I usually do them on Sunday NOT THAT WE KNOW WHAT BREAKING THE SABBATH IS afternoons. I start from my house and run to downtown Salt Lake City, weaving through some neighborhoods, and then I turn around and come back home. It's about a 12-13 mile run, depending on how many detours I take.
The Sunday afternoon run has honestly been the best thing I have ever done for my anxiety. Since I started doing it last spring, I have been calmer than I can remember being in a long time. I told you recently that my Achilles was hurting me and this stressed me out to no end because the last thing I needed while on lock-down during a pandemic was to lose my ability to go on these weekend runs. Fortunately I got some advice for physical therapy exercises I can do at home and they have been a miracle.
I did not expect these to work. I kind of don't trust anything a doctor ever says to me. I don't know why. Maybe it's because my brain is so incapable of computing science on even the most basic levels that whenever a doctor prescribes me something I feel like they're just attempting to do magic tricks. This, of course, drives my medical student husband crazy.
Not long ago he demanded I make an appointment with my doctor (the one who gave me the physical therapy instructions) and I was like "yeah, and then maybe after that I'll do a rain dance to end the drought" and this very funny joke did not get the laugh it deserved.
So I've been able to continue the runs, and for that I'm incredibly grateful, even if there is no logical reason why standing on a step stool and doing slow calve raises several times a day would heal my heel.
Yesterday I set out on my run. It was a beautiful day. I passed others out on their own solo adventures. People on bikes. Kids on scooters. And then I ran by a house with a little boy who caught my eye. He must have 10. He was sitting on his front lawn, wearing a "Vote for Pedro" t-shirt, a full Darth Vader mask, and he was doing yoga completely by himself.
And I thought, "you do you, kid." Because who's to judge people's coping mechanisms right now?
What has been your most effective "therapy" during social distancing? Anything you've worked into your day that has particularly helped you stay calm and get through this?
And while you stew on that, please enjoy some Strangerville:
This time in Strangerville, Eli is not sharing his opinions anymore and Meg is FINE WITH THAT. Also, a story about how the benefits of technology probably outweigh the negatives.
Segment:
Is Technology Really All That Bad, by Eli McCann (music by Superoro)
Production by Eli McCann & Meg Walter
~It Just Gets Stranger
I’ve been taking a long, hot bath every night. They aren’t great baths: I’m 6’2” and don’t really fit, not to mention baths aren’t really that great for becoming not-smelly. However, the silence and meditation have been lifesaving.
ReplyDeleteAs an introvert, I am reveling in this.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a person who usually loses sleep. But one night back around March 15, I was awake and spiralling through all the worst case scenarios (what if we can't leave our house for a year? Or more!). My husband suggested getting chickens from friends with many chickens. It's only a little bit illegal for us to keep chickens, but our neighbor has had them and said it's probably fine. So we traded some craft beer(#millenials)for two full grown chickens and one teenaged chicken, then frantically built a chicken coop while trying to visit the hardware store as little as possible. It's the ugliest thing we have ever built, but sitting in the back yard watching Chicken Avasarala bully Champagne Champagne as our dog cries from inside the house because we won't let her eat them is surprisingly calming.
ReplyDeleteStarted training for a marathon... Swore I never would. My next race (Ragnar) was cancelled... Need to find a marathon now.
ReplyDeleteI’m just depressing and denying my feelings until they lose power and go away. It is working great.
ReplyDeleteReally well.
And I’ve been coloring more and assembling puzzles.
COLORING and PUZZLES for the win. I recently spent an entire day just coloring. And then my kids brought me that color with mom book you gave me, and we colored together. It was so peaceful and nice and what is remote learning, anyway?
DeleteAs a single, living alone with no one to annoy but my pets and myself, I can verify that the lockdown is brutal in a way I wasn't expecting. I'm very much an introvert and for the most part I'm fine with just being home...but to be alone constantly with only your own thoughts? God, I am annoying myself.
ReplyDeleteBut daily walks with the dog, yoga, painting projects, trying recipes I normally wouldn't have time for, and occasional video chat "Happy Hour" helps create some sense of sanity around here.
We have gone through 25 pounds of flour since this thing began.
ReplyDeleteI sit on my back patio with a nice glass of wine and judge the runners in the neighborhood. I'm kidding. I have been reading everything I can get my hands on. Including my husband's school books. Now I'm forced to read books online. Thank you Amazon prime for offering up free books!
