It is fair to say that we are all out of our comfort zone right now. Whether we are isolated from friends and family, working from home, not working at all, or working nonstop, everyone’s daily routine and sense of normal has been ripped up and thrown out. I would like to take a second to just say thank you to our essential workers for their tremendous efforts at this time.

For me, this upheaval of the normal has completely thrown me off balance and had massive impacts on my mental health. The aim of this blog post, is mainly for myself, but for anyone else who is struggling with the chaos and is here to remind us of all the good things that we can take away from this mess.

I saw someone share this quote the other day on Facebook and it has really struck home with me;

‘If you’re not using this time to rest, reset, and prioritise your purpose and people in your life, you my friend are wasting an opportunity you may never have again. The world literally stopped and shifted for you to get your shit together. If this is torture for you, find out why.’

And here are, in my opinion, some of the positive things we can take from this whole other adventure;

We are closer.

Despite the fact that we cant see our nearest and dearest, the number of people I have seen sharing their video chats with family or friends is incredible. My own family have gotten into the routine of creating a pub quiz every Saturday night, which I have won one week and came in second for another I must add!

There is also the fact that i’m locked down with my boyfriend Shaun, and i’m so grateful for the time with him. Even though he has spent a lot of time playing Fifa… I bet a lot of you are locked down with your loved ones, and this time can be used to get closer to them!

Less driving, more walking

One of my new years resolutions was to walk more, and this time locked down has enabled me to actually achieve this. Not only that, but we live to close to the seafront at Ryhope. You can read about our first venture down there here; Adventure to a local hidden gem. We are so lucky to have this on our doorstep as we have been able to go and get fresh sea air on our daily walk, and feel so much better for it!

Also, how much is the planet benefiting from the absence of heavy industry, and Co2 from cars and planes etc. Is anyone else excited to see the positive repercussions on the environment or just me?

ALL the free time

I know this one is sort of a good and bad thing, but it all depends on mindset. There are bad things about not having anything we must do, it all comes down to how we organise our time. For example, I’m always trying to read more books, and my goal is always 12 books a year (1 per month). And normally I don’t have time to read but with this abundance of free time, I read a book in 5 days last week. I’m gonna say that again because I don’t think I got the message over. I READ A BOOK IN 5 DAYS. Cover to cover. Every word. 5 days. I am a perpetually slow reader so, thank you for that deafening round of applause! And there are so many other things that I don’t normally have time for, but now, i’m getting them done.

We have been watching movies that I haven’t seen in years, or at all. We watched all of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings films through which was so much fun. And now we are watching all the X-Men films (why is there two timelines though?) and honestly I didn’t realise there was 12 films in that franchise however, the old ones have aged pretty well considering the first one came out in 2000.

And it has given me time to work on my blog and social media accounts which are slowly growing. If you haven’t already, check out my Instagram account! Its really cute and I’ve got lots of fun things planned for the next few weeks.

Time for ourselves

I don’t know how many hot baths and pamper nights I’ve had, but I bloody well deserved them all! And the luxurious lie ins, and glasses of wine to celebrate it being *insert day of the week*, and just having a bit of time to chill out and do things we couldn’t normally do in a relaxing setting.

Time to reflect

One of my favourite things about travelling and escaping normal life, is the ability it gives us to step back and reflect on where we are, how far we’ve come, and how far we’ve still got to go to achieve whatever it is we want. This unusual time we find ourselves has presented us with the same opportunity (although its not quite the same as relaxing round a pool with a martini).

The things and people and hobbies we miss in our life right now are the things we need to prioritise once life resumes. And anything/one we don’t miss or need in our life to get by now, are those we don’t need going forwards. Lets de-clutter not only our wardrobes, but anything holding us back!

And that is just some of the positive outcomes from this whole situation. I really hope this has helped you adjust you perspective. If you have any positive stories or anything that will lift peoples spirits from this time, please comment them below. We need all the positivity in our lives as we can right now!

Stay positive, stay safe, and most importantly stay home!