could be unachievable things. But for me, I’m just going to take another look at my 30 before 30 list and what things on there I can do more of and maybe tick of some new ones.
- Get creative – with the above point in mind, I’m going to get arty and take a look at my “Paint/draw a self-portrait” goal.
- Maintaining structure – It’s like that in-between time between Christmas and New Year – what day is it? I think being at home over the next couple of months it’s going to be really important to set myself a routine so that I can maintain some resemblance of normality.
- Keeping in touch – with social distancing and self-isolation in play for the majority of people, now more than every we gotta make sure that we keep talking. As a social person, this is particularly important for me and will be making a conscious effort to stay in touch with people. Whether it be call, message, chat, facetime – just keep talking!
We got this!
I wish I could say something really profound or inspiring that’ll make all of the unease and tension go away! I wish I could click my fingers and make this horrible virus go away and we could all go back to before. But the sad truth is I can’t make this go away and we can’t go back – but we can continue to push forward and trust that things will be better on the other side!