What's keeping you sane?!

[SeaGale]

In these times of lockdown?! Personally, it's my horse. Caring for him and being out in the fresh air is definitely saving my MH.

What's your lifeline?

Reading
Wine
Guitar
Music
Aldi Titan bars.

Walking the dog and still going to work so no mega changes really .

Online fitness classes
Zoom meetings with family
WhatsApp chats and silly messages
Really hard puzzle that have to concentrate on
My down to earth level headed husband
Garden
Walking daily from house

I don't think anything is 'keeping me sane' I feel like I am just going one day to another trying to look after the kids and do the housework.

My youngest is a few months old and is quite clingy so instead of putting them into a sling and getting on with things I find myself just lazing on the sofa with them.

Horse too op. Not riding at the moment as I don't want to risk putting any extra strain on the nhs if I was to have a fall but so nice to get out in the fresh air and have some sort of normality in my life. Even enjoying poo picking!

Having DH and teens in the house
Long dog walks in quiet woods
The routine of study/working (DC being fought normal schedule)
FaceTime with family
WhatsApp with friends

Things I miss are sport, outdoor exercise, competitions and, oh yeah, job security...

@SeaGale

Hello OP, can I ask if your horse is close to your house? And are you riding him?

I’ve had a minor falling out with a friend as she’s frequently driving a one hour round trip to go horse riding. It’s not her horse and it’s not in a private stable, but she insists she must go to feed and exercise him (by exercise I mean riding; apparently he’s a thoroughbred and needs to gallop). I said that this all sounds like unnecessary travel and activity, particularly since the horse has an owner. She made out that I was being horrible as the horse will get sick/injured if she doesn’t do this. I don’t have enough knowledge of horses to judge if this might be true or whether she’s using it as a convenient excuse to ‘break’ the guidelines. What do you think?

I have a feeling it’s the latter though as she went for lunch at her estranged ex’s house yesterday, even though he’s off work (key worker; firefighter) due to an immune system condition.

Oh and to actually answer your question about what’s keeping me sane - not much with 2 toddlers in the house! Things that help;

• MOOCs (online courses; am currently doing one on ‘food as medicine’ via FutureLearn and Monash University in Australia)
• Cooking/baking
• Yoga (Adrienne on YouTube) and running when the kids sleep in the afternoon
• Walking in the forest (live in a small Swiss ski resort and a coniferous forest on one side of the garden)

Flocon - sorry, just seen this! My horse is approx five minutes drive from my house. I was going up twice a day but I've cut that down to once. Luckily the yard staff are being very understanding and helpful. I am no longer riding, because that isn't an essential use of my time.

It's hard to say whether your friend is being unreasonable because each horse can have different needs. However, on balance, I would say that she is being unreasonable. Horses are usually fine without exercise as long as they have access to turn out and grazing (obviously doesn't follow for every horse!). There is no need to gallop a thoroughbred every time you ride 🤔

It does seem like she's taking advantage of the situation to do what she wants to do.

I keep thinking back to how all 4 of my grandparents got through WW2 and then went on to have long, fulfilling lives. Then again I wouldn't be here if they hadn't made it, so perhaps false comfort. Either way, I'll take what I can get right now.

@SeaGale

Thanks a lot for this! It was my suspicion too.

Obviously animals such as horses and donkeys must still be cared for during this difficult time, but within the bounds of responsibility (it was the galloping around that seemed reckless to me!)

Working with DS on his school work. It's only 3/4 hours a day, but it's giving us something to break up the day.

I'm actually dreading the next two weeks when there is no work set. I never thought I'd ever say I'm not looking forward to school holiday!

Reading. I love reading but with working and busy family life, never had the time.

Wouldn't say I have loads of time now (furloughed but looking after DS), but there are enough gaps in the day for me to pick up a book. I got myself a new kindle and downloaded the Readly app onto my tablet so I can catch up on most of the magazine's I've missed :)

And chocolate lol

By thinking only about 'today':
'What job which I've been putting off am I going to do today?'; 'where am I going to walk to today?'; 'what can I do today that is different ?' (E.g. a jigsaw, some craft work etc; what am I going to watch on TV today?'; 'what are we going to eat today' - taking the opportunity to look through my gazillion cookbooks I have for inspiration, and for once looking for recipes I've ignored before because they take too long.
That way I have an enjoyable day, and stop myself wishing I could eat out/go to the pub/meet friends

Reading and working our way through Last Tango in Halifax. Missed the first series years ago so never followed it. We're now half way through series 2, in 2 days!

Walking the dog and going to work . Nothing much changed for me really .
Miss going out for dinner / to the pub and the gym though but that will start up again sometime .

Work.