What helps you to stay positive?

Hello there.
I e been doing My Family tree..you can loose yourself for hours.I will also be getting My sewing machine out although I'm pretty much a novice I'm going to make some skinny pj pants

I agree with so many of you about not watching the news with all those statistics and growing numbers. I have been thoroughly enjoying myself doing jigsaws and colouring in while listening to books on Audible. Feel like I've reverted to my childhood - except I didn't listen to things like George Eliot's Middlemarch as a child!

MawB -

Being grateful when I look at different folks experiences in UK and around the world. We've both had it and are now in fortunate position of being able to potter our way through the days. I count my blessings several times a day. A few days ago we watched a programme on the war in the Pacific. So many young men, same age as DGS, heading out into the unknown and many not coming back. Now that was something to be frightened of, but they went without looking back. Same with people going through Blitz etc. Folk all over the world are facing this horrible virus in very difficult cicumstances. I am so grateful for our own circumstances.

had to laugh about your conversation with the iron.. I have been working through the ironing basket.. summer tops which haven't seen the light of day for a few years - most going in the charity bag. Windows have been cleaned and today I cleaned the oven and hob. Will start on my sewing next week. We go shopping once a week, and walk once a day. If this goes on for too many weeks I won't have to do any housework for months! but am grateful for being safe and warm and look forward to a G&T tonight. Don't forget to clap at 8.00 tonight. for all the hardworking carers, nurses, etc. Pleased they included all the shop workers, delivery people, etc, who have made isolation bearable. Keep safe

MawB you really made me chuckle smile

not watching too much news.Watching This Morning,Phil and Holly can always find something to laugh about.Was feeling really lacking in motivation this afternoon,but feel better after a walk,at least that's still allowed

Going to my allotment. So peaceful there.

I’m being kept sane by going for a short drive then FaceTiming my young grandchildren where I’m playing a pretend shopkeeper and virtual selling choc biscuits and filled rolls to help the children count/spend their money at home where they must calculate how much they owe me the shopkeeper It’s great fun. Then I have my picnic.

Making a plan for the day while having my 1st cup of tea in the morning. Doesnt always pan out but it gives me something to focus on during the day.

MawB, your post made me laugh out loud. It's facetiming with family and friends and finding the funny things in life that keep me going.

winterwhite - I so agree with you. What is the point of asking bereaved relatives to tell us how they feel - we KNOW how they feel.

Elderflower2 - struggling for polite discussion here!

I wake up and make a plan for the day over my morning cup of tea. Doesnt always work out but it starts me off!!

I hope the BBC and other purveyors of daily news are reading of the numbers who limit their news watching/listening to once a day. The small newsagent who delivers our papers has closed pro tem and DH won't shift from our habit of watching the BBC 10 o'clock news each night. I'd been watching with him but not any more. News is one thing but 20 mins of quasi documentaries on temporary mortuaries, the horrid course of the illness, photos of the dead and interviews with their families was the last straw I thought for a nation trying to keep its spirits up.

Since 2015 I have had two cardiac arrests and also bowel cancer.
Every day I wake up I feel grateful that I am still here.
Summer is on its way the garden is growing every day. I can’t see my children and grandchildren but I can speak to them on the phone.
I have two little dogs that I adore and they give me pleasure and make me laugh every day.
You have to stay positive in life whatever it throws at you. Things will get better ?

Listening to a lot of music on Alexa at the moment, including stuff from the past. Nice to hear the old songs again and they lift my spirits. Bad Moon Rising sounds horribly prophetic, though.

The one I probably listen to most is Leonard Cohen. Others may disagree but I find Laughing Len's wisdom, and the poetry of his words, very comforting in this bleak time.

The fact that I'm one of Jehovah's Witnesses and knowing that all this madness will be dissolved one day.

Open to 'polite' discussions

I am quite an optimistic person and in this situation we have now I feel it is important to keep feeling like this. I have to keep reminding myself that although I cannot see my family at the moment and I mainly have to stay in, I am actually very lucky that I can amuse myself and I have a garden to get some fresh air. There is always someone so much worse off than us.

Thank you GrannyRose - I will get on to that. I have also just discovered Rebecca Clarke - born in the Victorian era and lived to 93, dying in 1979. Just listening to her viola sonata - it is stunning.

Life just doesn't feel any different.I am doing all the things I normally do. I am still catching up on the backlog of undone admin etc that existed from before the shut down. Doing housework and gardening. The only difference is that all the meetings, even my exercise class are on line.

I am a bit like Hetty, usually a fairly upbeat person and I am just approaching the shut down in my usual practical manner. Seeing what the rules as laid down by government and obeying them, not gettingly unnecessarily obsessive about hygiene issues, not spending hours online. I have other things to do. Getting up, dressing and following my usual routine.

I am not letting this pandemic cause me to lose sleep, so I wake pu bright and breezy every day.

I am a positive person anyway. My family are fine, daughter still lives with us as she is saving the deposit to buy her own house. She is working from home but we have a caravan which is parked in our back garden and she is able to work in there. We downsized from our large Victorian semi to a two bedroom bungalow last year and my husband is busy decorating. The dining room should be finished tomorrow.

For me there’s only one positive. My loved ones and I are safe! I really miss rushing around all the time and feel lazy and pointless doing jobs around the house. I can only successfully do these when I’m limited time wise. If I have loads of time to do something then nothing gets done properly. The quiet life is not for me nor is routine. I am in less contact with friends and family rather than more. My children are busy with their children and their jobs and my friends are all busy as well. I’ve no interest in craft projects and never will have. I want life to go back exactly as it was before. Can’t understand these people who like to potter around.

@Luckygirl - try Janet Wheeler, living woman composer; brilliant

Looking forward to retirement and not having to work full-on at home!