Fairly typical. Start the new year off with the best of intentions but then they can quickly get derailed! My writing plans haven’t completely fallen by the wayside, but I have tested positive for Covid unfortunately. My head feels like it’s stuffed with cotton wool so my ability to reflect on my learning points from yesterday is frankly, not all it could be!
I am pretty convinced I had Covid right at the very beginning of the pandemic, just before the first lockdown. I had travelled to Paris for Learning Technologies France, then London for Learning Technologies UK and then back to London for the LPI’s annual awards. I then got struck down and spent the best part of a week feeling terrible. Obviously we didn’t have tests at that point so I’ll never know. But following that, I have been lucky to avoid testing positive. However, as soon as my son had his result this week, I knew the gig was up.
I’m triple jabbed and am super grateful for the science but I am dreading staying indoors for a week. It took me until my late 30s to learn what I really need to keep myself happy and look after my wellbeing. In my 20s and up until my mid 30s I had a dog who I walked twice a day, every day. I never considered that *I* needed fresh air or the additional exercise or that being in nature was beneficial. It was just something I did.
Fast forward a couple of years to being dogless (RIP Saffy) and the addition of my first small person to the family. I lived in the middle of nowhere and whilst that sounds really conducive to getting outside for fresh air, it actually meant I ended up driving everywhere. Like so many bad habits, I didn’t realise the effect this was having on me until I ended up kind of burnt out and not in a great place in terms of my happiness and wellbeing.
Thankfully that changed when we moved back to Cardiff. It’s a small city and you can walk into the centre very easily. We also chose a neighbourhood that has everything on hand, the most fabulous park and the River Taff in close proximity. I walk my kids to school everyday and rarely drive anywhere. And it wasn’t until this point I realised how much I need that fresh air. There’s a line in The Crown where the Queen when played by Olivia Coleman says something along the lines of ‘there are few things that can’t be made better by a good walk’. I know it’s fictional but she’s spot on. It’s how I feel better about almost anything these days.
So I will miss my walks for the next week whilst I do my bit and stay home and recover. But the good thing is that I’ll appreciate them all the more afterwards.
This probably isn’t the content you’re here for as it’s not work related, but it’s all I’ve got for today and want to keep the habit of posting going despite not feeling very well. Hopefully there’ll be more on HR tech tomorrow….
Learning as I go... 