The Virus That Shall Not Be Named.
We all know what virus I mean ... I was trying to not write about it as it's all we see on the news, whatever social media we use and via countless texts and emails from whatever businesses have our details. The week before the UK lockdown (from Monday, March 23rd) I was off taking some holiday days so by the time of this being posted I would have been off work for about two and a half weeks.
I work in a retail store that is classed as non-essential so from Tuesday, March 24th we weren't allowed to go into work. The UK started its lockdown from that date, where we are only allowed out for petrol, essential shopping, i.e. food and medicine, medical needs, if our job is classed as essential, i.e. food retail, banks, emergency services, Armed Forces, etc. and for one form of exercise daily.
The first week of the lockdown I managed to get out for a walk one day or some fresh air and exercise near my house. It was a beautiful warm sunny day with blue skies and lots of people out, some of which weren't socially distancing themselves from other people who were also out for a walk. This I found really frustrating as those who were not allowing the six-foot distance were people who could be classed at risk due to their age and so should've known better.
Something that I have noticed in the past week, is I am currently more motivated to do some chores around the house ... Usually, I am so unmotivated to do things but now that I have all the time in the world, I am much more eager to tackle my to-do list for in the house! All winter my kitchen table has been a dumping ground for the various hats, gloves, and Buffs I have worn over the last few months, as well as a couple of empty boxes. This week I was motivated to clear it off; mostly because of an April Love photo challenge prompt from Susannah Conway which was 'kitchen table' and I didn't want my mess of a table being put on the interwebs, also, I can eat at the table now as well! It will save me from sitting on the sofa all day when I'm at home while we are social distancing.
I've had my breakfast at the said table every morning since and it's so nice, not having to use a lap tray for my breakfast and also being able to watch the birds I can see from the kitchen window fly about in the garden. I'm currently sat at this table to finish typing this out which I started a few days ago. It will definitely help my moods not to be sat on the sofa all day where I'm tempted to lie and watch YouTube videos most of the day.
I'm really missing the structure of a working day and week though now so I'm looking at what I can do to bring some structure into my days. I'm on furlough from work until the end of May so I have mostly two months off work and that's a lot of time with no structure or routine when we're used to them. I'm still getting up early, my alarm is set for seven am which is half an hour later than my work one and I'm trying to go to bed at around the same time at night; eight-thirty to nine O'clock. I have the quiet morning routine that I still do, I'm just not rushing it now and shoeing between eight-thirty and nine am. after that, I have no other structure other than meal times.
Motivation is still a big issue for me so maybe over the next few weeks, I can work on that and get into a habit of doing the things I've been unmotivated to do, like wash the car, the windows, clear the weeds from the garden among many others. I have started my CBT this week which is currently done via phone calls. I've never done it this way before so we shall see what happens. I'm really hoping it's the last time I will need it but I am also open to the possibility that it may not be.
How is everyone else doing at this time?
