There's no difference...
A cool thing about living in a place like Smithfield is that when you’re confined to a 2km radius for going on a walk, there is still a lot to look at. Being so close to the city centre there is so much to see, even on lockdown.
Lately I’ve enjoyed working with our online clients and then heading out for a morning walk, getting to listen to podcasts ranging from the likes of Nutrition experts to Tony Robbins (PT cliché I know). After walking for a while, I take out my earphones and start doing the whole VAKGO (trying to experience everything through our 5 senses – seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling,– trying to be all in the now and stuff).
This morning something that struck me was as I’d walk along the different streets, the different cars parked along them and the different people kicking off their days inside was that, no matter where someone lives, no matter what they drive, whatever pet they have on their window – everyone has the same goal.
Keep the Coronavirus as far away as possible.
Looking closer at that goal, it is ultimately to keep as fit and healthy as possible and help everyone else keep as fit and healthy as possible. Because no matter what we have materially, or where we live, it’s no good to us without our health and this situation has highlighted that fact in a big way.
Ultimately looking at all the information that’s coming from Doctors etc. the best things we can do at the moment are follow HSE guidelines and look after ourselves, ironically doing things we should be doing all the time. Like:
- Managing our stress levels: Some things that I’ve found great over the last few weeks have been writing a list of what I want to get done each day, keeping a routine and not obsessing over when the lockdown will finish by keeping busy and focusing as much as I can on what I can control. And we can all still control a huge amount in our lives, despite the lockdown.
- Sleeping properly: This has come up again and again lately as being so important for our immune system and our mental health during a stressful period. So do things like keeping a set bedtime routine as much as possible, don’t obsess over the news/look at social media before bed and keep as many electronics as you can out of the bedroom to help you here.
- Eating healthy nutrient dense foods: What I find helps here is looking at food beyond what it tastes like. If you look at food as an opportunity to make yourself stronger, leaner, more energetic and with a stronger metabolism and immune system then you’ll be more likely to make the right choice and get plenty of fruit and veg into your diet.
- Exercise: It might be hard training at home and motivation could be low at the moment. But when we get back to a level of normality you’ll have work/getting back on track as your reason for not exercising. It doesn’t have to be the perfect workout but getting some movement in will not only help you keep physically fit, it’ll also help clear your mind. Just be active and do something that you enjoy and if you want to try something different, feel free to shoot us a mail and you can jump in on a week of our Christchurch Fitness Online sessions.
As much as I’m enjoying the morning walks, I’m hoping that I won’t have the luxury of going on them after taking some semi private sessions online much longer. But while we are in the lockdown we may as well do all that we can to look after the most important things.
Like our health and fitness…