A New Normal: Establishing a Daily Routine


Yesterday turned out to be a terrific day, so I'm thinking cycle and repeat until life opens up a little more in, hopefully, the next few weeks.

For me currently, the formula to having a positive day is to get outside, and stay outside, for as long as I possibly can now that the heavy spring rains appeared to have moved out of our area. So our New Normal COVID-19 Shelter In Place (SIP) routine is roughly as follows:
5 AM - 8 AM  Wake up somewhere between 5 and 6 AM, enjoy coffee and Kindle internet reading (blogs, news, Facebook, Instagram, etc.)
8 AM - 10 AM  Household chores
10 AM - 2 PM  Get outdoors, generally via a long walk to the beach and back. Bring or purchase a to go lunch, and shoot to eat it while sitting somewhere scenic.,
2 PM - 4 PM  Downtime. We generally recover from our walk or hike with sun tea out in the yard, then take showers, then nap and/or read.
4 PM - 6 PM  More household chores, sometimes outside in the yard, plus make dinner.
6 PM - 7 PM  Eat dinner, hopefully outside in the yard if the weather is pleasant, plus clean up from dinner.
7 PM - 8 PM  Play a game or work on a puzzle together.
8 PM - 9 PM  Turn on TV and stream something light.
9 PM - 9:30 PM  Get ready for bed, light Kindle reading until about 9:30 PM. With all  the exercise we are doing each day, it's impossible to stay awake any longer!
There are also a good number of scheduled things beginning to pop up during the day as well - video conferences, online learning classes, etc. - but in generally this is turning out to be our go to day-to-day routine.

We are also trying to vary things on the weekends to keep them exciting to look forward to. For example, in general we refrain from drinking alcohol during week days, so Friday night is always anticipated because we get to open a new bottle of wine, or a new can of craft beer. We are also continuing to schedule weekend Zoom video dates with friends and family, giving us reason to get a little dressed up - from the waist up at least!

This weekend we have an eight person Happy Hour video conference, another 'normal' Zoom video-date with different friends, and a family Zoom video date where we'll be playing a robust game of Outburst. Outburst, BTW, is great for video conferencing. My husband and I will be on separate teams, and since we have the game here in our home, we will be the lead team members reading the cards to each of our video teams. So easy, and so fun. Another ideas we're going to try out going forward will be video conferencing Trivial Pursuit.

Starting this week, our daily walks have been positively glorious due to the weather here - mid 70's. And because we have no pressing need to get home by a certain time, we are discovering lots of wonderful new things during our walks. Yesterday, for example, we stumbled across a butterfly garden we hadn't known existed, a night heron nesting tree absolutely replete with heron, nests, and babies, and a gorgeous pocket park overlooking the ocean that is just begging to be returned to at sunset with a picnic dinner. We've also discovered new eateries open for takeout, random farmer's market produce stalls, hidden picnic tables, a variety of open restrooms (so important when determining where and how far to walk and/or bike), which beaches are currently permitting walk through and bike through traffic, which markets do not appear to have lines (and which do), where to buy to-go coffee, and where wild spring flowers are beginning to bloom.

Night heron nests aplenty. Next time we walk here we'll bring binoculars so we
can try and catch sight of the baby heron now in the nests.
And to repeat what I've stated many times before here - all of this activity is being done on foot and with proper social distancing, including the pulling up of our face masks as we walk past other people, most of whom are doing same. There is a balancing act between staying healthy while remaining socially distant, which I think my husband and I have found. Already we are considerably stronger than when we began our daily walks a few weeks back. We can now knock off eight to ten miles, including lots of hills, without feeling tired.

My husband and I are in agreement that once our current restrictions begin to lift, we will work hard to maintain the wonderful aspects of walking outdoors for hours each day. One of the silver linings of the current situation for sure.

8 comments:

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    1. You live in a gorgeous area, Juhli, I know it well. Those hills are a calling! 😊

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  2. Hi Tamara, I like your schedule. It sounds a bit familiar. Giving up wine during the week is something I should do. I am sure it helps with the weight loss you have accomplished recently. Are you still intermittent fasting? When you do that are you counting calories or just trying to eat healthy during your allowable hours? We continue to plod along, making life up as we go. Take care.

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    1. Hi Suzanne! So, we drank martini's almost nightly on our cruise, and when we got home, I was surprised to find myself thinking about a drink right about 5pm, which I found very disconcerting! So going back to a Fri-Sat-Sunday alcohol timeline felt like the appropriate thing to do. And I no longer think about alcohol in between weekends, which is where I prefer to be.

      I am still intermittent fasting, and I do still count calories. The big difference for me is that I've been able to stop once I hit @ 1400 calories (I go a bit above 1200 because we've been walking 6-10 miles a day.) Today we walked 10 miles, with my first meal of the day, lunch, occurring at Mile 6 with no loss of energy whatsoever. And the last 4 miles felt great as well, and they were the tough uphill miles. In general I'll eat a large, 600-700 calorie lunch, then a small dinner, and a smaller dessert. The large lunch keeps me feeling pretty full so that I'm not starving at dinner. After dinner I'll have a cookie and a cup of herb tea. I'm working to listen to what my body is telling me, not my head (my head always wants sugar!) and I honestly feel better than I have since hitting menopause @ five years ago.

      Sugar and simple carbs are my downfall. They mess with my energy and blood sugar levels something awful, so I continue to be very careful about when I eat them.

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  3. I'd be thrilled if you could ship some of those lovely west coast temps to the northeast. Our forecast is calling for 3" - 7" of snow tonight. (Picture me with a very sad frowny face. Picture my husband with a very annoyed frowny face because he'll have to put the plow back on the tractor.) By the way, I wanted to say thanks for your reference to the no-sew mask you mentioned, either here on your blog or in a comment on Satisfying Retirement. I checked it out and it worked perfectly for us. And, as you had commented, it really did only take about 30 seconds to make one. Much obliged, Tamara!

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    1. Re: Facemasks - You are welcome, Mary! And another tip we just picked up is that the masks can be sterilized in the microwave on High setting for two minutes.

      The weather being pleasant is a real game changer with regard to my attitude for sure, but even going for a brisk walk in the rain, wearing rain gear, elevates my mood. So throw on those layers and get out there! 😊

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  4. Yes, it's a very dialed down life when it comes to social engagements. I started out focusing on what expectations of normal needed to be released. That soon changed to all the normal activities that remain, i.e. household chores, exercise, meal planning/prep, the to-do list with those items left undone! Lengthy phone conversations have replaced face-to-face gatherings. I save the w/e for entertainment - movies, on-line concerts. Spring has finally arrived here in NE Alberta. The snow cover is rapidly melting. I spotted a bluebird and pussy willows a few days ago. I anticipate getting into the yard for spring work and gardening. I've already purchased garden seeds. A new season is something to look forward to.

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    1. I do think having things to look forward to is key to moving through this time without falling into funk or depression of some sort. We are doing similar - Saturday is now 'Date Night' where we order takeout and stream something longer than the 42 minute TV show's we generally watch during the week. Speaking of . . . have you heard about the wonderful Andrew Lloyd Webber's musicals being made available to watch for free, one per week? The You Tube Channel is called 'The Shows Must Go On' and the musicals are being put up one at a time each Friday, but for just 48 hours at a time. The Phantom of the Opera is currently available until 11:00 AM today (PST), but I am pretty sure that all you need to do is start the streaming video before then, and finish it at your convenience. It was amazing, and I say this as having seen Phantom live three times, including with the great Michael Crawford. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nINQjT7Zr9w

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