I know you're all probably fed up of everyone banging on about the current situation, but today I thought I'd make a post about things to do when you're not feeling your best mentally at the moment. We're all struggling with being inside all the time, and I know I'm not the only one who is desperately searching for things to fill the time and to take my mind off everything. I've come up with a list of things I like to do when I'm feeling bad at the moment. I've split it up into three categories- practical, moving and brain.
Practical
When I say practical, I mean activities that you can do with your hands and require "practical" skills. Something I've been trying to do a bit more are activities that involve me using my practical skills. Here are a few things I enjoy doing at the moment:
- Painting
- Knitting
- Drawing
- Baking
The other weekend, over the bank holiday weekend in the UK, I set some time aside to dabble with painting. I am nowhere near as skilled as I liked to be, but this type of activity really took my mind off everything. It was because I had to fully focus on what I was "practically" doing in that moment.
Once my deadlines for my degree are over, I want to start knitting again. I used to find knitting, with either an audiobook or some music in the background, really therapeutic. Again, I am fully focusing on what I am doing in that moment. There are so many practical activities you can try, I'd really recommend doing one to take your mind of everything and just focus on something else for a bit.
Moving
It's quite tempting right now to spend every single second of every single day sitting down. This is something I am guilty of myself, but I am trying to implement more moving activities into my day. Here are some ways you can do the same:
- Dance party
- Go for a walk
- Run around your garden (if you have one)
Dance parties, without fail, always cheer me up when I'm having a bad day. I put on some music I know will make me dance, usually musical theatre songs or Come On Eileen. I let the music wash over me, as cheesy as that sounds, and I have a little dance. It gets my heart racing and instantly cheers me up.
Something else I've been doing is trying to go for more walks. Obviously this bit depends on what your country is allowing you to do, but for now, here in the UK we are allowed to go for one walk a day. I've moved to a new neighbourhood and my family and I have been using this time to explore it.
As we've just moved house, we have a nice back garden which we have been trying to spend time in. We found some of our old outdoor games and have been trying to play them. It's a fun, social activity, but it also gives you some exercise and gets you moving.
Brain
This goes against what I've just said, but it is also important to keep your brain active as well. This is probably the area I've been excelling in, if I'm being honest. Here are some of the things I've been doing:
- reading
- watching films/tv shows
- writing
To be perfectly honest, these were all activities I did a lot before this whole situation kicked off and haven't made much difference to my life. But there are other ways you could keep your brain active. I know that a lot of online institutions are making some of their courses free. There are also still puzzles in newspapers and magazines. I've also been taking the time to pick up French again as I miss learning a language.
Those are some of the things you can do to keep the bad day blues at bay at the moment. I hope this helps you and that you are staying safe and well during this difficult time.
Carenza :) x
