7 Activities Keeping Me Sane Through Lockdown

We are now nearly 2 months into lockdown and to be perfectly honest, I do not know where the time has gone. I think I realized quite quickly at the beginning that we where going to be in this for the long hall and I was in the mindset that I needed to be proactive to get through it. That mindset has been so beneficial in so many ways and I am so thankful I made that decision early.

From home schooling a six-year-old and trying to entertain a three-year-old I knew from the get-go I needed to prioritize some time to myself. Here are seven ways I have managed to keep my sanity Intact.

1. Daily walk listening to Podcasts.

I would never really make the time to go out for a walk unless we did it as a family, but I knew I needed the time to switch off in the fresh air. I now go for a walk every evening after dinner and do not come home until I have reached 10,000 steps or more. In the past I have always listened to music to keep me motivated but I decided after reaching out to my followers on Instagram to give some podcasts a go. I must admit I found it hard to get into some of the recommendations as the voices where annoying, sorry there is no other way to put it! I then found The Grow & Glow podcast by Vix Meldrew and have became addicted. Its based around content creation and shares great inspirational posts for bloggers so I’ve listened to all the episodes now and I am moving on to a podcast by one of her guests Cat Bryne called The Creative Leap.

2. Zoom Get Togethers

I have managed to catch up with so many friends over the last couple of weeks that I have not spoken with in ages aside from the odd text message and its been a breath of fresh air. Now I’m not saying that my husband’s chat is boring but when you are stuck in the house together for nearly 2 months things can become repetitive and that goes for the both of us, speaking with someone new brings such excitement! I have managed to zoom with not only friends from my school days but people ive met on Instagram and also our family have been holding a quiz for the last month on a Saturday evening which has been so much fun, granted we have yet to win it but thankfully the extended lockdown does give us some more chances!

3. TV Series Binge

There is just so much on TV that I want to watch right now! From things on Netflix to Amazon prime to the Iplayer we are utterly spoilt for choice. We just finished watching “Race across the world” series 2 on BBC Iplayer and absolutely loved it. My next mission is to watch the series sweeping the nation ‘Normal People’ and I also want to watch the series on Netflix ‘The Innocence Files’ because of my love for the criminal justice system and I also read a book by John Grisham ‘The Innocent Man’ based around a wrong conviction so this really interests me.

4. Library Books

This follows on nicely to talk about all the books ive been reading lately. I managed to get quite a few from the library before it closed back in March and ive also had a few good ones passed on to me. The biggest hit so far has been Ruth Jones ‘Never Greener’ which I read in 3 days. It was big chunky book but the story was an easy read so the pages just kept turning. I have also enjoyed my book club book by Fredrik Backman entitled ‘A man called Ove’. This again was a page turner and really tugged on the heart strings. The film is being remade in English starring Tom Hanks so I cant wait to see how that moves across to the big screen.

5. Online Courses

My working background and degree is based around Business Management. I have always had a love for learning and that’s what I enjoy most about business as its ever changing especially in the world we live in now and moving forward. I decided back in March to seek out some online learning courses that would keep my brain engaged and distract me from the depressing yet very real news on the television and social media. I signed up for free courses via The Open University about ‘Career Coaching and Mentoring’ and through Berkeley University about ‘Writing for Social Media’ and immediately became addicted to the opportunities on offer for learning. Since completing these I have signed up for several more. I have been asked on several occasions through my own social media how I find the time to do all this and the answer is simple. A course states it takes 12/24 hours to complete but I have found that is simply not the case, it can absolutely be achieved in a shorter amount of time without any issues and I plan to keep on tackling the courses even when I return to work. I found my courses via trainingmatchmaker.com

6. Baking

I think the art of baking is sweeping the nation at the minute and what a wonderful sight to see. We have been baking several different items each week and the kids are loving to get involved in this and they get so much value from it. The biggest hits in our house have been wheaten bread and Banana muffins. After the success of our Easter cake showstopper, the Victoria Sponge has made a comeback along with some new add ons like the White chocolate and Raspberry loaf cake by Janes Patisserie.

7. Social Media Apps

At the start of the Coronavirus lockdown I must admit that social media apps like Instagram or Facebook where really annoying me. I found the news that people were sharing began causing anxiety and I was also annoyed at the fact parents were complaining about being at home with their children. Everyone has their own opinion on this, and everyone’s situation is different, but I was loving it and truth be told I still am, of course we have plenty of drama thrown in for good measure. As the time has gone on, I have really enjoyed watching peoples insta stories and keeping up with what is going on in each household. I think that is down the fact it is seeing something new every day, hearing different people’s voices and reaching out to others who are maybe going through a similar situation.

I have also really gotten into Pinterest. I have had Pinterest for a few years and have gotten some good ideas from it but over the last few weeks while fixing up my blog and listening to the Grow and Glow podcast that I have seen its worth to me as a blogger. I have spent the time fixing up my boards and pinning more relevant pins and that has seen my following grow quite rapidly in a matter of days. This in turn has generated more traffic to my website which I am so greatly for. The downside of Pinterest has been for my husband. I have now created a mood board for our living room and once we are able to do so the living room will be getting a full makeover, how exciting!

Let me know in the comments or join me over on my Instagram page and fill me in how you have been keeping your sanity while at home, I would love to hear from you.