s/o Burnout Wall: What to do?

[hermione]

Game Night Out now offers Game Night In. It’s pricey $150 for up to 12 ppl. We do it one a month or so with 8 people and it works out to $18.75/person (I think?). It’s lots of fun and nice not organize the games ourselves (which we wouldn’t do probably).

[oregonpachey]

I deactivated Facebook for over two months and it really helped my mood and mental health. Before that, I trimmed down my friends list and got rid of any people that posted questionable content.

I get together with my knit group via Zoom once a week. It really helps focusing on my favorite hobby and chatting with good friends. If anyone would like to join us (crocheters too!), reach out to me and I can send you our link.

Since most activities are closed here, we have been spending a lot of time outdoors. Fishing was a big activity this summer. It was awesome being outside in the sun and just relaxing. We made a trip to the lake once too. It was during the week and no one was there. My boys had a blast playing in the water, finding snakes, frogs and animals.

Finally, we all love our drive through wildlife refuge. We go on a weekend and just sit for hours looking for deer, all types of birds, eagles, racoons, mink, otter and other critters. To make it extra special, we will get donuts and eat them while we are slowly driving through.

[CloudBee]

Our family has been playing a lot of boardgames. We're no longer spending money on vacations, eating out, museums, and other weekend activities. So we're averaging about a new game a week... I find that DS (7) is really needing a LOT of one on one time. During a pandemic, when we're home together 24/7... right? LOL. I've been intentional in bringing new games into the house that we BOTH really enjoy. It gives us something to do that isn't screen related. We're together, we're hanging, and we're chatting, but our brains are working so it's not too much one on one time, if that makes sense.

We're also one of those family that's getting outside most days regardless of temps. We live in New England, and I rarely wear a hat. This year? I'm bundled up in a hat, mittens, and playing catch outside with DS daily. We've even gone out in the rain. It completely resets all of us.

[lilac05]

Thanks for all the great ideas!

Today was a much better day. We even got some surprise SUN!! There wasn’t much wind, so 32° felt downright warm! We met another family and went sledding.

I’ve been working on reading more, and I’m also doing The Bible Recap. I’m usually terrible about sticking with things, but so far, I haven’t missed a day.

I really need to work some exercise into my days. I started Yoga with Adriene’s Breathe, and need to pick that back up again.

This is also when I start to do my creative counting to Spring. We’re “almost done” with January, Feb is a “short month” and then its March! March = Spring and flowers and birds! (Though usually it also means quite a bit of snow...but I try not to think of that part! LOL)

[keweenawlove]

The days we get outside seem to go better. Some nights me and DD will take the dog for a 20 minute walk. Was nicer when we had Christmas lights to look at but it just seems to burn out the last of her steam for the night.

Last night we got takeout tapas from a place that is usually a date night-splurge place for us. Spent what felt like way to much for takeout but that with some sangria put us in a good mood.

[waverly]

I was very meh today so I don’t have a great answer a lot of times. We’ve been restricted for sooo long in this last batch of lockdowns. Watching happy TV, doing logic and regular puzzles, reading books, going to breweries outside. We are doing igloo dining next weekend.

Things are starting to open up so we might go to the pool. We can even rent the pool just for ourselves. I will see my family in a couple of weeks. We’ll just keep on keeping on until vaccinated I guess.

[redpenmama]

I appreciate this post so much.

Winter is tough for me in a normal year, so it's been especially rough this year, and not much is currently helping. I have been working on a list of projects (mostly related to the house) that I can work on for the next couple of months until we see warmer weather. I tackled the first one today, painting our powder room, and will stencil it next, which I figure will take some time. At this rate, my entire house might be painted/redecorated before I'm vaccinated.

[JayhawkGirl]

I’m going to start painting our office finally. I can’t do all of our walls in the house but I suspect I’ll be painting all our bedrooms this winter.

[ellipses84]

I’m taking advantage of the excuse to stay home. The weather was great this weekend and we probably should have tried to get outside somewhere other than our backyard, but the kids didn’t want to and I’m not trying to force them to have fun if they are happy at home.

I’ve been exercising - both with an outdoor socially distanced class as long as it’s not raining, and a virtual 3 week program. I recommend getting a friend to do it with you (even virtually for accountability) but I regret signing up for a an intense New Year program because I just don’t have the time. I tend to overextend myself with agreeing to more than I have time for, so I’m trying hard to say no to things and if I have a decision to make I ask myself if it will make life easier.

I’ve been taking a small area like one closet at a time and purging/organizing each week. It’s baby steps but it makes me feel like I have control/accomplishment over something.

I’ve been trying to take either a nap or a bath on the weekend for me time relaxation. I got some really refreshing bath stuff.

I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts and that’s sparking some interesting conversations with DH to help break up the monotony of spending so much time together and not socializing with others.

[lilac05]

ellipses84, what podcasts have you been listening to lately? Does your H listen, too, or do you just bring up things you heard? Most of the podcasts I listen to aren’t generally ones my H would like, but I’m always open to finding new ones!