Feeling Appreciative During Lockdown

Feeling appreciative during lockdown is a sponsored post with Three Counties.

I have been isolating for over four weeks now and to be honest I’m actually quite enjoying myself. You would think that as someone who lives alone (aside from Missy the cat) I would hate it but I don’t feel lonely at all. I feel like I’m lucky that I am happy I my own company, I don’t need someone to entertain me and I feel comfortable left alone with my own thoughts.

Feeling Appreciative

These are really strange times and it does feel weird to have all of these rules that impact our day. Obviously they are there for a reason, to protect us and the NHS. To be honest I’m doing everything I can to avoid leaving the house at all and have only been outside twice to in over four weeks to exercise.

Being home so much has really made me feel appreciate if what I do have. I think it is all to easy to wish you had more. Whether that’s more money, a better job, fancier car or bigger house. Of course it’s natural to want to progress in life but this extra time I have at the moment has made me feel more grateful.

Home Office

As some who is self-employed I am lucky that I already have an office in my house so I haven’t had to create a work environment since we have been isolating. This means I have an area I feel comfortable working in and once I’m sat at my desk I know that it is time to be productive. In the past my office was downstairs in my house and because it is fairly open plan it was easy to become distracted and work seeped into my own time. Now I have moved the office upstairs, being able to close the door on it at the end of the day really helps to separate work from the rest of my life. If you have the space or ability to do that I would really recommend it.

Home Improvements

Don’t get me wrong, there is a huge amount of work that needs doing to the house but that isn’t that important right now. It isn’t the time to be going out and buying paint etc to redecorate, those things can wait until lockdown has been lifted and it is safe to do so. However, it is always worth thinking ahead, and big jobs could mean needing to take out a home improvement loan, details of which can be found on this hyperlink. Apart from redecorating, there are other jobs that have been bugging me, like the fact that two of the windows upstairs have blown so it looks like there is rain trapped inside and you can’t see out of them properly. Luckily it is possible to get hold of discounted windows, so that’s an option when normal life resumes.

Garden

I’m also feeling appreciative to have a large garden that I can sit out in, especially while we have had such lovely weather. It wouldn’t win any prizes at Chelsea Flower Show but it means that I can get fresh air throughout the day and I could exercise in it if I really wanted to ( and I probably should). I’ve actually been unleashing my inner gardener and attempting to cut down all of the overgrown areas – which is actually most of the garden. I have found it really rewarding seeing an improvement in how it looks and it has been a great way to pass the time. Being able to get outside regularly really does wonders for your mental health. I do wonder how much different things would be if we were having to isolate during winter with awful gloomy weather.

Thinking about it I can actually say that I haven’t felt bored once during lockdown. I remember hearing the phrase only boring people get bored!