Self-Psycholation Session....

Fellow isolators, greetings! We have finally completed the end of our two week, self-imposed, 'quarantine' from Derek and Irene - hurrah!
Many of you, in fact most of our friends and family scattered across the globe, are in various stages of isolation or lockdown. I don't know about you, but we have throughly enjoyed the plethora of social media posts, emails, messages and conferencing which have illustrated what everyone has been up to and, best of all, the many imaginative mitigations to counter being incarcerated. 
From Auckland, we have seen evening 'social distancing' drinks in our old street in Birkenhead and my residents at Bert Sutcliffe Retirement Village having drinks delivered by the staff and then are doing a social distance soiree from their balconies. "My" residents are in total lockdown including a security checkpoint at the entrance to the village! Judging by the messages I am getting though, they all seem in good spirits......well mainly wine!!

We thought we would use this blog to share our incarceration antics and theory of how to get the most from isolation; I confess to plagiarising slightly from a shared article on Facebook by a psychologist (although Von and I had already arrived at most of the points all by ourselves and without a degree in psychology!). The Psychologist had listed 25 points to consider but, at the risk of losing our readers, we will reduce to a more palatable 8...

1. Find some sort of routine

We both listed stuff that we wanted to achieve on a daily basis with some flexibility.....much to Von's eye-rolling. Being completely institutionalised she was in her element with routines, and it's fair to say I haven't had too much of an issue with it either....well, mainly.

2.  Dress for the social life you want

Given we are travelling around in a van, and only have a kitbag of clothing, we don't have a whole variety of outfits to choose from. That said, the gist of the psychologist's observations was more in relation to not sitting around all day in your pj's ! Dennis and I do like to try different looks though...

3. Get outside for at least 30 minutes a day

We have been very lucky here as it's not difficult to get outside in the fresh air and walk without having to think about social distancing. I can only imagine how hard it would be in more built up areas and apartments with no balcony. The various world Governments all seem to be struggling with how to define what is acceptable "outside". Here in NSW, on the spot fines have now come into being and the public are having to justify why they are just sat sitting! Dennis gives us a great excuse for 'essential' outside time whether he likes it or not !

Hampden Bridge in Kangaroo Valley

4. Find time in the day to move around

This we have achieved without too much difficulty, even by walking from the now parked up van to the cottage, and back. However, we are trying to do some more vigorous activity so are alternating long and short dog walks and supplementing these with a resistance training workout or a circuit. Dennis is managing this routine well and enjoys his daily weights session - he's very effective as a 10kg dumbbell. In addition to this we are having late afternoon 'Dance Off' where we select a good tune each and dance like no-ones watching.....oh that's right, no-one is !!

5. Find a Project and/or Quiet time

These have been varied during the past week or so and, initially, Von kept herself satisfied with cleaning projects and then moved onto Jigsaws. She is currently about to complete a Map of the World. We have resisted drawing CoVid19 affected areas on it

I have discovered 'real' books having been using my Kindle in the van. Derek has a large collection of crime thrillers I'm working my way through. My favourite reading spot has been in the late afternoon sun on the deck. 

I am brain training on Cryptic Crosswords and, this week, actually finished one...!

I have also practised mindfulness whilst driving Derek's Tractor up and down the paddocks which gives much time for thought...or not ! Sadly, I am on pause as the Tractor spewed a tyre so I have to wait for the replacement. It's not like we are in a rush right now though.....

6. Limit CoVid Conversation

This has been quite a tricky one as you can't really avoid it unless you live under a rock. Things came to a head this week after we had read all the weekend papers in an afternoon and by the evening we were left feeling quite down. For this reason, we have decided to limit our media time because there's very little 'new' news coming out during the course of a day. That said, it is a very bizarre time and now we hear Boris Johnson is in intensive care. The UK, understandably, and NZ, are both very much in our thoughts on a daily basis.

7. Reach out to others

A highlight, and it really has been, is that the very same media we are trying to limit has also provided some amazing connections with friends and family. All over the world our fellow humans are inventing ways to amuse and entertain via various medium.

'Facebook' and 'WhatsApp' video messaging and posts are our preferred choices. Amanda Crossley giving a broadcast of her morning walk, Mick Cooke playing live music, Rawene Road residents organising social distancing events and now 'Zoom' (wished I had shares in that) is providing groups of friends access to online chats; we managed a 6 household chat the other evening with friends from Auckland and Wellington - a tremendous boost for morale.

I am enjoying Blogging and Dennis has got in the spirit of things by joining me on Facebook to amuse and confuse.

Online conferencing has become the new normal in work and play so will be interesting to see how working lives alter at the end of this pandemic.

8. Eat Well

As you might imagine we have not struggled in that department due to my chef (Von) being amazing in conjuring masterpieces of culinary delight from what appears to be very little. I think Von is enjoying the limited ingredients style of cooking and has risen to the challenge. One stroke of luck for us is tinned mackerel, black beans, cannellini beans, ancient grains and the like are not in short supply as everyone else in Australia would appear to be just buying baked beans, flour and sugar - the mind boggles!

Von's adaptive strokes of genius are my gain...hopefully not my weight gain.

Who knew that you could make Sag Paneer with frozen chopped Kale and Halloumi cheese and still have an awesome curry !

In conclusion, life is not too bad here especially when confronted with what others are facing in various parts of the world. Life could be a damn sight worse. We are relatively young and healthy so are hoping to come through this unscathed other than a delay on our travels; some will not be as fortunate. 

We have a responsibility to do the right thing for our key-workers and we have an array of friends and family that work in those fields; for all of them we say THANK YOU xxxx