Extension Blues - self care

Even though I knew it was coming (and it had only been two weeks), the extension of lockdown hit my mood hard. I am finding this lockdown so much harder than the last, and it's only just beginning. Chatting to a doctor friend,  she said all her friends were the same, and their teens were all really lethargic and waking up late morning...

So the announcement of another week, online school and extended dullness (with pending tighter restrictions when we are 'released') just threw me down in the dumps.

I had tickets to Hot Dub, Tim Minchin and Miss Peony, all  rescheduled from 2020 and now all postponed further (some of them are now on their fourth date!). I can no longer go to Minchin as it clashes with another event. I had a party, champagne club and a night out dancing at Soda factory all nixed. Plus the school holiday adventures in Bowral and the Hunter. My youngest, having missed Snowtime in the Hunter Valley Gardens two years running will probably have outgrown it by next year. So I am feeling the clock ticking on these stagnated years. Missed opportunities that will never come back. The sand is passing through the hour glass but we are not doing anything with it, just watching it go by as a spectator, not a participant in life.

However, I understand this thinking is not helpful to anyone, least of all the kids, and as I steer the emotional ship so to speak, I could not dwell in the negative. So after sitting in my sorrow for a bit, I got to work in lifting my mood.

I ordered way too much Din Tai Fung to be delivered next week as a treat. (They have a special that you get $20 off orders of $100 or $50 off $200 for frozen items). I discovered the ping pong table at Everleigh and we will head there today with paddles and balls for something to do. There are no people around so all good.

Our dart board arrived and I set it up outside so we could play in the fresh air. I played with two of the kids individually, so we had some one on one time in the sun. That has been harder to manage this time for some reason, so it really felt like I'd achieved something, and that made me feel good.

I did some dance cardio routines - and blood & oxygen pumping  hard through the heart will lift your mood, add to that the hilarity of not being co-ordinated enough to keep up with the 'double time', and it made me laugh as well.

I purchased access to Tomorrowland - the festival online for another year, so next week I'll have a lot of happy, upbeat music to listen to as I go about my day. (Timmy Trumpet's set was so hectic last year and I played it about four times in it's entirety. Even just watching the opening minute of the clip below brings a grin to my face, the endorphins are Pavlovianly entrenched now.

 

I organised to host bookclub online, so I see some friends.

I read my book in the bath for an hour.

These things are small but effective. While realistically, the extended lockdown isn't a big deal, it's important not to let those sinking feelings take hold.

How are you all coping?

What are your tips for shaking off the blues?

Linking with #Lifethisweek and #WeekendCoffeeShare