The positive mental health thread part 6

[Bunnyflop]

Morning all! Welcome to the new thread!

Hi purple yes mine is yr6 so we chatted about it and he is keen to go back for a bit before the summer, also his friend will be there too

I might feel differently if they were little though, I'm not sure, it is a difficult decision isn't it. My relatives children went back recently in Holland and they are getting on OK

At the end of the day we all have to make our own decisions don't we, they will go back some time soon and looks like the virus is around for a while yet.

Enjoying reading about the children returning to school in Holland, makes it seem a bit easier today.

I have good tip of anyone is finding social media tricky. I left Facebook and joined Instagram but only follow positive stuff such as free yoga every day at noon, people I know who do pictures of their pets and things like that. It seems much better and if you miss FB can just look at it instead. I don't go on twitter much and again either.

We can't control the stuff people post but we can limit having to look at it if we want to.

I only do Instagram too Orangeblossom. It’s been quite handy as I follow a lot of local cafes, shops etc. and sometimes they announce openings on there rather than on main website. We did a lovely walk last weekend to go and buy cinnamon buns from a Swedish cafe which has just started opening up for takeaways again on a few odd days.

Mmm lovely, yes round here local businesses have been doing things too, we had fish and chips last week which was lovely. (no cooking) - feel am constantly feeding people atm

Yes on my Instagram I have -lady I know with an animal charity, friend's antique shop, musicians I like, local yoga place doing free sessions at noon. I also have the calm app which has stories on it to listen to when you can't sleep...things like going on a train journey across Peru or going to a Japanese tea ceremony all very descriptive and no drama!

Is anyone feeling absolutely exhausted?
I feel physically okay but it's a feeling in my head if that makes sense, like a stuffy foggy feeling, hard to describe but really debilitating. I don't think I'm ill. I have to work in quite a demanding job and I'm really struggling. Nothing seems to relieve it. I'm sleeping quite well.

Arcadia - I’m tired today but I think a different kind of tired. I just want to lie down all the time. I think it’s half shoulder pain and half apathy.

I wonder if your exhaustion is a bit to do with this groundhog thing we’re all experiencing - one of the dcs is doing Vikings for school and they have this word I like - hafvilla - to mean a complete bewildered loss of direction at sea.

I think without any of the usual temporal landmarks of school and clubs and celebrations and weekend activities and so on we’re all feeling a bit lost at sea and I reckon that could blitz your brain enough to make you feel exhausted with it?... that’s my theory anyway!

I am trying to make myself a little list of things I want to do in lockdown - seen so many ideas for eg virtual train trips, online classes, challenges, zoom ideas etc., not all appeal but feel something new to plan or look forward to would be a good idea. I like @HelloMist’s stargazing suggestion, trying to think of other things like that will just make the day a bit different.

Hi @callybrid I think it's partly that and partly adjusting to working again after a month off on furlough. My job is emotionally demanding and I just have nothing to give and feel constantly guilty about my DD even though she's fine!
Feeling resentful that as a woman we always seem to bear the brunt of the multi tasking

Today I was speaking to a client on the phone and both our children were trying to talk to us at the same time! I can't see a man having to deal with that!

Ah, right! That makes a lot of sense. Must be v hard and frustrating to try and work whilst constantly being aware of/accosted by DCs.

Hopefully it’ll get easier/less exhausting as you get back into the swing of it and everyone else adjusts to you being less available!

I have a kind of brain fog which I think is the result of too much stuff to think about, tried sitting under a tree and just chilling for a bit which helped a bit

Yes @Orangeblossom78 it's like my brain is trying to prioritise and it can't. Just had an emergency work thing and luckily DH arrived home whilst I was dealing with that and is now making dinner with DD so I'm going to do a15 min meditation and see if that helps.

I like that hafvilla.

I am useless at tracking the days now. That's exactly how it is.

Me and ds had feelings of tiredness a lot last week. I think my sleep patterns are getting so disrupted it's not helping. I keep waking up too early and then not being able to sleep for hours. Finally dropping off and then waking up feeling drugged. But then I can't resist drinking coffee to get me going which doesn't help breaking the cycle. But I slept better last night.

Lovely and sunny today. Ds and I sat in the garden on my new big beanbag chairs.

I spoke to various people on a zoom get together yesterday. One is a nurse at our big local London hospital and said how it's all much quieter at the moment.

Getting up the effort to go to get some petrol for the car in a minute. Trying to choose an unbusy time. Will pay by app.

