My Daily Life Experience During the Current Movement Restrictions
I imagine that my daily life doesn’t differ that much from many people, who found themselves in a similar situation. Of course, a lot depends on geographical location and the rules stated by a local government but everyone is trying to make the most out of the given situation.
Here in Austria, the rules are not as strict as in the surrounding countries, even though it was one of the virus epicenters in Europe. Despite that, Austria was the first to announce its ease-on-restrictions plan and as of 14th of April they already implemented. If nothing, that proves that strict micro-management of the population is not required to achieve the goals.
I used this opportunity to start and learn many new things. Among them: improve my portfolio, upgrade my blogs, start yourdaily.life project & begin learning German.
Der Vormittag / Morning
The time is actually flying for me. Due to a lack of variation, for the first time in a long time, I have a daily routine. I imagine since my brains know what and when to do, it greatly reduces the number of moments when I’m forced to think consciously to find a solution to any given problem my body doesn’t know how to solve automatically. Meaning there are fewer moments fixed in my mind. So, there is not much to remember — every day is pretty much the same day. That’s a routine and it goes like this:
First and foremost, every good day must start with a night of good sleep. I try to get 8 hours of sleep each day. Not more, not less. Sleep is not only important for my mood but also for my autoimmunity.
Since I work from home, I’m at it a few minutes after waking up with a cup of coffee. I try to time-restrict my eating time, so no real food until 11–12:00, before which I do an exercise.
Der Nachmittag / Afternoon
After breakfast, I just go back to work. Not much of interest happens until the late afternoon when I go out to stretch my legs.
What amazes me is that the given movement restrictions instead of locking me up opened my eyes to the richness of what is surrounding me. It has been a while since I last enjoyed little things so much. Here, in Austria, the lockdown completely coincided with the most beautiful part of the year — the awakening of nature after winter.
From the very beginning of movement freeze, going out as an exercise was not forbidden in Vienna. This is exactly what I do to this day with my girlfriend I live with. Comically, because of this, I had to stop my daily running exercises. This happens to come with the odds with so many people, who used this opportunity to start jogging.
I’m not sure if it was one of their New Year resolutions, or used as an excuse to go out, or simply conscious action to improve their autoimmunity. Jogging might seem like a safer way to go exercise but heavy breathing only increases the spread of particles, thus one needs to keep an even bigger distance from the others.
My suggestion if you go for a run — practice your breathing. Dragging a dead horse is neither good for you or the people surrounding you. Just slow down, when you lack oxygen and once you feel like you are OK — you can increase the pace again.
Try breathing by taking one deep breath in and let the air out by 2–5 breaths, depending on how you feel. Personally, I’m joggling between 1–4 breaths, making each breath out on each step I take.
One way or another, running is amazing but I don’t have time every day to go out for a walk and a run. It is so, even during these difficult times, when I’m supposed to have a lot of extra time.
Der Abend / Evening
After my walk, I just go back to work for an hour or so until dinner. We found this time to be a great opportunity to try new recipes for our meals. Eating healthy is also very important for maintaining a healthy state of mind and body, including our autoimmunity.
The rest of the evening I spend either on self-development, like learning German, or leisure — watching documentaries, movies, etc.
Das Wochenende / Weekend
My weekend days are looking very similar to an extended version of the second part of any regular day. With the restriction easing-up, I can’t wait to be able to explore more places, further from my home. Federal parks have opened-up again after Easter, I hope to visit Schönbrunn soon.
The strange part I find about our daily experiences, as contradicting as it sounds but based on history, when everything will be back to normal, many people will find themselves nostalgic about this period.
This is how my daily life is pretty much right now. Of course, things were worse before and it might get worse again but for the moment I can enjoy my life. The only thing I miss is the people. I wonder, how does your day look like?
Now is your time
Share your daily life experiences with me and the others here.