Stress Busting

 

When Steve almost broke down from stress about ten years ago whilst studying his apprenticeship, his lovely GP, Doctor Miranda, prescribed him walks as a stress-buster, and it was a very effective treatment.  Well, in these pandemical times there is a LOT of stress to bust, so every night this week, Steve and I have been having an evening constitutional. As well as getting to know the new neighbourhood, we are connecting and catching-up with each other, and talking through our various worries and annoyances. Tonight we walked along the Darebin Creek, which turned out to be a gorgeous bush oasis; the sounds of gently running water and various birds - including 3 kookaburras-  and the sights and smells of gum tress and native flora were incredibly soothing.

 It's the financial fall-out from this pandemic that frightens us most, understandable I suppose given we've never felt truly comfortable, money-wise. Obviously we worry how we'll make it through the short-term without regular income, but on top of that is the long-term effects and fallout for us and our friends and family in the aftermath. I rode my bike to North Fitzroy to get provisions today; cycling is usually an activity which I enjoy and find very mindful, but today my brain was catastrophising madly.  It was unbearable, so I made myself sing songs from musicals (My Fair Lady and Hair) out loud while I rode; better to be the crazy singing bike-lady than to have the financial apocalypse playing out in my mind.

Stress is something I'm living with constantly now, and it's manifesting physically. I'm constantly clenching my jaw, so my neck and upper back are in a terrible way. I've got scaly red patches on my eyelids (see pic) and I'm sleeping very badly.  Part of the bad sleep is nocturnal hot flushes which I think are linked to the nightly consumption of alcohol, so this week I gave up drinking.  I also think Steve and Jake are drinking too much at the moment -as in every night, they don't get hammered but they never have a night off - but they see no reason to cut it back because their bodies aren't punishing them by coming to the boil three times a night.  Stupid hormones. Also, when this is over I am spending my first paycheque on a massage and chiropractic treatment, that's a promise.

 

In other news, I still can't buy flour and it's freaking me out. Piedimonte's Supermarket now has perspex barriers around all their cashiers, which is a good idea but a little bit alarming.  Also, we thought it might be good to grow some herbs and veggies, seeing as Jake is interested in, and good at, gardening, but now of course it's really difficult to buy seeds or seedlings. Far out, panic buyers! Jake went to a nursery for me and has started our doomsday garden with some herbs, peas carrots and turnips. Turnips never sell out, not in seed or grown form.

 

I had a lovely facetime catch-up with Jen and Suse today in the morning and with my Mum this evening.  Mum is taking isolation cheerfully, and feels she has plenty of community support and access to all she needs.  This is a relief because we live so far away from her, and travelling is getting more difficult. Yesterday Astrid and Jen and I had a Mothers Group online cuppa, and I also talked with Nell, who got stood down from her job - booking travel for arts and sports events - this week. Nell wasa actually on annual leave when all this happened so she's taking a day or two to work out what to do.  Centrelink is in her future but nobody wants to spend 4 hours on the phone or navigate the overloaded website, so she's biding her time.  Hot tip from Suse today though, if you wake up at 5 in the morning, it's actually a  great time to get on the Centrelink website. 

I'm still doing the morning online workout (28 by Sam Wood) and today I used some 2-litre tomato sauce bottles as my hand weights.  I'm going to try running my Legs-11 class (dance fitness for women over 50, something I started doing with a few members of the community from the North Fitzroy Curves Gym when it closed down last year) as a live facebook class because it's a very simple format and I miss the class members, such a lovely bunch of women. I think it will be a good practice for how to run tap content too.

Tomorrow is Saturday, so Steve will get a mini-break from work-stress. He plans to re-wire the trailer and fix the flywire sliding door in the family room.  They said at his work last week that for the next 9 weeks there'd be some work but likely only 3 weeks out of that 9 per person, so the rest would be unpaid or they could use annual leave.  I was hoping Steve would be given the first 3 weeks of the 9, in case everything turns to shit and the whole operation got closed down halfway through, or it turned out they needed more hands on deck for the remaining 6 weeks.  The good news is that he is rostered for the first 3 weeks, but there's no guarantees that won't change.  Word is Victoria is heading into more stringent restrictions come Monday....so we'll see.

Love and health everyone.xx