ReplyDeleteI've been reading Stranger! I've been going back over old posts and it has been a fun way to distract myself and feel close to this community again. Please never delete your old posts!
ReplyDeleteI’m #essential, but this has changed what my work day looks like. I used to have about 7 hours of face to face meetings per day, plus my actual work, so I regularly spent 10-12 hours per day at the office, and most Saturdays for at least 3-4 hours. Now I have a couple of conference calls per week, with more email volume, and more people problem solving for themselves, so I am only working 9 hours per day, and no weekends! I’m using all of the extra time at home to learn to bake bread, because avocado toast is #essential and stores don’t have any bread. We renovated a room in my home, and I have sewn over 200 masks for the employees of my company. I’ve also been landscaping, riding my horse a lot more, and talking my extrovert husband off a ledge! I’m a quilter, so always have those projects going, but after 200+ masks I’m done with sewing for a little while. I spent last night sifting through unicorn blanket patterns on ravelry to pick up my crochet hooks again, and I’ve completed 17 seasons of Project Runway, 21 seasons of Midsomer Murders, and Tiger King....but it’s fine, everything is fine, going just great, LOL.
ReplyDeleteI keep buying self things online, recklessly. And I got a pottery whole and I’m relearning how to throw pottery. It’s ridiculously relaxing once you let go of making mistakes! So now my husband is going to attempt to make a kiln out of a trash can. I didn’t ask for details, so that’s all I know about that. Also learning choreography to 80s music videos with the kids for exercise. Highly recommend.
ReplyDeleteI've been taking my kids on a walk every day, usually between lunch and naptime. And I make sure to go alone to pick up my groceries so I get 10-15 minutes of kid-free time per week.
ReplyDeleteI've been walking around my yard, identifying bushes and plants that I never really liked, and hacking them to pieces. Many of them have thorns and they're cutting me right back, but I'm still winning. Unfortunately, I can't take the enormous pile of yard waste anywhere until they reopen to the public, so it's not actually cleaning the yard up at all.
ReplyDeleteWhen i'm tired of being in quarantine with the family, I sneak out to my car and just sit in the beautiful silence.
ReplyDeleteStarting seedlings in every sunny windowsill and watching them grow and thrive.
ReplyDeleteBetween my full time job and my kids I have zero down time during the day. Like, even when I'm in the bathroom my kids are usually in there with me. So I have been staying up late at night. I talk about non-kid things with my husband, watch Netflix, play on my phone, talk to friends on the phone, whatever. I usually don't go to bed until after midnight. But I don't have to wake up early in the morning to commute to work, so we all sleep in a little. In the past, I'm always in a rush to get everything prepped for the next day and get to bed so I get enough sleep. Now I do no prep, no rushing, just chilling. It is wonderful and makes up for the nonstop hours during the day.
ReplyDeleteI taught myself how to properly shuffle cards, and I've finally learned how to knit! My wife got jealous of my new keep-hands-busy hobby, so she picked up crocheting (the cute figurine kind). Then the kids got jealous of our yarn hobbies, so I made them cardboard looms and they've been weaving rug things for their stuffies. Now we all have yarn hobbies (and we just dropped an embarrassing chunk of our stimulus money on ordering yarn...), but I probably need to add another option for when my eyes can't handle staring at yarn anymore.
ReplyDeleteThe addiction to yarn is so real. Once you start, it's so hard to quit. YARN for days.
DeleteReading this blog, trying to remember what day it is, watching asian dramas, listening to BTS music, John Krasinski's Some Good News, crocheting, crying, Marco Polo'ing my friends and family, (anytime you want me to start bothering you all day long with my rambling thoughts more than I already do, LET ME KNOW, sir. JUST LET ME KNOW.) <-- kidding. Though, for real, I am sad my sister had to leave Africa before she could make you a video of the sea turtles.
ReplyDeleteYou’d think with two kids under 1.5 years I wouldn’t have extra time, but I did start getting bored - so we gave up TV & movies! For real! I took up embroidery and doll-making, my husband is working on our Subaru to make it more off-roady, and we’ve been unicycling together in the evenings after the kids are down. And I’ve been reading a bit more, though still not as much as I want to!
ReplyDelete