Hello October – Linkup with A Chronic Voice

Hello, lovely readers!

I realise that I have neglected my blog a bit recently. Ever since the initial lockdown rules were relaxed the “new normal” (hate that phrase) life took over again. I’m still working from home but it’s been super busy lately and I’ve been finding it difficult to find the time I’d like to focus on my blog. However, I wanted to write a bit about my life at the moment, and I thought what better way than to take part in the October linkup from A Chronic Voice?

Prompts for the Month

1. PRODUCING

This month, I’d like to start producing regular blog content again and also get back into my YouTube channel, which I started during lockdown. In many ways, I miss aspects of lockdown, which sounds strange I know! I miss the time I had and there was no pressure to be anywhere, see anyone or do anything. Since the lockdown restrictions eased I have been busier but I hope to pick up where I left off again, especially as further restrictions have been put in place again in the UK.

2. ACQUIRING

I have noticed over the last few months my back pain has been particularly bad and I seem to have acquired new pains. I’m not sure whether it’s the working from home and general lack of movement, or the running I’ve been doing, although I have been doing less running than before lockdown. I tend to get quite a bit of lower back pain and I also get numbness/nerve irritation from my spinal fusion, which seems to be worse as well recently. I think working from home hasn’t helped. I try to move around as much as I can but there are days where I don’t even go outside, which is bad!

3. SWITCHING

It’s been a strange old year – we’ve all had to switch to a new way of life, to wearing face masks in public places and keeping socially distant, which sadly, now seems normal. I’ve been working from home since March (who’d have thought it would last this long?!) I know I’m very lucky to have a job at the moment and in some ways, I prefer working from home. Over the last 6 months we’ve all had to adapt a lot and learn as we go. For example, I now have better equipment than I did back in March, and we have tools and processes in place at work to make working from home and communication easier. In some ways though, it can be tough mentally and I have definitely found it difficult to switch off from work when working from home. Whilst there is a higher degree of flexibility, there is definitely more of merging of work and home life. My flat, which used to be my sanctuary, now feels like a place of work and sometimes it feels like there is no escape from it. Especially with no holidays or social occasions to break it up and look forward to.

4. DISAPPOINTING

There certainly seems to be a lot of disappointment around at the moment. There have been so many mixed messages from the government that it’s difficult to know what is going on and what the rules are.

One minute we are being urged to “eat out to help out,” and things seem to be re-opening and getting back to “normal” again, the next minute restaurants and pubs are being told to close at 10pm and there’s a threat of another lockdown. This doesn’t really affect me too much to be honest as I’m not that bothered about going to the pub, especially at the moment.

However, one thing I’m disappointed about is Parkrun (which I love) announced a few weeks ago that they were starting back up again in October. I got really excited about this as I’ve really missed it – it used to literally be my life, every Saturday! But then, the rules were tightened again a week after this announcement and so it won’t be happening now. I understand that we need to control the virus but it seems daft to me that Parkrun is not allowed but yet people can still go to pubs, restaurants etc.

The Manchester marathon that I was training for earlier this year was rearranged for October 2020, then April 2021, then October 2021. I highly doubt this will be on for a long time as it’s such a big event, so I’ve kind of resigned myself to the fact that I probably won’t be able to do it. There are some races that have gone ahead this year but they are the smaller ones and there are so many restrictions (no crowds etc) that it’s just not the same. Most events are being cancelled again now though.

I also had to pay quite a bit of money to move my fundraising Machu Picchu trip (which I had planned to do next month to raise money for Scoliosis) to next October, which now clashes with the new marathon date ha. It’s just so hard to plan anything or know what’s going to happen, which means there is not a lot to aim for or look forward to at the moment.

5. FORMING

In relation to the above, I have formed some positive new habits with my training/running and since lockdown eased I have started doing Heart Rate training with a run coach. I started this mainly to help keep my fitness up, as whilst the gyms are open again for now, I don’t fancy going at the moment. I also thought it would give me a bit of motivation as it’s tough at the moment with nothing to really train for. So, watch this space I guess!

Thanks for reading my ramblings. If you’d like to check out the other bloggers for this month’s linkup you can do so over at A Chronic Voice.

Feel free to follow me over on Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest 🙂

Stay safe!

Louise xx

Louise

I had scoliosis surgery in 2010 and blog about my experiences living with scoliosis. My aim is to raise awareness of scoliosis and help and inspire others with the condition.

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