As the COVID-19 pandemic sweeps all over the globe, devastating nations and bringing us into one of the strangest times in our lives, it is hard to stay positive. We are confined to our homes. We have found ourselves without jobs, with an overwhelming amount of time, with no purpose or feeling lonely. I wanted to keep sharing content with you and hopefully provide positivity and encouragement during this season. These are uncertain/unprecedented/strange/(every other buzz word you’ve been hearing on the news) times. I made the call to return to New Zealand from London earlier than planned. Everything escalated very quickly and I had to make the right decision at the time. I’ve now been home for a week and it’s such a strange feeling of limbo and my mind processing that I’m done with my time living in London. It was a very hard thing to flee and not properly say goodbye to the city or the people. However, I am happy to be here, isolating on my parents farm and at least back in the same time zone as most of my family and friends. I have not been “perfectly” using all this free time (whatever that means) but I have been trying to be intentional in some areas, as well as giving myself grace at the same time, so I thought I’d share a few thoughts…

Be Intentional with your time

We can see this lockdown as an opportunity. For creativity, for growth, for working on new skills and hobbies, for exercise, for eating well, and for being productive. Try to have a balance and use your time well. I’m not always one for strict daily routines as I’ve found most of my working life I end up having a different schedule every day depending what I’m doing. If that’s you then great, all power to you. However, I do have some “daily goals” if you want to call them that, that I’ve been doing everyday. Some examples of this for me have been: spending time with God/in prayer, sticking to intermittent fasting and healthy eating (whatever works for your individual body!), exercise/moving my body everyday, speaking to friends, journaling and writing down gratitudes. Just simple things, which in the chaos of normal life can drop at the wayside if I’m honest, but with this new-normal I’m hoping will stick beyond lockdown.

This also might be a great time to learn something new or get around to that part of the to-do list you never quite reach. I’ve seen lots of baking, painting, reading and home workouts going on which is great.

Don’t pressure yourself to be “productive” right now

Everything I’ve said above is great and the whole internet seems to have jumped on board with the self-improvement-wellness-guru-become-your-best-self wave but we are still literally in the middle of a global pandemic. I won’t judge you if you don’t drop 5kg, become a yoga queen or learn Spanish during this time. Beware of the comparison trap that Instagram can be. Don’t compare your isolation to someone else’s. Can’t believe I just wrote that, but 2020, am I right? Be kind to yourself in this time. You may have been having a really stressful time at work, or have fear and anxiety with what is happening in the world, feeling really overwhelmed, and now is a great chance for you to just REST. Normally we run around, so busy all the time and being forced to stop for once might just be a good thing. Be still.

Let’s be honest, keep yourself entertained

I’m looking at you Netflix, Youtube, Instagram (so many Insta-lives right now!), Lightbox, Prime, etc. What better excuse than to get caught up on your favourite series. I know I’m not alone in my screen time having increased quiiiite a bit during this time. Don’t feel guilty about it, it’s a season. Aren’t you so grateful that we even have this technology to keep us connected, informed and entertained. We’re not living in the 19th century, so we can’t really complain about that.

Move your body

While it’s tough being restricted to our homes, we are still allowed to walk/exercise locally and it’s so important to utilise this. I definitely start to feel trapped if I don’t move all day, and need some fresh air and a walk. Doing a bit of yoga or stretching is amazing too and there is so many videos you can find free online to follow. I’ll add my running and HITT workouts back in when I’m feeling it too. Keeping those endorphins up and exercising even just for your mental health is important in this time especially.

Stay connected

It sucks that we can’t see all our friends and family right now. I can’t even imagine what it’s like if you’ve recently lost someone, have a newborn baby or even can’t celebrate your birthday how you wanted to. But luckily we’re not in the age of letters and phone booths anymore, we can Facetime, call, houseparty and keep in touch with everyone so easily. I will miss all the real-life hugs but am so grateful we can keep connected like this. Make sure you’re keeping in touch, and checking in on your friends.

Try to stay positive about the future

I know that is such an easy statement to say and right now with everything being so up in the air and so much uncertainty, it’s hard to do. I’ve definitely felt fearful about what the future will hold for my industry and life in general. One day this will all be over, things will go back to normal, maybe a different, new-normal but we will we see the other side, whenever that may be. Try to hold onto that and stay positive, we’re all in this together!

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I’ll be back sharing more wedding planning tips soon and more of my work too. Let me know how you’re doing through this strange time and anything you’d like to see. Sending you lots of love and virtual hugs xx