What On Earth To Do In Lockdown

So I’m writing this on 10/05/2020. The day Boris set out his plan to ease our lockdown restrictions. If you can even really call it a lockdown? I wanted to write this after watching his announcement because I found myself feeling really helpless.

This whole lockdown period has bought out so many emotions that have been really hard to process. My personal lockdown situation is:

•         I’m relying on Universal Credit
•         I was meant to start my new job at a gym in March after the lockdown got announced
•         I’m staying in a London flat with no garden 
•         Our area is built up and full of people
•         I can’t even go to the shops across the road without running into loads of people
•         Our walking spaces are overcrowded everywhere because it’s London

I don’t want to risk coming into too much contact with people. It’s been hard but I know there are people in worse situations than me and that’s something that does really upset and anger me. It feels a lot of the public have been forgotten about or not looked after in this situation when it’s not our fault that this has happened. 

Obviously staying in is the best thing we can do and I would much rather we stay in lockdown for longer to help keep everyone safe. But I feel guilty for wanting to see my family because of how homesick I’m feeling being apart from them; even though I know us staying in our households is the right thing to do in order to keep all of us safe. It’s basically all a big mush of emotions that I figured I’d share with you!

I’ve found myself dwelling on these feelings a lot; and honestly, it’s been really affecting my anxiety. The best way I’ve found to combat these anxious feelings is keeping myself busy with different activities throughout the day. I’ll be real with you some days it is a hell of a lot harder to be productive than others, but I am just taking each day as it comes. So, I thought I would share some of my lockdown activities I’ve been doing with you:

1.         Working Out - ‘most’ mornings me and my boyfriend get up and workout to try and give us a boost and feel like we’ve achieved something even if we do nothing for the rest of the day 
2.         Tidying something – I’ve managed to clean out all my handbags which have collected a disgusting amount of hair and socks 
3.         Reading – found myself getting back into reading so much more now that I’ve got the time to do it 
4.         Crafting – whether it’s a colouring book, creating handmade cards to send to my family, or cleaning out candles for storage containers this has probably been my favourite thing to do
5.         Baths – I have reached the point where I have a bath pretty much every other night, sometimes go full out with face mask, hair mask, shaving my legs and moisturising 
6.         Writing – obviously I’ve started writing this blog during lockdown but I’ve also found myself getting back into writing poetry again 
7.        Watching Trash TV – all I’m going to say is if you haven’t watched Gemma Collins Diva In Lockdown you’re missing out on the pure chaotic fun of this show
8.         Podcasts – listening to anyone else’s thoughts and opinions are always a welcome distraction to my own The Reality Tea podcast is a personal fave

One thing I’ve learnt is it’s psychologically good for you to mix your day with pleasure tasks and achievement tasks. Pleasure tasks are anything you find easy to do but that brings you personal joy like having a bath or watching telly. Achievement tasks are anything that you’re a bit reluctant to do but fills you with a sense of achievement when you’ve completed it. So that’s been my resolution to do in order to make me feel a bit better with my worries. Let me know what you’re doing but please remember whatever you manage to do in your day is great; we are currently living through a pandemic after all!