Belated March Wellness Thread

[reginaphalange72]

With all the stuff going on in the world, starting the March wellness thread got away from me, so better late than never!

This seems particularly important given the state of things at the moment, so here's a place for us to chat about what we are doing and/or struggling with in physical and mental wellness this month. Reminder, this is NOT a thread to talk about diet or intentional weight loss. Please have those conversations elsewhere. This is a thread to discuss your journey in holistic health and wellness.

So what's going on with all of you this month?

Much love to you all, H&F <3 Stay healthy, and for the love of everything, stay isolated!

[Wines Not Whines]

Hoo boy. I already struggle with anxiety, and it’s hitting me hard now. I asked my doctor for a Rx today.

[reginaphalange72]

Wines Not Whines - I'm glad you're taking care of yourself! I've struggled with some mild anxiety for a while and I'm wrestling with whether what I deal with is worth asking about meds. As of now, I think I'm doing alright, but I can't imagine if it was any more than this. I hope you get a good response and get what you need to feel better!

( ( ( wines ) ) ) socially-distanced internet hugs

[reginaphalange72]

I suppose I should answer my own question as well.

I am not doing well. I feel like the world is breaking down around us all, and while there are a lot of people out there trying to do the right thing (staying home, etc), I see so many people who are being willfully ignorant or rebelling like teenagers against being "told what to do" that I have very little faith in humanity anymore. This is going to get so much worse before it gets better, and it's going to take months and months of incremental restrictions as states/cities keep closing things and people keep going "well if I can't do that, then I'll go do THIS!" or "you can't tell me what to do!" and it will only end when we are all confined to our homes 24/7 for several weeks. And I just don't see that going over well in this country. It's soul-crushing.

On the plus side, H and I are a marvelous team, and we do very well with lots of together time, so things are good at home. We cooked a bunch of our favorite meals that are full of fresh veggies and freeze well, so we have lots of good variety and healthy, yummy things to choose from for eating. We are also making a point to get out and take the dogs for a hike every day (staying away from everyone else, of course), and enjoying out outside time.

One other weird perk of this whole thing is with the need to make our groceries last as long as possible, I have managed to re-focus on my intuitive eating habits, and have essentially stopped eating emotionally or out of boredom, because I simply don't want to waste the peanut butter So who knew that a pandemic would help with developing my intuitive eating habits?

[vcubergirl]

I feel like I'm doing well, but I'm sleeping terribly and DH even said I've been talking in my sleep at night, so I guess I'm actually struggling. And of course it's hard with DS being home. He's an extrovert, and I'm an introvert, so that's a challenge.

I do want to give a shout out to my Calm app. Omg, it's been saving my sanity. And the yoga studio has gone to online classes and I have an unlimited pass, so that's been awesome too. Although DS is always up in my business while I'm trying to do it.

I'm looking forward to the weekend so DH can bear some of the childcare brunt. That's really a lot of our day to day issue.

I really worry about the long term effects of this, and what the summer will be like and what the school year will be like next year. I'm having a hard time letting go of worrying about the future.

[lilypad1126]

I don’t know how I’m doing. There are times that I’m fine, and then times that I’m panicking and my anxiety is in overdrive. My mom and I finally canceled our vacation in April, which has helped somewhat. But I don’t do so good with the unknown and I do even worse with a change in my routine, so this is....not easy.

Working from home is awful. I mean, my job is easily able to WFH, but my H is going to be the death of me. And while it’s a funny story now (OMG H, stop talking, LOL) it’s going to old quick. And this is REALLY going to put stress on my work (I work in higher ed admissions). It’s fine, and we’ll weather it, and I have a good team, but damn, this is bad timing. And I get that it’s bad timing for literally everyone, and that makes me feel anxious and bad as well.

I’m trying to keep up with my physical activity because it helps so much. Running/walking outside, core and yoga videos. I’m going to start making my H do some of this with me, b/c it’ll be good for him, too. So, hopefully once we get use to our new normal, things will start to feel a little better.

[minzy]

I feel like I’m doing really well mentally, all things considered. From reading CEP I was prepared to hunker, so I was able to “spread the curve” on the shopping part and stocked up ahead of what’s happening now.

Even before this I determined a good day for me looked like quality time spent with 1) my husband 2) kids 3) friends and extended family 4) I read 5) exercise 6) volunteer/give money away 7) contribute to the world in a greater sense. I am still able to do most of those things, just in a different way. Instead of a date out with my husband, it’s a leg rub in the morning. Lots of quality time with the kids, they’re making me play chair basketball with them in the basement and we’re riding bikes and playing catch outside. We’ve had the Little House on the Prairie books for years and I’m finally now reading them a chapter a night and it’s signaling normalcy and non-covid closure to the day. Tons of texting and emailing and calling and check-ins with family and friends. I’m reading and running and doing yoga. Volunteering will take a new form most likely since so much of what I used to do was community based, but I’ll find my way there. (My only planned outing of the week, I was supposed to do my regular Meals on Wheels route yesterday, but when I called in to report that I have a visibly red, sore throat they vehemently told me not to come in. I will try to cover for someone else later.) We are participating in a neighborhood window rainbow effort so hopefully can bring someone else a smile.

