Day 2 - Corona Voluntary Lock Down

Having stayed up late to get down the Day 1 log, I had a bit of a sleep in on Day 2. I had had in mind to get to the beach early for a bit of a beach run and swim, but the sleep in knocked that on the head. Oh well.

As we were coming to terms with some pretty big life changes, my daughter and I discussed being a bit more relaxed about things today. Yep that was a good idea. Have another coffee and chill for a bit. I had no pressing work and so I did some reading and started reading some articles on the share market. Interestingly, while reading a very confident article by a highly qualified author, on a highly regarded market commentary source, on how the market was likely to bounce back strongly and sooner than we think,

I'm not sure why, but I started to feel really anxious.

One too many coffees? Was it the coaching sessions that were being pushed back or cancelled? Was it the visceral inflammation that was brewing on future income concern? Was it the realisation that I'd soon be in lock down on my own, as my kids would all be with their mum? Was it that the accountant wanted me to say yes to a twelve month subscription? Was it the advice I was reading and wanting to believe seemed so unlikely from where I was standing?

I knew what I needed to do. Whatever the reason was for me pumping copious amounts of cortisol into my system, I needed to burn it off.

"Hey honey! Wanna go to the beach?" She said she couldn't because it wasn't Phys Ed and we'd need to go tomorrow when Phys Ed was on (bless). I said well actually we can, if we want to. And so we did. On the way, she talked about how some things about being in lock down were really awesome. She could listen to music while she did her work. She could make a cup of tea when she wanted. She could go to the toilet whenever she wanted. Hey she could go for a ride or even to the beach. Hell yeh. That's the spirit!

Wasn't the best day for the beach really. It looked like it was going to rain any minute and we were literally sand-blasted walking from the car (best parking spot ever!) to the beach.

Fortunately the sand blasting subsided once on the beach and it was the perfect conditions for social distancing. Off we went. Soft sand running. Burn baby burn! and then stop. Turns out day 2 of lock down was day 2 of something else and somebody wasn't up for running today, so we walked for a bit.

There were a few people where we were, a very safe distance away, and I "really" needed to run. So my daughter took a break and I headed off for a quick run up the beach. Not only did I burn off some steam, calories and cortisol, I also impressed myself with my ability to run again (I've had calf issues for a couple of years). Perhaps such things just come together when you're running away from a sabre tooth tiger (in your head).

Wow. Beach works! My daughter even joined me for the last km. Success!

Getting back I was feeling considerably better but actually still a fair way off being OK. I tried a guided meditation which helped. I made a herbal tea instead of having a coffee. I don't think it was any one of those things, but the combination of them that started to take effect. The anxiety subsided and I got on with prepping for the group session, that I mentioned yesterday. I was thinking about prepping some visual aids to screen share, as I wouldn't have a whiteboard.

The workshop went pretty well despite their computer randomly rebooting again after a bit, as had happened when we tested yesterday, and moving to phone conference.

They were awesome and we achieved what we needed to, despite tech problems and the COVID-19 preparation challenges that they were dealing with concurrently.

Then we made a visit to my daughter's school, once everyone had left for the day, to pick up her books from her locker. Her mum was picking her up a bit later and we wanted to make sure that she had everything that she'd need to home-school effectively. Got home, packed her things in time for her to be picked up. Had a chat with the kids' mum about the multi-faceted family strategy and was relieved to hear that she was keeping everyone away, herself included, from her parents (who are the same age as mine).

With the boys taking "more safe" risks, it was a relief to know that her parents would be at a safe distance from any potential consequences.

BTW my eldest did play his men's league basketball final, completely shut down the opposition's best player, scored 19, a bunch of rebounds and they won their final. Amazing! My younger son (who's also not so young) did head off with his mates for their 'surprise' support of another mate's Irish dancing performance. So bloody cool. And I really hope they can reign things in a little more from here.

Having heard about some snippets of big developments around the world (e.g the 3 month quarantine of people over 70 in the UK) I was keen to get on iView for the daily wrap. DinnerTwist had arrived and so made a super healthy dinner and settled in.

With no work tomorrow, I even had a beer. It's the little things.

Oh wow. Having left decisions too late, the UK government are now talking about locking up the oldies and 'letting it rip' to build their 'herd immunity'. Oh and our PM is now using some of those words, oh and the Chief Medical Officer is still shaking hands with others."Keep going people. Just wash your hands. It's not time yet" Meanwhile all other advice suggests the opposite, including a petition by Australian doctors begging the government for immediate action. Pleasing to see our state government a bit more active. Hopefully most of us will be able to look back on this and compare the federal government advice with the way it all played out.

I hope really they're right.

Started giving some thought to what I could do to take advantage of the clearing calendar. Read books, exercise, write, get stuck into all of those things I still want to do on the house (that I already have the materials for). That's a pretty good start for now.

Finished off with a FaceTime with my parents, who're both 'living' and doing well and exercising strict social distancing.