What shall I do for 6-12 months sitting on the settee?

[nextdoorneighbours]

I have already decided to learn Spanish, but what else shall I do? All suggestions considered!

Hi @nextdoorneighbours I came on here to nick some ideas as I am disabled and have spells of being stuck on the settee! I’m sorry that you’re going through such a hard time and wishing you well during your op’s and therapies. I journal a lot and scrapbook but I love the idea of the postcards 😁 Best wishes Op x

If you join your local library , you can access borrow box for free and have access to a lot of free ebooks and audio books.

Sew a quilt by hand. I'm about half way through and it's kept me occupied for about 9 months in between working so you could do it much quicker.

Quilling
Write a book

Do you want to make money? Affiliate blog writing on your interests- camping would be a great one.

Your local library may have a home library service

I would love to make money!

Drawing with a sketch book.

Sort out your photos into photo albums

Family tree research

Have a look at the Workers Educational Association (WEA).

They offer all sorts of courses on line, they are often via zoom, so you get a bit more interaction with other students than you do with FutureLearn, which as time passes you might be glad of.
There is a charge, but it's not exorbitant, and the time span is often 6 or 8 weeks which might work well for you.

The Open University offer short courses also, some free.

Lots of luck with your treatment, hopefully it will all go well, and you'll be up and about again very soon.

I’m very sorry to hear this NDN and I’d like to point you in the direction of the cancer board on the general health forum where there are some very nice women who’ll be able to offer suggestions to you and help you through the next 12 months.

I hope everything goes okay with your ops/treatment, OP. So many fab idea here. One thing that helped me cope during lockdown was printing out a schedule for myself with a variety of daily activities. Nobody was checking that I kept to it of course, but it helped me feel busy.

so many lovely kind interesting posts here, thank you all so much 💐

Crochet! I learned last December and I am absolutely addicted. I keep making massive blankets that I have nowhere to put so they get sent to random friends. I've made lots of little teddies too.

I had chemo last year and apart from 3 bad days after each session, I was fine the rest of the time. I suggest you get out of the house the rest of the time and don’t spend all day on the sofa.

Cross- stitch. Painting by numbers. Write up family/favourite recipes into a personalised cookbook.
Wishing you all the best

well, great, I am happy for you, but you clearly have a totally different experience to mine, I am not going to be able to walk, and will be supervised and following instructions of a cancer physio, and have been told to expect to be on th sofa for most of the next 6-12 months

Great that you'll have a specialist physio involved. You may find yourself spending quite a bit of time doing chair physio exercise.

Yes, I am sure I will

no, I am really not

I would agree that sensual crafts like knitting and crochet can be very therapeutic because let's face it looking after your spirits is going to be important.

Seeing wool take shape and your daily progress is very soothing and feeling you're doing something women have done for centuries is somehow comforting.

It can easily be combined with listening to podcasts or watching old films.

I'd say being productive isn't really a goal or acquiring a new skill (unless you want to) so much as finding things that are soothing and nurturing.

The good thing with knitting is that you have a series of projects which mark time and there are many online communities where you can share your work and get advice!

Reading can also be wonderful...if someone can go to the library for you you can feel really spoiled with a fresh delivery.

Since you are interested in conservation, what about Zooniverse? Photos of habitats in which humans count penguins or whatever. Lots of other options on it too, including transcribing hand-written documents (historical, not necessarily to do with nature).

Depending on the effects of your treatment, you may find knitting or similar is beneficial in managing lymphodema.

All the best.

Some people have no self awareness.

Sketch
Paint
Use a lap tray as a table

When I was last sofa bound ( MS) I put all the photos into albums which was a satisfying task.
I wrote some postcards to people in the photos mentioning whatever we’d been doing
nice to connect

I wonder if there are some online support groups that you could meet with on zoom?

i hope it all goes well OP 💐