Lockdown – Create You Coaching

Exploring our new world

Dear readers, we have away for a week to celebrate my birthday and the plan was to take some time out to write a post. That didn’t happen I am afraid and since it has been a while since I have hit the keys, I am almost finding it hard to decide what to write about.

When we got back from our time in Herefordshire, where they had a one-way walking system on the pavement, it seemed very much business as usual here in London. We went to Brockwell Park and the Sunday Market was on. It was lovely, we made sure to keep our distance from people and use hand sanitizer regularly, but the stores were all trading and 2 of them sold facemasks along with their other usual fabric products.

It was a sunny day so anything I felt more confident that the sun would have zapped any Covid-19. I used to live in this little village before moving North to Kings Cross, so I always have an affinity for the area, but it is really great! It has a wonderful collection of shops and bars to explore and many of them are offering an order/ take away option for drinks and food.

Let’s start with inside the station there is a new ice cream bar, -12 ° with delicious tasty ice cream and on a hot summers day it was just what was needed. On Railton Road just outside the station, you will find The Commercial that is really one of the best pubs I have ever been to definitely worth stopping off if you are comfortable going into place. We chose to stay out in the sun, so my husband got a takeaway pint from Off the cuff; a music venue and bar. We happily strolled through the stalls and bought some Biltong from The Meat Boss, Teriyaki flavour is very good and a new one on me.

There is a deli called Sesami that I used to love getting spinach and feta parcels from, they have amazing freshly made treats inspired by Cypriot, Greek, Turkish, Middle-Eastern and Italian cuisine, but also offer some specialist delicious store cupboard goods.

We headed over to the park a kicked a ball around with Aria and Austin who very much enjoyed seeing people out and about. We just had a job keeping them at the 2 meter distance while joylessly kicking their ball around and pulling sticks around. If you are stuck for what to do oneday I really recommend this lovely area. There are many more places we didnt get to give a go such as The Agile Rabbit, First Aid Box, The Canopy Brewery, that are definately worth checking out.

The Social Shift: How to find your place

We are all on this crazy roller coaster called 2020. As the shops open and the we dust off our ‘out clothes’ and life resumes to some sort of normality, I find myself sitting in a bit of a pause. Before the 23^rd of March we would head out at least 4 days out of 5 in the week. Whether we went for a walk in the park nipped to Tooting to go to the Childsplay Brasserie and buy a few things from the shops or meet friends for a coffee/ brunch. Admittedly the latter was happening way less, as the twins were on the move and it was just such hard work.

I loved going out on Mommy nights, Mommy & Daddy dates, but now I feel hesitant. I received the ‘heart drops letter’ that I was on the high-risk group, so we were shielding. I am healthy except that I do not have a spleen, so my immune system is compromised. About 3 weeks into isolation my doctor called me back as I wanted to confirm the reason for being on the list. She asked me a few questions and decided that I could go to the medium risk group but still needed to isolate. I started to go out for solo walks or maybe take the kids out but never any shops and not seeing anyone, it was more for my sanity than anything.

The reality is that I got used to it, the isolation that is. We eat well, we work out, we drink cocktails and go for walks on the Common. I almost feel safe and the idea of going out meeting multiple people is even on a subconscious level very intimidating for me. It’s a weird one because I am not scared of getting ill, but I am concerned that if I do get ill, I may die. It really isn’t as bed a s it sounds when I say it out load, I mean surely it is a real fear. The media and old Boris haven’t said it all fine you can go out and you should be okay.

Then when we go out with 2 friends to Tooting Common and see people gathering in groups of 20, yes, I feel uncomfortable because we meant to be in groups of 6. Is it a social disorder? I know we all need to do what we feel comfortable with but really, I am wondering if anyone else is here, where I am or close? I am not a hermit I like/ like going out, shopping, eating in restaurants, so how does our future look ?

A question we must all be asking because it will not be the same. It should not be the same! This is our chance to pivot life. They used to say you can do that with your career, but literally we can do that for our entire socio-economic lives. I would really love to hear from you guys, if anyone is finding the ‘freedom’ hard to process.

Summer garden and cocktail fun!

Happy Monday people, I trust your day went well? I have always said that I would be honest because I do not want to send out a false image into the world that may affect other negatively. This weekend however was such a HOOT that I will share that it! My husband and I were meant to be going to Budapest without the children, our first trip away from them. As exiting as that was and disappointing it was to be cancelled, we had a lovely time here at home in our little paradise/ suntrap.

On Friday we played in the garden most of the day. We were still suffering the effects from the night before when Aria would not go to sleep( dummy removal related) so we needed to postpone a video chat we set up with some friends. We did spend the early evening in the garden eating dinner and just relaxing into the weekend. Hubby made us a delicious Old-Fashioned cocktail and we got an early night.