While this is totally wrecking the economy, I am looking forward to seeing how global carbon emissions look from this. I’ve read several articles indicating things are drastically improved (smog over Asian cities, Venice waterways clearing, etc.) because there’s not so much consumption and movement. I think there’s some real lessons to be learned from humanity’s response to coronavirus and I’m kind of excited (almost?) at the possibility that action on the climate crisis could happen quicker as a result, or even inadvertent byproduct, of this.

I have been somewhat cognizant on the environmental front for the last few years that our current house is bigger than we truly need. However for something like this I’m so glad we are where we are. Everyone can find a place to be and it helps my introverted, working from home husband, not go crazy.

I also feel like I’m getting better at reduced food waste and meal planning. I’m being more intentional with rationing. We’ve gone through the orphaned sock drawer. We’ll probably work on whittling and organizing the basement contents today. Those are all good things.

On the downside, I am stressed because my almost 72 year old stepmother most likely has it and she sounds worse on the phone each day. She tried to get tested two days ago, but they determined she wasn’t quite sick enough. She has now deteriorated somewhat on the specific metric that they denied her the test (pulse oxygen, she has a reader at home). My dad doesn’t have symptoms yet, but has asthma and allergies and a host of other issues. They have plenty of food (and from what I’ve been able to discern, she was likely doing a precoronavirus stock up at the grocery store when she got it, gah). They are normally homebodies so that part isn’t different. My dad is finally sleeping in the guest room, per CDC recs, once I told him he should be giving her space. I am trying not to panic but I’m decently concerned about them.

I’m also dreaming about this, I woke from one this morning where I was on my alma maters’ campus, somehow running a half marathon (my spring one has cancelled) and screaming to clumps of disinterested students that they all needed to go home because of coronavirus.

It’s a new day though, so I’ll try to focus on the good I can do today on the top half of the list. Best of luck to all of you, too.

[sadlebred]

Let's see, I was diagnosed with a heart issue about 4 weeks ago. I am very, very limited in my activity/exercising for the foreseeable future (months? forever? unknown?). I'll also have surgery later this year for a 2nd issue we found. Who knew a $6000 MRI could uncover so many things? Then there was the $11,000+ hospital stay. Thank goodness for a small out of pocket max that was reached before that happened.

It's the season in the South known as The Pollening. Oh, and then there's a virus going around. (I'm being sarcastic with it towards my life and everything that has happened, but it is very serious & my city is taking things more seriously than surrounding areas thankfully.)

Brightsides: I work from home full time, and my job is fairly secure with no layoffs (very large company & about 90% of my division can work remotely). We are trying to bring a couple more people on--probably contractors. I've been sleeping a LOT (see heart problem) as I'm always exhausted.

Yeah, it's been a month. Ya'll can probably figure out how I'm doing and feeling.

[minzy]

Oh no sadlebred. I’m glad your job is ok but I’m sorry about the heart issues. I know how much you love to ride your bike. ☹️ Hang in there.

[emilyj]

I think, in the whole scheme of things, I am doing well. My H started buying food for storage when I was in Atlanta for the Olympic Trials, so we had a decent jump on getting a food storage going. We did another stock up shop a couple weeks ago, and our grocery stores seem to be keeping up with the panic shopping for the most part - except for TP. No one has TP.

I'm trying really hard to limit my news consumption. I listen to NPR, read the NYT daily briefings, and follow a few different outlets on Twitter. I can't do it 24/7, I would lose my mind. My H is definitely more worried about all this than I am.

I'm still training...for what, I'm not exactly sure. My 5k in April is now a virtual 5k, so I'll still race it, just at a socially appropriate distance. I'm still riding and running outside with my H. Since we share a bed, I figure all social distancing guidelines are out the window with him.   I'm hoping next week (maybe the end of this week?) to brave an OWS. I don't plan to stop training, even if it means more base building, because it's getting me outside and doing wonders for keeping me sane.

My university was on spring break last week. Originally they pushed us to online classes/work from home until 4/6. This past week, they extended spring break an extra week, and we're moving to online only the rest of the semester. So I have been super consumed with that. That's my biggest stress right now - trying to move my classes online and figure out what the hell is realistic. I have a bunch of super bummed out students. I know that I should keep it as simple as possible, but I'm having trouble figuring out what's realistic to move online, and what's not.

sadlebred , I am so sorry. Sending you a big virtual hug.

[melmel48]

I am doing okay.... I am really upset that I cannot see my parents. My Dad gets very confused easily and knows this crap is happening, but doesn't truly get the implications of it all. It is killing me to not be able to see him.

I am furloughed and we found out that when we return to work we are going to be working at a reduced wage for awhile. I am stressed over $$. Being home has given me a lot of time to get a bunch of workouts in and I have been motivated to try new workouts. Hopefully this will make me even stronger for Boston training this summer!

[scottcool]

Doing well. Im using this time to focus on trying to drop some body fat(I follow bodybuilding type routines and goals). I figure its a good time to eat cleaner and less to drop some body fa and in turn when this is lifted i'll slowly up my calories and try to add mass. Im using this time to focus more and take better control of what and how I eat and my carbs, fats, and protein ratio.