Day 7...

So today we complete our first week of lockdown here in the UK. Routines are being formed, and working from home is starting to feel a little more natural. We're all getting a little more used to moving to the sides of pavements etc to maintain distance from others, albeit there are still a lot of apologetic grins and slightly embarrassed looks at taking action that just a few weeks ago would have been considered downright rude!

From my point of view I've seen some major changes personally through the week - this time last Monday I was feeling genuinely scared about the idea of lockdown - the limited ability to get outside, only being able to exercise once a day - both of these things are major for me as fresh air and movement are my two main coping mechanisms for keeping my mental health on an even keel. The first few days felt strange - my anxiety was through the roof  and I was struggling to get into any sort of routine. By the end of the working week that had begun to settle down a lot, and a relatively "normal" weekend with a focus on just chilling and taking time for ourselves really helped too. Making sure we take the time for an hours outside exercise a day is proving invaluable - whether a good brisk walk, a slower amble taking the time to look at birds, or a run/walk. Working from home today felt productive - partly because of a good part of my days work being quite "usual" for me, and partly because I just got into the swing of switching between various jobs to maximise use of my time. I've also been making a conscious effort to step away from consuming too much media - whether mainstream or social - it was starting to feel counterproductive. I definitely feel better for having cut back a bit.

I've also been putting some thought into a couple of photo challenges for our Instagram aviation community and hopefully beyond too. A "Photo Fools Day" challenge for Wednesday involving photos of standard items or objects but from unusual angles - the idea is for people to post their photo and then for others to guess the object. And also following that will be a Lockdown Scavenger Hunt - 21 days of challenges following the letters of the hashtag - that one is still taking final shape as yet! Hopefully we can motivate people to take their phones or camera on their daily walk and really focus (literally!) on their surroundings, too.  We'll see how it goes!

Robyn