Staying at home, tips to keep us sane – Part 2

Staying at home, tips to keep us sane – Part 2

Staying at home, tips to keep us sane.

As I said in Part 1 these words of wisdom come from a friend and colleague James Palmer which he posted on Facebook. I have found them really useful to deal with my own anxieties so I thought I would share in a few parts. For me being practical and doing physical tasks is really helpful. I hope some of these tips may help you too. Take care and stay well

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‘’When I was 21 I had chronic fatigue syndrome and I did my entire university degree under conditions not totally dissimilar to lockdown, then a PhD and a lecturing job where I was working at home most of the time. Here are a few ideas on how to make being in the same place work and stay sane. Maybe one or two will help you:

(2) Routine. If you are not working from home and don’t have children to look after time will hang heavily on you if you are always having to think of what to do. Film binges get sickening after a day or two. Here are some things I’m going to be doing:

a. spring clean a room a day

b. have time when you listen to your old favourite music. An album or a symphony or an opera.

c. read that book or those books. It’s not a bad thing to have 2 or 3 on the go at a time. I’m going to have leisure/fiction, meditation/Chinese medicine/qigong and “western bodywork” as my three main areas.

d. sort the garden out.

e. if you are self employed and stuck at home then use the time to get all the admin sorted. If there is strategic thinking you need to do, you now have time. Just because you can’t work IN your business don’t stop working ON your business.

f. Listen to a podcast or two every day. Old ones on topics that interest you. Maybe in a different language. Don’t start podcasting unless you are very interesting. No-one wants to know about your loo roll situation.

g. Spend a LOT of time off line. An afternoon listening to Thomas Tallis and reading will be much better for you than an afternoon reading all the new thought pieces on the situation. There is not going to be an exam on this. You don’t need to know everything.

h. Do you have old hobbies that you have neglected because you’re too busy? Try them again. Plug into what used to make you happy.

i. Work out a pattern and see how it goes. Once you find something that works then stick to it. Basically, think of what you never have time for and do it. I think this works because you do a lot of things you like, but never to the point of saturation.’’

Plenty of good ideas. Take care and stay safe