This week marked 6 weeks of lockdown and for me it has gone pretty quickly.  I stopped yesterday and thought about what I have done over what was the equivalent of the school summer holidays for me...and I've done quite a lot (although I haven't had homeschooling or children to cope with!)...

- I've planted potatoes, lettuce, onions, courgettes and butternut squash at the allotment (and got rid of a dead rat that was in my water butt)
- I've revisited the footage of a Sports Hypnosis course I did in February and re-read the manual/some books ready for when I do my case studies after lockdown
- I learnt how to create/edit lots of videos for social media
- I learnt how to use Zoom and spoke to a client in Romania!
- I prepared and published lots of posts on social media
- I've done lots of baking and tried out new recipes
- I started a deep clean/clearout of the kitchen
- I've drafted blogs for my website
- I've been on lots of walks and bike rides
- I've watched lots of videos to learn how to work on my website
- Given away free Hypnosis Downloads and half price Hypnocise Programmes
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But I have also:

- Not exercised as much as I would have like to
- Eaten too much cake!
- Missed my friends and family
- Started (and stopped) doing the Couch to 5K training
- Sat and watched TV when I had wanted to do something more productive
- Had some moody/snappy moments!
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It seems that there is going to be some relaxation of lockdown and hopefully I will be back seeing clients soon but when I do go back, I'm happy that I got stuff done whilst off. 

One of the things I give my clients is a sheet detailing some unhelpful thinking habits and how to make them more realistic. One of the habits on this sheet that I think may come to the fore for some people is 'mental filtering'. This is where we filter out and ignore the good positive things (the first list above) and focus and ruminate on the negatives (the second list above). It would be easy for me to focus on the second list and regret what I hadn't done, that is, mental filtering out all of the positives, but this would make me feel negative, down and regretful...and how helpful would that be?  But I can acknowledge those things I didn't do, whilst celebrating the things that I did get done. 

I can also get realistic about the second list...I don't really like running and so don't mind stopping the Couch to 5K training because at least I tried; I will be able to see my friends and family in the future and can see them online; perhaps when I sat and watched that Carry On film instead of exercising or being more productive, I just needed a bit of R&R...but when the gyms are back open again, I will be able to be a bit more organised; perhaps when I was snappy, I was just tired from a bad night's sleep.  And all of that is ok, and I am fine with this.

So if you didn't cope too well with homeschooling - that's fine...you're not a teacher; if you were a bit snappy, then that's ok too...perhaps you were worried about something or hadn't slept well; if you haven't exercised...then maybe you needed some time out and you can get back on the case when you are ready.

We are all different...so why not try making a list like I have and practice celebrating your achievements.  You can use the second list, if you want, to acknowledge what didn't go quite so well, why, and if you want to do anything about it.

Take care and stay safe!

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