I’m pretty sure I’m not the only furloughed person in the UK right now who is starting to lose their mind from being inside lately (to the point where I’m starting to miss my little part-time job at the garden centre). As a result, I’m trying to find the positives in my life, and have been taking a look at all the things in life that I’ve been loving lately. These include things such as music, watching Netflix and YouTube, books, and my journaling.
I suppose I should give a brief overview as to what it is I’ve actually been up to lately; what exactly am I spending my time off doing. To answer this, I have to admit that I haven’t actually been up to all that much, at least not where my productivity is concerned. I’ve mostly been taking the time to catch up with TV series on Netflix, as well as reading and working on little crochet projects to keep me entertained.
About two weeks into quarantine, my sister (hey, thank you!) explained how I could get Netflix party and continue to watch the series C and I had been making our way through before social distancing started. We also have been watching new series, and movies (all of which C has seen before because what hasn’t he seen?). I can now officially say that I have watched all the Twilight movies – which lived up to my average expectations.
Also, one day while searching for something for us to watch, I stumbled across ‘Scream’ which is a young-adult adaptation on the slasher movies. At first, I was wondering if it was a good series for me to watch because I am not a very big fan of the horror genre, because I get paranoid watching them. However, after the first couple episodes, I found that the complex storyline was really cool and was exactly what I needed to find the motivation to actually nail down and get some of my own writing done. If you’re into this genre, I definitely recommend it!
It also awoke a small dream inside myself that I’d kind of forgotten about. Screenwriting has always interested me, and I’ve always been intrigued by the possibility of perhaps take a course on screenwriting so that I could try to produce something that would one day be acted out. Scream has really awoken that aspiration for me again. It’s also helped me find the ladder to help me out of my pool of custard (a reference from one of my earlier blogs (one of my first, from June last year): Writer’s block) and as a result, I’ve been able to get back to writing the fifth book in my Dimension’s series.
Other than Scream, I’ve also been watching Poldark (which I’ve mentioned before in a previous blog). I usually watch this while I’m working on my little crochet projects because sometimes the storyline in this series is so sad that I need to distract myself. A lot. It also helps me stay productive. I don’t know about other people, but I need to be doing something to occupy myself while I watch TV, otherwise I cannot focus on what’s happening for the life of me.
Alongside watching Netflix, I’ve also been listening to a lot of music – especially as All Time Low just released a new album. I am going to write a separate blog talking about my updated playlist, so I’ll write that for you all to check out soon. But in the meantime, I feel like I should let you know that my current favourite song is ‘Monsters’ from All Time Low’s new album (if you’re going to listen to it, just makes sure you don’t do so around children…).
I think that I’ve especially been loving music lately because there is a genre for whatever mood I am feeling, and it motivates me a lot to get my butt into gear and doing something productive, such as writing, editing or social media.
Moving away from music, I’ve also been loving sitting down with a book and just reading lately. I’m still trying to make my way through Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and the inspiration this book gives me to sit down and write a period novel is pretty funny (mostly because I doubt I will ever be able to deal with the immense amount of research I would have to do in order to write one).
At first I was sceptical as to how much I would enjoy a classic book, but Elizabeth’s character is truly amazing. I keep having to momentarily stop reading to photograph the quotes which I love. The latest one I’ve written down is: “My courage always rises with every attempt to humiliate me.” And I think that it’s very empowering.
Along with Pride and Prejudice, I’ve also been reading the Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo to keep my love of young adult fiction alive. As I’ve mention in my recent Instagram posts, I’ve been tagging the quotes I love with red post-it notes and my book is slowly filling up. Bargugo’s ability to create literature is something I admire, and she is a huge inspiration to me. After all, being able to sculpt such beautiful similes and metaphors, and threading them throughout almost all her pages is truly amazing (and is also something I don’t think I’ll be able to achieve for quite some time, as my writing is just not as advanced – but hopefully, with time, I’ll get there).
Something else I have been really loving lately is something I haven’t done since I was a kid: keeping a journal – and I’m not talking about my bullet journal here. (Side note = to whoever in my house is nosey enough to go looking for it and reading it, please don’t chose to abuse my privacy and trust in that way). This has really been helping me keep on top of my thoughts lately and has really been helping me stay in tune with how I’m feeling with lockdown. It’s also helping me feel like I’m lifting a weight off my shoulders every time I write. I never realised how much my thoughts where weighing down on me until I started to write them down.
I don’t write in my journal every day, as I know that I will struggle to get my thoughts down without repeating myself (which I find annoying when it comes to my thoughts – especially if they aren’t particularly great ones). However twice or thrice a week, spilling my built-up thoughts down onto a page lets me breathe out the week, and prepare for everything in the following one.
I think that lockdown is affecting everyone’s mental health to an extent, and arguments are definitely becoming more common in my house at the moment, mostly because we all need to have a break from each other. Doing my yoga, writing in my journal, and trying to do a five-minutes of mindfulness on most days is helping me try to stay sane and less likely to snap, which I think is good for everyone in my house.
Lately, despite how crazy the world seems, and how much I want us to be able to safely move away from this virus, I know that trying to keep a positive mind is definitely going to help me in the long run.
I hope you enjoyed this blog today, and I hope that it’s helped you take a step back to consider what’s helping you stay calm and happy during lockdown. And, if you’re struggling with finding the positive side of everything right now, I hope that you know it won’t be much longer before we can get back to our normal lives. I have faith that we will all make it through this, and that the government will lift social distancing measures when we’re no longer at risk.
Stay safe, and have a good week! (Also, feel free to have a look around my new website, I think it’s great).
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If you didn’t read last time’s blog, feel free to have a glance at it here: The Habits I Track and Why I Track Them.
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Great reading Emily