Also, very interested to know about antibody tests.

Drinking a lot of coffee here as well. I know I find cutting things dramatically too hard right now but I might try just having it in the mornings perhaps. After lunch have something else without caffeine.

Woke in the night heart racing then hard to get back to sleep. Doing that at the moment. And also possibly perimenopause here too. Probably all joining in (joy) stared getting hot the other day, thought 'maybe the virus' until remembered, oh, probably hot flushes

DS2 is sneezing like a trooper (hay fever) hope that doesn't cause a problem when he goes back to school..or he gets treated like a leper. Might try some piriton but then that makes you sleepy.

Caught the weather on R4 this morning - the announcer just said ‘warm, dry, sunny’ - so I assume we’ve all got the sunshine today- yay! Hope you can all get out and enjoy it.

I’m not in perimenopause (I hope!) but weirdly I’ve been getting hot flush type things too - started a few months ago when DS was in the middle of his cough/fever and I was freaking out about it a bit - woke with my face bright red and heart pumping and even had a slightly raised temperature - had a total panic meltdown assuming I and him both had covid... Was totally fine by the morning but exact same thing happened a month after and then a month after that again so my body seems to be doing some strange mid-cycle heat thing - also have had a few days of insomnia around then each time. Quite annoying.

I was going to cut out coffee before I twigged the insomnia was cyclical. I really like coffee, it’s my one ‘treat’ thing so I’m sticking with it. We have a proper expresso machine with a good milk frother so I’m practising my (currently woeful) latte art .

Oh, I do only have caffeine in the morning - definitely after 2pm or so it does mess with my sleep.

Beanbag chairs sound great tobee. We have one sun lounger so the garden is often shaking with the screams of dc trying to push each other off it and claim their turn

I lost my shit today my wee one is only 2.5 and basically won’t play on his own. I’m furloughed because DH works in financial services and they won’t entertain the crazy notion that his wife might also work or need the occasional break.

I just wanted to look at my phone for a minute because I saw messages coming in and was craving a bit of contact with other people. DS was sitting on me as usual and kept grabbing it then tried to bite me when I wouldn’t let him and I ended up shouting it’s not yours. Then he burst into tears and said but mummy you’re my best friend. And I burst into tears too. Then DH came down from upstairs as he’s finished work and now I’m in the toilet having a cry, feeling like a petty cow and shit mum.

I hate this fucking pandemic. I never wanted to be a SAHM, I’m a better mother when I have my 3 days at work.

But in the spirit of the thread, it’s NOT raining in Glasgow today and my wee nasturtiums are growing like crazy

I've been having a really rubbish few days with family stuff. This morning I just thought, "fuck it I'm going out". Went to the local garden centre (wearing a mask). Was bliss wandering around a shop that wasn't a supermarket! I brought ant killer and birthday cards 😂 oh and some 50% off bulbs I'm going to plant this weekend. God life as it was.

God I miss life as it was

It makes a lot of difference getting out. We wine tout today to a local river and saw some woman taking photos of families on the bank, from the side so it looked like a group. When she saw me, she shook her head and then went off grinning and the photos on her phone.

I felt angry for the families but the tried to let it go and enjoy the day. Must be a sad life to go cycling around taking photos of others like that

sorry typos had some wine

Agent 2 year olds can be intense. I used to put mine in the buggy and go for walks...till they sleep!

Ah Agent, I think everyone who’s had a 2yo knows how you feel!

The thing to remember when you lose your shit is they really don’t need you to be perfect. My 4yo had a big meltdown today after demanding a little plastic penguin from his older brother. Then a few minutes later he came back in and said “sorry for snapping [brother’s name]” and suggested a game they could play. And I thought, he learnt that phrase from me - because I’m always snapping at them! But they wouldn’t learn what to do when they freak out if no one else ever freaked out around them and then made up for it!

Anyway, hope you are feeling better now and get a nice relaxing evening once DS is asleep.

Garden centre trip sounds good WhiteTwix. Sadly, I loved the plants and plastic boxes sections of Homebase (don’t have any other garden places nearby) even before pandemic ... should defo take myself off soon for an exciting day out considering buying new gardening tools and half price plants

How weird about the photo lady Orange ... it definitely is good to get out though - yesterday I was feeling really fed up mid-afternoon so I took two of the DC off on a ten minute drive to a nearby park. We’ve not been anywhere apart from the paths around us for so long it was so nice just to see some different views and run around a bit.