Life in lockdown- you don’t have to be productive right now

You don’t have to be productive right now.

I haven’t been here a lot in the last weeks. Everything has been crazy and changed so quickly. I felt like my life changed completely and I believe Corona Virus affected all of us all over the world. Let’s face it. We have never been through something like that. None of us. Nobody really knows when it will end up and when our lives will get back to “normal”. It’s indeed a very stressful situation and we all need time to process everything in our heads and learn to live in a new reality for a while.

However what I found more stressful these days (even more than the virus itself) was the pressure to be productive and creative. Especially in the industry I am at. Normally I am creative and full of energy and positivity. At almost all times. I am always online, writing, creating, reading, researching, learning, shooting and editing. I am doing my best to inspire and educate people to live their best lives.

I am not going to lie – the new reality hit me and my business really hard. I had my next few months perfectly planned with projects, travels and my goals. I was meant to make so many of my dreams come true. Of course due to the current situation everything got cancelled or postponed. These last weeks I was feeling upset and lost. Every time I looked at Social Media was either another negative, overwhelming news or other people posting the videos being super productive, happy, creative, doing lots of fitness and practicing Tik Tok choreographies. Frankly, I felt like I live on a different planet. I blamed myself for not being able to do anything really. I struggled and I was proud of myself for actually getting out of bed these days. I was really down and really scared. I had difficulties sleeping and bad dreams. I was scared about the future, about my career, about finances. I started to feel like I am being negative. And then I came across this quote :

“Staying positive doesn’t mean you have to be happy all the time. It means that even on hard days you know that there are better ones coming.”

I have decided to give myself a break. And get myself out of the sick and fake circle. I decided not to pretend I am ok to please others. I opened up and shared my feelings. I don’t have to be ok right now. I don’t have to be jumping and dancing right now. I don’t have to be positive 24/7. I am a human being and I have a right to struggle and be sad and it doesn’t mean I am a negative person.

Why am I writing it? Because maybe you out there, deep inside feel exactly the same. Maybe you also feel the society pressure now to be productive creative, to get that “dream body” RIGHT NOW. To work on that goal and find a dream job RIGHT NOW. I am here now to tell you – don’t. Do not let that pressure get to you. Life in a new reality is hard enough already. Do what feels right to you. Don’t force yourself when you don’t feel ready. Give yourself time to process and accept everything. Sleep as long as your body needs. Have that relaxing bath everyday. Read that book you’ve always wanted. Slow down. Look around you and deep inside you. Look yourself in the mirror and do what you and your body truly need right now. Look after your body and soul. Call your loved ones and support each other. You don’t have to be productive now. It’s ok not to be ok. And it’s ok to talk about it aloud instead of getting into that sick circle again. I truly believe it’s time to slow down now and look after our health- both physical and mental.

How’s my life during the quarantine?

I have been now self-isolating since 21 days. I went to the grocery shop twice during this time. I allow myself daily walks in the park- I can’t even describe how important nature is in my life. It keeps me going.

I have also slowly started to set up the new home routine. As you know as a full-time travel blogger it was always very hard for me to have a routine. Well now I do. I wake up when my body is ready. I do my morning skincare routine. I then head to the kitchen and drink hot water with lemon, ginger and honey ( adding turmeric from time to time). I open the window and let the fresh air in. I let myself be ready for the day. Then I make breakfast, clean the kitchen and start with my normal work- replying to the emails, messages and creating content for my Social Media Channels.

Last weeks were really slow and I didn’t work much also because I really needed a break. But I have actually started something new thanks to you! These days Salvo and I were cooking a lot (well he was, I am the upaid kitchen porter lol) and we received a lot of requests so we have started cooking and filming the recipes for you. It is giving me some energy these days. I now have my little mission and it’s keeping me busy and away from negative thoughts. If you’d like to follow our recipes feel free to follow me and Salvo on Instagram. We are going to create new recipes for you everyday. Salvo is in charge for cooking and I am looking after video and photography part. I actually really enjoy it. So far we have created recipes for homemade bread, pizza, famous pasta Cacio e pepe and Carbonara today per my best friend request. Here’s some photographs I took :

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Apart from that I haven’t done much really. I gave myself time to slow down, accept what’s happening and start working and creating when I am ready for it. I am spending these days sleeping, reading and eating. I also have baths now almost every day as I find it relaxing. And I drink wine and watch videos from my travels. That would be it!

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How are you? How you’ve been doing these days?

Sending you lots of love and support!

The Blonde Flamingo