What Can We Do?

At the time of writing, I am sitting in my home under isolation guidance because my son came home with the dreaded cough on Monday. My first reaction was internal panic, followed very quickly by the urge to hug him because he was scared and remembering that he basically had to go wash, change and shut himself away.

When you read this, I have no idea what state we will be in or how relevant what I write will be. Deciding what to write in this month’s submission is tricky on that basis. My focus is usually on the environment, self-sufficiency and about things like reducing plastic, sometimes around health, well-being and resilience. At a time of hourly change, when things are outside our control, I think it’s best to think about what we can control. What can I do to be resilient right now?

Follow Guidance & Your Gut

If the guidance is saying self-isolate, then do so. The general news and social media content coming from countries further into this journey than us is clearly saying “take notice & take this seriously”. If you can and you are not a “key worker” then do everything you can to protect yourself and to help those being asked to work at the front lines of support.

Wash your hands often and for twenty seconds, back it up with hand sanitiser if you have it but don’t think hand sanitiser is enough on its own. They also advise washing your hands and removing the clothes that you went out in as soon as you come in. If you can put them straight in the machine so no one else needs to handle them, great, wash your hands and then clean down the surfaces and handles you touched en route.

Cough and sneeze into tissues and dispose of them immediately. If you have symptoms, make sure you dispose of things well. Flush tissues away and if you need to dispose of them in your rubbish, double wrap the bag and if you can don’t put it out for bin men until it has had 72 hours to protect them as they keep refuse services going.

Keep Yourselves Busy

Minimise social media exposure or chats that focus on fear and panic. Yes, it is scary, but we already know most of what we need to know and that is; batten down the hatches, look out for and after those who need it and stay safe. I have found myself scrolling over reams of content and all it does is make me emotional and fearful. Give yourself long periods of time off your social media throughout the day, or choose to cut it off and just follow occasional news updates or certain support groups.

Link into the increasing virtual activities that are going on, I am pretty sure there will be an exercise class or an interactive book club so you can mix with people at the same time as being physically distant.

Don’t forget, you can go outside. Whether you have a small space or a large outdoor space if you can get out and get some fresh air and day light then do so. Sit still and listen to the sounds, close your eyes, breathe deeply and slowly and listen to the birds or the distant traffic (or maybe a back-yard singalong). We may not be Italian opera starts but we are Welsh, and the Welsh have music in their souls.

Managing My Time

I barely know what day of the week it is, but I am able to work from home and at the same time need to support a 15 year old through his education. Like many of you, I am suddenly a home schooler! I am trusting that school will supply work through the virtual classroom systems they have but I have also put in some ground rules.

We get up and sorted as normal, as if we are leaving the house. And there are dedicated timeslots for different activities (which include time on the treadmill or step ups on the bottom step of the stairs), when we are no longer self-isolating, we will go out for a walk. The likes of Joe Wicks are doing daily exercise activities suitable for any age at 9am on YouTube and there will be others too.

Structure is important, but so are regular breaks and the occasional duvet day won’t hurt. If you feel your family needs a time out, then take one. These are unprecedented times and none of us have had to deal with anything like this before. It’s normal to be worried and we are likely to be fearful, but the most important thing in that situation is to not be alone in it. Stay connected, stay sensible and stay safe.