Top 5 Tips to Get Through Lockdown
The lockdown in Ireland has been long and hard on the whole country. Working from home, travel restrictions and closed businesses have drastically reduced our daily life to staying close to home and socialising mainly through the internet. It’s easy to be frustrated with the lack of variety day-to-day, as well as feeling trapped. That’s why we have come up with these top 5 tips to get through lockdown, with the goal of spicing up your day and creating a positive mindset!
Tip 1: Have Dedicated Non-Screen Time Everyday
As we all know from experience over the past year, lockdown and working from home has many downsides. With not much to do, it’s very easy to be on screens all day, whether that’s working on a computer, scrolling through social media on your phone or watching shows on television. The reality is that we often spend our entire waking day on screens.
This can have negative physical health, including sleep problems, concentration issues, eye strain and headaches. Mental health can also be impacted, particularly from “doomscrolling” through social media and constantly reading negative news, opinions and comments.
Having dedicated non-screen time everyday is a great way to clear your head and engage with the world around you. It doesn’t matter how long that time is as long as it works for you, but 45 minutes to 1 hour of straight non-screen time is a great reset. That time could be spent reading, going for a walk, talking with your housemates, playing with your pet, cooking – anything!
If you find yourself struggling to stay away from your phone, try downloading the Forest app. Choose your time limit and press plant to grow a virtual tree. If you leave the app, the tree will die. Succeed, and you get rewarded with virtual coins. Plant enough trees and you can cash in those virtual coins for a real tree, planted by the app’s partner Trees for the Future.
Tip 2: Vary Your Walking Route
One of the common themes of nearly everybody’s lockdown routine is the daily walk. The daily walk is absolutely essential these days. Getting out of your workspace and breathing in fresh air is vital to your mental health. It has to be said however, that sometimes the walk can feel a bit like a chore. That is understandable, but it does reduce the benefits of the walk when you get less enjoyment out of it.
That’s why we recommend making an effort to switch up your daily walk by varying your route. The simplest suggestion is to do your normal route the opposite way around. If you normally walk clockwise around your local park, try going anti-clockwise the next time! You’d be surprised how simply walking in the opposite direction changes your perspective and makes you notice new things in your area!
Another suggestion is to explore places near you that you’ve never gone to before. Think about where you live: how many roads, cul-de-sacs, housing estates, etc. near you have you never walked around? How well do you know where you live? Right around the corner from you there may be the most beautiful garden you’ve ever seen, or your dream house, or maybe a friendly dog at the gate! You never know what you’re missing until you look for it!
Tip 3: Try a New Recipe
Life in lockdown can get very repetitive, especially when it comes to food. With restaurants closed, many people are missing out on their favourite places and trying new dishes. At home, it’s much easier to stick to cooking the same types of dinners again and again. Trying to cook new meals can be daunting, but it doesn’t have to be! You don’t need to buy special equipment or expensive ingredients to enjoy great food at home!
Trying out a new recipe once a week or every two weeks is a great way to keep your dinner options interesting and varied. Check out the websites of chefs you have heard of for new recipe ideas. Instagram is great for inspiration because you can see how the dish is made and how it looks when its finished.
If you want a new recipe to try this week, check out Donal Skehan’s Creamy Chicken & Spinach Pasta. I have cooked it myself multiple times and it’s delicious! My tip is to cook the chicken separately so that the main dish is vegetarian, and then the chicken can be added afterwards if people want it.
Tip 4: Be Fancy at Home
We all miss going out, whether that’s going to restaurants for dinner, going to a house party, going to the pub for a few drinks with friends or going clubbing in the city. Of course, we miss socialising with people not from our own household but getting dressed up and looking great was a big part of the fun too. Now with lockdown, it’s very easy (and comfortable) to spend most days in baggy jumpers and sweatpants.
If you want to inject a bit of fun back into your week, dress up for dinner some day! Find a reason to look fancy and enjoy the evening. Maybe there’s a birthday in your household or someone passed an exam, or maybe it’s just an ordinary Sunday evening! Get your party clothes on, have glass of wine (if you’re over 18, obviously) and embrace the fun!
Tip 5: Lift Your Mood With Music
Our final tip for getting through lockdown is to use music as a way to lift your mood if you’re feeling down. Even in normal times, no one can be positive all the time. In lockdown it can be even easier to feel down, upset and negative. That’s normal and expected, but it isn’t healthy to stay that way for long periods of time. Sometimes when you’re in a funk, you have to force yourself into a better mood – and music can light the way.
Make a Spotify playlist of your favourite songs, the ones that get you singing and smiling because of the happiness in the music. If you’re ever feeling upset or negative, stick it on and turn it up loud. Trust me, it will help – even if just a bit.
Our very own Mary McAleese, former President of Ireland, likes to blast out Galway Girl each morning to chase away the covid-blues.