Summary

The article discusses the benefits of a daily morning walk during lockdown as a means to maintain mental health, structure daily routines, and foster a sense of community.

Abstract

The author of the article reflects on the emotional challenges of lockdown, including the loss of structure in daily life. To combat this, the author began a routine of walking around the block each morning before starting work, marking each day completed with a 'W' on the calendar. This simple act has provided a sense of achievement, mental preparation for the workday, and unexpectedly, a feeling of community as the author began to recognize familiar faces during the walks. The article suggests that this "pandemic commuting" can help others structure their time, manage their mental health, and maintain a sense of normalcy during the lockdown.

Opinions

The author believes that the limited space and restricted activities during lockdown have made it difficult to know what to do with oneself.
Verbalizing movements around the house has become more common for the author, highlighting the restricted options for movement.
The author views the act of walking as a form of self-care and a way to measure daily achievements through step counts and calendar marks.
The article suggests that the pandemic has led to an increase in homebrewing and other activities like house painting as people look for ways to fill their time.
The author sees an unintended consequence of the daily walks: the formation of a community through recognition and interaction with neighbors.
The article posits that the morning walk serves a similar purpose to a traditional commute, helping to mentally transition from home life to work.
The author emphasizes the importance of finding ways to structure time in the absence of pre-pandemic routines.
The author finds joy and a sense of connection in observing wildlife, particularly robins, during the walks.
The article encourages readers to consider adopting a morning walk routine to help cope with the lockdown's impact on daily life.

Pandemic Commuting — Walking for Sanity

One simple way to add a little structure your day in lockdown

**Source:** Felicia Chao (https://www.instagram.com/feliciachiao/)

“I just don’t know what to do with myself… I don’t know what to do with myself.”

(Song, written by Burt Bacharach)

Structuring Space

How are you feeling? I love the above image from Felicia Chao. It neatly portrays the range of emotions related to the claustrophobia many are feeling during these strangest of times.

In lock-down, our space is limited, time has lost a lot of its previous meaning and our choices of activity are severely restricted. What should I do now? I know, I will move to a different room… What will I do this weekend? Maybe I will sit in the garden…

I find that I am becoming more verbal with my partner about my movements around the house, almost to the point of sounding absurd.

“I’m going to take the laptop into the other room for a while,” I say, “just to write for an hour or so. Okay?”

We never verbalised our movements to this degree pre-lockdown! But this is a reflection on how our options for movement have become severely restricted.

With massively restricted options, knowing where we should be and what we should be doing at any given moment of the day is difficult. A lot of men seem to be growing beards. Homebrewing alcohol has taken off. We are all painting our houses (one room per day of course).

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Structuring Time

I work at home every day now too, another big adjustment. The changeover was particularly hard in the first few weeks until started a little experiment. It turned out to be a small change that made a big difference.

After breakfast and before starting work upstairs, I went for a walk around the block. Just 20 minutes to get some fresh air and stretch the legs. I also marked the calendar each day with a big capital ‘W’ every time I did it.

… feeling of community…

I felt good after day one. It felt better to work all day knowing that I had already been outside. My phone counted my steps and as the days passed I could look back and measure my average. It felt like a small achievement each day. The marks on the calendar began to accumulate. Small rewards for a tiny act of self-care every day.

After a few days of my new routine, I realised I was passing the same people each morning. People from my area out walking their dogs, taking the kids out for a kickabout or just getting some fresh air. Imperceptible nods of recognition began to form part of the walk. Was there some feeling of community forming around this short walk in the morning? That was certainly an unintended consequence.

I see all kinds of other characters too: cats and dogs, pigeons and magpies. They seem to have the run of the place these days and are generally inquisitive and bemused to see people at all. I imagine they are all curious to know just what is going on!

Also, on more than one day out walking, I have seen robins.

I find it hard to put into words here why those guys lift my spirits so much.

That story is for another time.

The Joys of Pandemic Commuting

I joked one evening with my partner that I had become a pandemic commuter to my home office. We realised that the joke had a lot of truth to it.

A commute is a segue from home to work. It is an opportunity to adjust your mental state: to purge where you were, and get ready for your next destination. This is why we get dressed for work too, or at least, why we used to. It’s a long time since I did that.

I am beginning to realise that the commute has been very helpful to my mental health. I leave breakfast behind, and by the time I arrive back, my mindset has shifted and I’m ready for work.

I have a pandemic commute to my home office

We all need to find ways to structure time. There is no morning routine any more. We don’t get up, get dressed and leave for work. I don’t have kids to look after, but time management has suddenly become a part of all of our daily routines. The scaffolding we relied upon to timetable our days has disappeared, so we must now use our own force of will to structure the day.

It’s just one aspect of the lockdown that contributes to that overwhelmed feeling we all share.

If the option is open to you, maybe a morning commute could help add some structure to your day. Even if you are not working right now, a short walk at the same time every morning could help you feel a little bit better. You can count your steps and mark the days on the calendar to help build some scaffolding around your time.

Albeit briefly, you’ll encounter other people and can begin to recognise a small element of community in that.

You may startle neighbourhood cats and stumble upon all wildlife around you too, but I am willing to bet that it will raise your spirits.

If you are lucky enough to see a robin, I am sure it will do your heart good too.

Enjoy your pandemic commute while it lasts.

And remember, this too shall pass.