Escaping quarantine blues

Hello everyone! Welcome to my first blog post! I thought I would start with something lighthearted, and something we could all relate to in these unprecedented times.

A lot of us have been in lockdown for a number of weeks now and have had our meaningful occupations and hobbies taken away from us. But despite this, this is also the first time a lot of us have had a real break from the pressure of our busy, normal day-to-day lives, to reflect, which could actually be used to our advantage! For some people having a break may be well needed and you may not have the desire to do a lot during this time as this may be deemed as self-care in itself. Others may be feeling lost, anxious and feel you have lost your purpose. Which brings me onto the topic of hobbies and what made me start up this blog!

Speaking from an Occupational Therapist (OT) perspective having a hobby and meaningful occupations is sooo important in maintaining good mental wellbeing, so the current pandemic is having an effect on all of us in different ways! During the lockdown I had been following family and friends who were exploring new interests and starting new projects and I thought to myself wow, I wish I had something like that I could do myself, *cue the self-loathing* - "why don't I have any talents?", "everyone has something fun they enjoy doing apart from me".

Now baring in mind at this point I had spent the majority of lockdown sitting in my room, scrolling through social media all day, binge watching Disney+ and playing games on my phone. I was on Easter break from uni up until the beginning of this week, so was feeling well and truly useless as well as being consumed in my own thoughts; which is what I was dreading the most about being in lockdown. I attempted to get back into baking, made a cake and it honestly looked like someone had dropped it on the floor and put it back together again - by this point I was completely fed up and had given up on trying to find something productive to do and proceeded to spend most of my days in bed, feeling sorry for myself and overthinking.*cue more self-loathing*

For some people, being able to stay in bed and binge watch shows might sound like the best thing ever! But for me and my tendency to overthink and overwhelm myself, this was not good for my wellbeing at all and I was becoming very irritable, moody and anti-social. I honestly could not be bothered to speak to anyone and was only replying to a select few peoples messages. I would then feel guilty for not replying and would then panic thinking everyone would think I was being rude! I decided to look at the situation from a different perspective with help from a friend, who seems to manage to be positive about everything regardless of what they're going through. I had spent so much time over the past few years consumed with student life, work and other life dramas that I had lost my passion for something I really enjoy (and feel I'm pretty good at!) and that was writing! A compliment I had received, which I had previously brushed off, kept replaying in my head "you're really talented with words", a compliment that I have heard a number of times before. When I was younger I used to write creative stories all the time, just for fun. No one ever saw them, it was just something fun to do in my spare time. I have realised through the years that people seem to open up to me and talk to me about what they're going through quite openly meaning I must be approachable and easy to talk to right? I thought there must be a way I could use both my therapeutic and writing skills to help myself and others. So why not get back into writing, I asked myself? What do I have to lose? and after 2 hours on the phone with my sister, ta-dah, here I am writing my first blog!

I have never written a blog before but it is something I have always considered but had let self-doubt, lack of confidence and fear of judgement stop me. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't freaking out about doing this, but getting back into writing has been very therapeutic for me, I've already noticed a change in my mood and I already have lots of ideas about stuff I would like to share with you all and also raise awareness around. I'm hoping to spark discussions on some topics I feel are really important regarding self love and mental health and also hope to inspire people to make positive changes. So I've decide to put myself and my passion first and whether it blows up or not, it's something I enjoy doing!

If there's one main thing I want people to take away from this post is first of all if you don't feel like doing a lot during quarantine that's OK! It is a strange time for us all and sometimes a break is well needed to distress. It can help you to reflect and think about how you were living before the pandemic, and how you may want to try and adapt to give yourself more "Me" time after the pandemic. But it's also OK to use this time to try out something new entirely or get back into old passions and interests. Adult life and responsibilities make it hard to find the time do things you really enjoy for yourself and this a great time to look back on things you used to enjoy and think to yourself - why did I stop? Even if it's just for 15 minutes a day or a couple of times a week, take some "Me" time to do something that helps you relax, unwind and escape from the world during and after the lockdown. Below I will post some suggestion of what this may look like;

- 15 minutes of yoga / meditation in the morning

- Baking and cooking

- Drawing / painting / sketching (Adult colouring books are a thing and they're fab!)

- Listening to music (Personal favourite!)

- Watch a couple of episodes of your favourite show (or binge watch it, no judgement round here!)

- Watch your favourite youtubers / learn a new skill via youtube

- Experiment and practice hair and makeup

- Go for a walk (sticking with government guidelines of course!)

- Sit in your garden if you have one - get that vitamin D!

I hope you guys have enjoyed my first post, I'm still new to this and learning so bare with me! I have lots of ideas for future posts and will aim to upload once a week and will also be posting about my journey on my Instagram - @ty_blogsx. Feel free to message me, ask any questions and give suggestions! My DM's are always open! #selflove #quarantine #hobbies #hobby #blogger #UKblog #mindfulness #selfconfidence #mentalhealth #occupationaltherapy #student #studentlife