lockdown love: how to motivate yourself in the lockdown

How long is it for you?

6 weeks of lockdown for me. At the start, after a cupboard was cleared each day, the adjustment week break downs, walls painted and after the garden was power washed, I finally found space to focus on my creativity, finish many projects started years ago.

Yesterday I cycled round to my friend’s house (4th time on my bike in past four days, thats four times more than in the past ten years) and said what I had been doing. She said she has no motivation and maybe I could write a blog on how to motivate yourself in this lockdown. She is an extremely high powered career woman who currently can not go to work, so it’s not like she is someone not used to working. And that is ok, do not resist this. TRUST THE PROCESS. You don’t have to be motivated. But if you want to be, read on.

I took the conversation as a sign to write this blog.

1. The first clue on how to motivate yourself is in this title… LOVE. Lockdown love. Hate all of lockdown? Break it down into smaller parts. Just like if you say you are having a bad day, no you are not having a whole bad day, just a bad MOMENT. So, with lockdown, maybe you are enjoying a lie in? The silence? The birds? Seeing buds grow? New green leaves? Planting seeds? Slowing down a little? The clapping on a Thursday? The blue sky? I know there are some people who are in terrible situations in this lockdown. I am so sorry. Please reach out for help.
2. If you need to rest, REST. Stop. Try to stop any guilt about stopping too. Like my friend I talk of above, maybe now is your time to rest… AND THAT IS OK! Let yourself off the hook. Eventually you will get fed up and start doing something.
3. If doing nothing “triggers” you, which is does me, then this is where a TIME TABLE may come in handy. I put one together for the whole week, imagining my week as it was before lockdown, and sticking to it. For example, I have a little 5 year old so Monday is a new school week. We lie in til 8, school 11 – 12.30. Get dressed and brush teeth etc before school. Lunch 12.30 to 2, playtime and packed lunch. Then another school session 2-3.30. Then after school club. With this time structure you can focus more, quality time with your child, or quality time for you. You could also have set food nights. Tonight it’s pizza for us. A timetable keeps you structured and it also helps you remember that day it is!
4. Make a LIST of jobs to achieve, household jobs, DIY jobs, creative jobs. Pace yourself, one a day is enough.
5. Only consume things that you love. I guess if this is drugs and drink this may no have been a good thing to say. Try not to become addicted… Please try to focus on your HEALTH. With a pandemic going on it is essential to be healthy so you do not get this virus. Try to take one small step to the you you want to be. I have eaten so much chocolate each night my clothes were starting to not fit. Put on your jeans! Going on my bike has seemed to help the chocolate situation as I guess it releases endorphins or something, just like the chocolate does. Eat your food as medicine so you don’t have to each medicine as food. If you put rubbish into your body you are going to feel rubbish.
6. MUSIC… I have written many times about the power of music. I think it helps form new healthy neuro pathways quicker and better. thats why music lyrics stay in your head. So make sure you are listening to good, healthy lyrics. MAKE YOURSELF PLAYLIST. I have one on Spotify called BELIEVE to reprogram my head when I am feeling terrible. Recently I have even been remembering to PUT THE PLAYLIST ON. Making a playlist and not listing to it is a bit like joining a gym and not going to the gym. Think of music as a gym for your mind. SING. I put head phones on as I cycle and practise trying to sing well as I move, its good for the breathing. (I am not meant to go out as I have severe asthma.)
7. DO A RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS. If you are finding it hard to do sobering for yourself, do something for someone else. You could make some happiness jars for people. I have made little hanging white clay hearts with a rainbow ribbon and a motivating and kind, compassionate word on (love, BRAVE, connect, happiness, learn, rediscover, kindness, practise gratitude, be bolder, unify, passion, MIRACLE, and I lave them on benches for people to find. Pay for someones shopping.
8. VISUALISE your motivation, visualise what you used to do for your self care. I have had to give up my shopping addiction. I lived right next door to the best charity shop in Exeter, Force in Heavitree (I call it “the magical charity shop” as whatever I want would appear in there, if I was patient enough). I went in there pretty much every day for 20 years. The days i did not go in was de to it being closed. The middle isles at Aldi and Lidl were also amazing distraction for me. Shopping was my stress relief, gliding around the shops, tuning into the seasons in some twisted marketing way. Feeling joy as I found something I love (this hardly ever happens, which is why I am creating my own empire). Instead I now visualise myself in the shop, as I write a list for my big girl to go to get food with (i have severe asthma, not meant to go out). Visualise finding the coffee in the right place, then bread products and cereal, then pasta and sauces, you get the idea. If you are missing going to the gym, visualise that you are in the gym and exercise. If you used to go to the cinema as a stress relief, have a proper movie night with pop, popcorn and darkness, even in the day. If you miss going out for drinks, do as my big girl does and have an online pub quiz with your friends, dress up and get a bottle of wine in.
9. Find your PASSION. You will be more motivated if you do something you are passionate about. So, ff you want to do a big project, listen to your heart. You can only listen to your heart when you are still. We have a lot of time to be still now, don’t we. Your heart is so powerful it does not need to shout. It has a soft voice, a voice that comes from the heart centre of your body. Be still and ask your heart what it wants, what its passion is, what it loves, your literal hearts desire. A conversation between the heart and your head, and when your gut centre is also in line with heat and head (gut centre is about fear and overcoming fear) you will be pretty much aligned. TRUST YOUR OWN WISDOM.
10. After doing the above exercise, MIND MAP like crazy. Put it all down on paper. Inspire yourself. Inspire means to breathe in life. Then, and this is the key thing, let it all go. Let it go and let the universe take care of it all. Doing this is a practice, and it means you have to practice every day, as in you have to PRACTICE! Practice means “the actual application or use of an idea, belief, or method, as opposed to theories relating to it”. All this above is just theory.

So, there you go! Please let me know in the comments below what you think, how you motivate yourself, or how you get on.

Stay safe x jen