We had loads of plans for the weekend but sometimes you just need to adjust and tweak till you find your comfortable place. Matt and I did a great strength workout in the garden and prepared some meats for our braai later in the afternoon. Luckily, I had already made the Potato Puffs for the kids, so their lunch was sorted.

Our menu consisted of yogurt and sweet chilli marinaded chicken thighs and Asian pork belly (my favourite!!) with corn on the cob and braai bread as sides. The babies enjoyed some roast sweet potato that we warmed on the braai. So just to give some context, a Braai is a South African version of the BBQ, there is generally home made marinades, many sides and it is more of a journey than a quick preparation of food. Also, we allow tasters, so as you cook you cut the meat into small chunks and pass around for guest to enjoy. We just passed it between the two of us under the current circumstances.

We had some refreshing Shandy’s in the afternoon and once the children had gone to bed, we made some cocktails, starting with an Elderflower gin Fizz for sundowners. Followed by Japanese Blossoms recommended to us by our awesome neighbours and friends while listen to Another Ambition’s mix. Once we had come into the house and put Netfliks Unorthodox on we had a night cap. Keep an eye you for my next piece that tells you more about the cocktails and ingredients.

Japanese Blossom rum cocktails in copper glasses

Sunday rolled round and the kids were in the garden from 10:00 with my hubby doing the food prep, tidying and iced coffee preparation. Thanks darling!! The day was mostly tanning for me and Matt in the studio while the children had their naps and the afternoon more of the same really and a walk to the park so the children could run around. I do not know if it is just me, but they keep running to the risky areas, rubbish or anything that could remotely be covered in Corona?! My husband kindly informed me that the virus can not live on items exposed to the sun for longer than 5 minutes.

*Trying to have a nice photo taken with my children…*

We had an over the fence catch up with Emi and Etti, as the kids call our neighbours and watched the last episode of Unorthodox. It was very good, and I was much disappointed that the 4^th episode was the last! What?! Here is to everyone having a great week and hope to hear from some of you how you are doing during lockdown. Keep safe!

Emotions on lockdown

I hope that you have had a good start to your week. Considering that I did a post on finding your happy at home last week I felt that it would only be honest of me to post what Monday and today was like for me. For some reason on Sunday night I woke up with familiar feeling of anxiety and a helicopter going over our area. I just couldn’t drift off again, after going to the loo and then googling why the helicopter was out and finding nothing I tried again.

Since then really, I have felt very anxious. Anxiety is something that I have suffered with in the past but through a controlled and busy life I have got it under control, for the most part. There are those moments when I have lost/ misplaced something that it rears its head but not day to day.

A few years back, more like 6 years back, we were living in a house share and had a carefree life for the most part, but it was then that I suffered the most. My heart races and during the evening I would get night sweats, so much so that it feels like you are over heating but no one else in the house felt it. I was on Beta-blockers and anti-anxiety meds but chose to work through the emotions and do yoga to push myself into a better place.

I had already been practicing Kundalini yoga, but we were also partying a lot and there was a lot of alcohol involved in that. I needed to stop drinking to get the anxiety under control. There was also an element of worrying about my job as a store manager, I just took it all to heart so much and thought that everything was up to me. This is just a brief glimpse into my history with anxiety.

During my pregnancy I promised myself and my unborn twins that I would not carry over my anxiety, stress and anger over to them. As if by a miracle I didn’t, my pregnancy went very well and my moods were calm and controlled, for the most part.

Now 3 weeks into isolation I just felt the wave of anxiety come over me. It is the racing heart and then tight chest that gets me. It is more of a physical feeling than being mentally bogged down. I considered that it could be a shared feeling as the entire world currently has feelings of fear and uncertainty. I ended up doing kids yoga with Glowyoga and then followed it with a quick Kundalini yoga class with One Woman Revolution that focused on Balancing Prana & Apana. Look I feeling better, but its a process, so I a going to have to work through it and take daily steps to improve it.

There are other things that I will be doing that can help, such as making my gratitude and wish lists and getting things on my mind out, the blog will help with that. Keeping the houses reasonably organized, I think this is actually a bigger worry than I let on. All day I tidy but at the end of the day it is still like a bomb hit. I would say making one noticeably improvement a day will encourage feelings of accomplishment.

This is were I am at right now and I wanted anyone that reads my blog to know the realities of life, both with children and now during the Corona lock down. As I always say we are in it together, try reaching out to someone if you are feeling a bit down, helping others will boost your mood to. Keep safe and I’ll be working on another post for later in the week.