Routine in Lockdown
With lockdown upon us again, I’ve found myself slipping out of my everyday routine. I’ve found it that little bit easier to go to bed slightly later knowing I can sleep in that tiny bit longer in the morning. But I have found that slipping out of my routine isn’t working for me as well as if I had stayed in it, and I wanted to explore ways to help bring in the routine when my day is shaping up to be very different than usual.
Step one of creating a routine was to find a workspace. My kitchen table set up from the previous lockdown wasn’t going to cut it this time around. With the last lockdown, I found myself moving things back and forth from the table to the surrounding surfaces every time I ate. I also found myself walking past a book, having some inspiration and adding to my work at all hours of the day, not the most productive way to work. I knew this time around that I would benefit from having a designated space and time for work so that I could treat it as if I were still physically “going” to work. The first thing was setting up a desk and chair at the appropriate height. Fortunately, I had a lot of textbooks on hand to assist with the correct height of my screen. If you are unsure about the set-up of your desk have a look at our previous blog here.
The second thing to do was designate a time to exercise. I’ve found the cold weather over the last few weeks less favourable for getting out of the house to exercise. With that in mind, I decided to take the opportunity of being home during the day to exercise outside and see a bit of extra sunshine. I have been planning my exercise times when the sun has been out to get my daily exercise (and healthy dose of vitamin D) in.
Thirdly, after a little inspiration from our Sleep 2.0 blog, I have been limiting my screen time before bed. By putting down my phone 90 minutes before bed I have been finding it easier to fall into a routine around bedtime. Before implementing this I had been watching videos in the evening and quickly realised the time was far later than I thought. I have found popping an alarm on my phone 90 minutes before bed to put the phone down incredibly helpful.
My last thing to create a new routine was to make the most of the opportunity to reconnect with friends who are living in different time zones. While I’m not seeing the same people on my afternoon tea breaks I am getting a chance to have a chat with friends I don’t get to speak to as often as I would like. I have found quick catch-ups with these friends helpful in planning out my day.
How has your routine changed while in lockdown?
Olivia