This week’s topic is what I do to recharge. And if I’m honest, after more than a year and a half of COVID-19, I don’t really know anymore. I feel like I’ve been functioning on like 25% of a charge for at least a year and 5 months of that. I vaguely remember something about hanging out with people in a place with food and beer… but that might just be a dream. I can’t tell anymore at this point. But there are a few things that help me, you know, not curl up into a tiny ball of sadness and explore the realm of catatonia. They are:
- Have long showers because it’s the only place I get time alone. Well, sometimes. Unless my kid bursts in and wants something from me and I have to explain that I’m in the shower.
- Read. Which you knew already. I often try to find books that allow me to pretend I’m somewhere else, or at least sometime that wasn’t 2020 or 2021.
- Watch TV. I’ve run out of old shows I planned to watch and never got around to to binge because I’ve had a year of no kind of entertainment but binging old TV shows that I never got around to watching before.
- Listen to audiobooks and podcasts, preferably funny ones.
- Knit. I haven’t done this one in a little while, but when I’m really anxious I need to keep my hands busy to calm my mind, and this is the best way I’ve found to do it. Plus at the end I have another scarf. I don’t need another scarf (I’m a very anxious person), but they’re always nice to have.
- Hang out with my kid, because as hard as things are, and as much as I sometimes want a break, that’s still my favourite thing in the entire world to do, particularly when it involves cuddles and reading books aloud.
- Chocolate, because it ends up on every list I make, pretty much.
What about you guys? What do you do to relax and unwind? Do you share any of my strategies for dealing with the suckiness of adult life?
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I also like that you included chocolate. I’m not allowed it much with my diet, so I value it when I can have it.
I really shouldn’t, but I find myself sometimes choosing it over other (more healthy) foods. Particularly when I’m sad or stressed. Maybe it’s because I don’t drink coffee, maybe it really does release endorphins, but whatever the reason, I don’t know if I could ever give it up completely! I have switched to mostly dark chocolate though. So I guess that’s a healthy choice?? Lol!
I love that you included chocolate on your list! Yum.
Knitting is another good choice. I’ve always wanted to learn how to do that. How easy was it to figure out?
Thanks for stopping by earlier.
I kind of feel like my requirements for life (not counting my kid, of course) are about 10% food and water, 50% books and 40% chocolate. Knitting is actually sort of a family inheritance – one of my Nans could knit a sweater in an evening without a pattern while watching TV. I am not that good. My mum taught me when I was really little. I remember it taking a while to get it right – I’d have holes from dropped stitches and had trouble getting the tension even so one end of my scarf would be narrower than the other – but it just takes practice. The knitting part itself really isn’t that hard, and then you can slowly build on it by learning individual stitches from YouTube videos. Or if there’s a yarn shop near you, you could see if they have a knitting circle to join once COVID is better and there’ll be experts to help you! It’s worth a try – I find it therapeutic!
You know, thinking of the knitting scarves to do something with your hands reminds me that I used to do little wire sculptures, using either my hands or needle-nose pliers or both. I should try that again.
That sounds like a great busy hands project! I would definitely poke my fingers repeatedly if I tried it (I cannot even be trusted to sew on a button without drawing blood), but I have known people who were able to make them and always found the results fascinating!