Skip to main content

Lockdown Two: My Goals


 
On Thursday 5th November, England went into a second national lockdown. Or, at least, what the government considers a lockdown. Keeping schools, colleges and universities open doesn't exactly scream "lockdown" to me. 
 
Some of us are relieved, although somewhat annoyed that it's come this late. Some of us are fed up and don't believe this will work. Me? I'm scared. The future feels so uncertain and this is such a huge step back. I'm afraid we will never get back to normal, I don't see a way out. Whilst I want everyone to be safe and I want us to beat this virus, I also want my life back.
 
Of course, if we had followed in the steps of New Zealand, perhaps we would be in a better position right now. And before you scream at me about New Zealand having a smaller population, it's undeniable that their leader is far more competent and caring than who we have in the UK. But, hey, I'm not here to get political, I'm here to talk about mental health.

There's no doubt that another lockdown will be disastrous for people's mental health. And this is coming from someone who isn't just using mental health as an excuse to avoid lockdown, but someone who actively cares and is an advocate. Although my life won't actually change much as I'm unemployed, my days are spent doing the soul-crushing work of job searching, this lockdown still impacts my mental health as I can't go out as much. Having little pieces of normality reintroduced has been helpful. But also, as I mentioned above, I'm worried that things will never get back to normal. 

Today, I'm setting myself some goals to focus on during lockdown, however long it may be. Having goals to focus on can be a great distraction, will keep me busy and might also keep me motivated. I had some vague goals set during the last lockdown but I didn't really complete any of them. I'm hoping this time around, I can really work hard. 


1. Finish My Novel
 
My first goal is clear: I need to finish my novel. 

I've been working on this novel for a year or two now and I haven't really got anywhere with it. Every time I try to write, my brain just goes blank. Like there's some sort of mental barrier, like a brick wall, standing in my way. Frustration takes over, and I give up. Repeat this process every day and suddenly it's over a year later and you only have 15,000 words that don't really make any sense. 

This lockdown is going to be the time I finish my novel, I swear. I've already signed up to NaNoWriMo, a writing competition that helps you work towards a final goal of 50,000 words by the end of November. So far, I've written zero words... we're getting there, people.

2. Learn Spanish
 
During the first lockdown, I started learning Spanish on Duolingo and I really enjoyed it. I love learning new things. For just 20-30 minutes a day, I was learning a whole new language. I did start learning it back in school but let's just say for mental health reasons, I never turned up.

This is my chance to start learning again. I may even buy a notebook to keep all my notes in, ya know, really work hard at it this time round. I'll be speaking fluent in no time.

3. Complete a Workout Programme
 
Chloe Ting has the best free workout programmes. I keep looking at them, determined that I'm going to start one but never get round to it. There's always some excuse, usually that I "don't have enough time." Well, now I have all the time in the world, what's my excuse?

During lockdown, I'm going to complete a workout programme. Not to lose weight (although I won't deny that I would like to lose weight, I'm trying to make sure that it isn't my main goal in life - my new main goal is to treat my body with love and respect), but to get fitter and healthier. To complete something that I can really feel proud of. 

4. Go For Daily Walks
 
As a dog owner, I have to walk daily anyway. But normally, I just take the dogs around the village and call it quits.

Although it's harder to walk further now it gets dark early, having more time in the day means there's a chance to take the dogs for longer walks around different paths and scenery. There's more of a chance to get back in touch with nature and of course to get fit. 

My goal is to walk every day for at least an hour. My family always took a nice long route during the Spring/Summer, so it'll be nice to start taking that again. 


Those are my goals that will hopefully keep me busy and distracted from everything else that's going on. I encourage you to make a list of goals too, especially if you struggle with your mental health during lockdown. We should also remind ourselves that it's okay if we don't complete any goals, what's important is that we just get through this.

The best we can do is to keep our heads up, which I understand is extremely difficult right now. Some people may actually thrive off lockdown, but I'm definitely not one of those people. Perhaps this time round, I can be. 
 

Until the next time,

Char.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MY NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS 2019

With only a few days left of 2018, I've been looking back on the year and thinking about what I want to improve on and achieve moving forward. At the beginning of 2018, I had little to no motivation and was on a downward spiral. Things haven't improved much, however my motivation is slowly coming back as the desperation for things to change gets stronger. Because of this, I've given my resolutions a lot more thought than I have done in previous years. Last year I said that I wanted 2018 to be the year that I "get shit done". It was the complete opposite of that. So now, 2019 needs to be that year. My 2019 resolutions: 1. TAKE RECOVERY MORE SERIOUSLY 2018 was the year that I properly started recovery after my mental health plummeted towards the end of 2017. I started seeing a care coordinator fortnightly and went back on my medication. However, I haven't taken it as seriously as I should have. This year I want my mental health to be my ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Battle Between University and Mental Health

As my second year on my university course finally nears a close, I look back and realise that I've learnt more about my own mental health than I have in the subject I'm actually doing a degree in. Not exactly what I'm paying over nine grand a year for... I'm tired, my sleeping pattern has been turned upside down and the sense of dread looms as it finally hits me: this year counts. This isn't first year anymore, and there's no second try at this year, Student Finance will only support you for one more year. If you fail this: you're doomed. The fear of getting anything lower than a 2:1 consumes me. It seems to be embedded in every student's mind that if you don't get a 2:1 or a First, then you've failed. Now, this fear has taken up any enjoyment I was having from this course. I'm no longer writing because I enjoy it, I'm just writing to get a grade. But how can you enjoy something when your brain wants to die? How can you even be good...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Letter From My Body To Myself (TW: Eating Disorder)

In contemplation group you were told to write a letter from yourself to your body (and vice versa.) And my God, you were really horrible to yourself. You called yourself fat, ugly and worthless. Repeatedly, you told yourself to stop eating and that you would have to die if you didn't lose weight. So today, I, your body, am going to write a letter back to you. I'll start of by saying that I understand you were in a really bad place when you said all those things to me. And I would forgive you but you tell me these things daily, even when you're faking one of your "positive" episodes. It has to stop. You wouldn't say these things to anyone else: you wouldn't say them to your mother, your sister, your brother, your friends, or even some random person on the internet. So why are you saying them to your body? It's bullying. Be kind, stop verbally abusing me. When you follow through with these threats of starvation, I feel exhausted. You're a very bu...
Post a Comment
Read more