How I’m Planning My Day During LockDown

life

So with everything that’s going on at the moment I have been feeling more anxious. My routine for the week has changed and I’ve been finding that a bit challenging at times.

Recently I spoke on the phone to my care coordinator and we were discussing how I could create a new routine that I felt I could understand and build myself some structure as things are so unknown. Which can lead to me feeling like I don’t know where I’m coming or going.

I have also been working on creating a new routine I feel happy and comfortable with the help from my support worker. My support worker often reminds me that it doesn’t matter how big or small the things you are achieving are. As well as this she regularly reminds me that it’s all about the sense of achievement I get from doing something and not what others think. I am also trying not to be too judgemental on myself and be kinder to myself as I know I can be a bit to hard on myself at times.

Let’s get started

So to get started on setting out your day visually all you need is a notebook and a pen. I love to make mine colourful so you could use felt tips or gel pens. Or you could do this on a whiteboard and use a whiteboard marker and have this placed somewhere in your room so you can see it everyday when you wake up. Your day could look like this.

How to plan the day

1. First write the date at the top of the page or whiteboard.

2. Now list out the music, TV programme and exercised our want to do for the day.

MUSIC: My happy playlist on Spotify

EXERCISE: Walking the dog

TV PPROGRAMME: Sex Education

3. Next write down 3 things your grateful for, it can be anything!

4. Next you need to write down your MUST do list. This is different from your to do list as these are tasks you must do that day. For example clean the fish tank or send your friend a Happy Birthday message.

5. Now it’s time to think about how you want to feel for the day. For example I wanted to be calm, relaxed and happy on Sunday.

6. Now let’s write down 5 people your sending positivity thoughts and energy to for the day. It can be anyone!

7,. Lastly it’s time to write your to-do list. I like write down 5 things I need to do in the order of importance. Any tasks left to do that day I will add it to my To Do List for tomorrow.

I hope this helps you or gives you some ideas. I would love to know how your adjusting with everything right now. So please comment in the below!

Coping with anxiety during lockdown

mental health

Right now life is very strange for everyone across the world. From our daily routines changing to coping with the uncertainty and unknown. As someone who suffers from high levels of anxiety I thought I would share with you some of the things I am doing right now to help me manage my anxiety.

Social Media

Social media plays a big role in modern day society . And now more than ever you might find your using your social media platforms even more because of social distancing. As you can’t go out and socialise with your group of friends. Social media can be a great tool to use in times like these. But remember if your chat starts to turn onto talking about topics you feel uncomfortable about for example Covid- 19 tell your friends that you feel uncomfortable this is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact the conversation will problem turn into story times and they won’t even realise you’ve changed topic so don’t feel guilty saying . Remember your family and friends care about you and the last thing they won’t is to make you feel uncomfortable or anxious!

Another tip I have is make sure you are following accounts on platforms such as Instagram that you find positive, inspirational and put a big smile on your face. If you are finding any accounts you follow hard to look at remember it is ok to unfollow. The last thing anyone wants is for you to have a negative impact from their account!

The News

It’s great that we want to know more about the current situation and what’s going on around the world. However looking at the news all day can really start us to make us feel more tense and make your anxiety a lot higher . To help keep you less anxious but still know what’s going on you could restrict yourself to just turning on the news at a certain times everyday. For example 9am and 8pm . To help you do this you could turn off your news app notifications on all of your devices.

Sleep

This one might seem a bit obvious but the better night sleep I have the better I feel the next day. An alarm in the morning could really help especially when we get that temptation to have a quick lie in. This could become much greater as we don’t have to get ready for the school run or work run.

Exercise

Even though we are stuck at home their are lots of exercise classes you can do online for free and best thing is all the family can do it together!Checkout this blog post of mine for ideas of classes you could do. https://defeatingdisability.com/2020/04/14/things-to-do-in-isolation-part-1-classes-workshops/

Fresh Air

Now guidelines are saying we can now go for short walk or do other type of exercise like running for about 30 minutes. I recommend just spending so time outdoors in the fresh air. This can really help to clear your mind and make sense of all of your thoughts. As well as this the fresh air can help you feel grounded in the here and now.

Healthy Eating

Right now you maybe finding it hard to go to the shops or struggling to afford ingredients. However making sure you eat everyday is very important especially breakfast it gives you energy for the day ahead. A great place I like to look for easy, affordable and health recipes is on Pinterest. Soon I will be showing you how to make some of my favourite recipes that I have found through Pinterest.

I hope some of these ideas helped you if you are experiencing anxiety at the moment. I would love to know any tips you have too. Please pop them in the comments below!

STAY HOME & STAY SAFE💜

Things to do in Isolation Part 3: Tips For Studying At Home

life

With everything that is going on at the moment our routine schedules have all changed. As I am a college student I have now had to get a new routine for my college working days. I have found this hard but it seems to be getting better day by day.

I thought I would share with you some of my favourite tips to help you get into a new studying routine from home.

The first tip I have is quite a simple one, with changes to my everyday routine I try and look at my day and see if their are anything I can do to set myself up for the day like before. I always have breakfast this might seem obvious but breakfast is the most important meal of the day. And can really help you to get energy for the day head and help you have a positive and a can do attitude!

Before my lessons start for the day I like to make sure I’ve got everything I need and set up ready for my days classes. From making sure I have my pens and pencils to my notebook and calculator to name a few. I also like to refill a water bottle so I can have it with me at all times whilst I’m working as it is really important that you stay hydrated throughout the day.

When I was at college I had different books for doing different topics and portfolio work in. I have really found using notebooks with dividers in helpful now that I am working from home. This is because now I can use one notebook to write everything down in one place but put notes down in the right sections together . For example one section of my notebook is my maths work and another section is about jobs in the industry.

Sometimes in the classroom you can get distracted but when your working from home it can become a little bit harder as you may start thinking about things you need to do around your house or things you want to do. Like watch something on TV or maybe call your friends.

To help me to stay on task I like to do two things:

The first thing like to do is to listen to music as I work as I find this very calming and it helps me to reduce my stress levels.

The second thing I like to do is have a pad of paper near me as I sometimes find it easier to listen in class if I can do some doodling at the same time.

My last tip is remember to take regular breaks and do something else you enjoy for a bit. That could be watching TV, reading a book or magazine, talking to friends or eating yummy treats to name a few.