Times are really weird just now, eh? We’re all stuck at home and having to get used to the new normal. Anyone who knows me will know that I am a non-stop person, always keeping busy, juggling projects because that’s how I thrive and what I like. But now I find myself trapped at home, furloughed from work and wondering what do I do now?

I’ve seen a lot of posts online talking about there is no pressure to be productive during the lockdown and there absolutely is not, I believe everyone should do whatever feels right for themselves at this moment. Chilling out and taking a pause may be what you need right now, but what I need right now is a schedule. I have far too much energy in my body and brain so if I’m not exhausting them every day I find it really quite difficult to sleep. It’s hard to sleep anyway with all that’s happening in the world right now, there’s so much to be anxious about, so much uncertainty and it’s easy for your mind to go cycling through a rolodex of worries that you have no control over.

Before I had a plan to my days I found it tricky to focus on anything. I found myself looking for things to fill my time; sleeping in all day, reading and watching stuff but I think my mind couldn’t quite settle because it knew that I was just trying to mask the waiting until life went back to normal. With potentially months ahead of us I knew this wouldn’t work for me and my isolation life was going to need some more structure.

I’ve built a loose schedule into my days at home now, not so strictly outlined but a list of tasks I want to achieve every day. I think this unique circumstance is a good time to build in new habits too that hopefully, I will be able to carry on when the isolation ends. I use an app called HabitNow which gives me my daily list of To-Dos to be checked off.

A lot of my daily habits actually are related to my 2020 goals which I set out in this post. Since I stopped working from home I try to do some things for my brain so I’ll try to do some industry-related reading as well as a SkillShare course every weekday. I’ve recently been doing a lot of photography and photo editing courses (and I set up my photography Instagram @katiedanielphoto – gimme a follow if you fancy it!). Learning photography is using my brain in a useful way for work while still feeling like fun hobby activities and it gives me something to do when I go on walks. The daily Duolingo practice is also one for my brain and reading some books for fun now that I have plenty of time – I’ve been rating my quarantine reads over on my Instagram. For my body I’ve been trying to get in some activity every day – I do a yoga flow either using the apps YogaGo or FitOn and then a work-out and/or a dance session. I’ve been exercising using the FitOn app (which is brilliant) and recently found home equipment hacks to finish my nobs guide plan (post on this coming soon). My friends and I have set up a group where we arrange Zoom dance classes together so that’s been fun along with some of the Instagram Live classes out there and YouTube tutorials.

Once I’ve finished that each day, I then chill out and do things for fun, watching stuff with friends (thank you Netflix Party), baking, cooking dinner, and best of all making the most of all the remote theatre access! Loads of theatres are being brilliant and streaming their archive footage of shows so even though I can’t be in the actual theatre, I can still see some things. I think this might be a post in itself soon though…

In addition to all that I’m looking after my dad and my grandparents in their separate isolations who need supplies brought to them. I’ve also signed up for Scotland Cares volunteering campaign, both with Volunteer Scotland Aberdeenshire and as a British Red Cross Community Reserve. I’m yet to be called out for either of those but whenever the call comes I’ll be ready to accept my next project.
On my social media accounts I extended my services – should anyone require some help with proof-reading, website building, blog advice, content creation, or any other marketing or writing support then they should hit me up and I’ll be happy to have something else to do. It’s a nice way to use my skills to help others and to keep my brain active, thus far I’ve had a few dissertations to proof so that’s been fun. The same offer goes to you, my dear readers, if there’s anything you’d like a hand with, please do give me a shout!

When it comes to this here blog, I’m not entirely sure what’s going to come out. I find myself a bit mentally blocked at times because I’m not sure how helpful my thoughts are to anyone, but it might give you (and me) a slight distraction.
I am back to the drawing board with my post ideas, though, as most of the posts I had scheduled out for the next few months are not possible because all the fun things I was going to do have been cancelled. But maybe now is the time to tackle all those little ideas that have been sitting in my drafts for literal years. We’ll see…

What are you doing to keep yourself entertained? Let me know in the comments!