Lockdown Detox - Week one

So last week I outlined my plans for a lockdown detox. My plan was to return to the three days a week not drinking, cut out the biscuits and sweets and other snacks, sticking to three home cooked meals a day, apart from our traditional takeaway on a Friday night. This was spurred by my weight going up from 15st 7 to 16 st 11 and my knee starting to play up.

I also found that constantly checking Twitter and watching 24 x 7 news was not helping my stress levels. So hows it going? Well I have a Fitbit monitor, so I have seen some progress. On my weigh in today, I was 16' 4 and my average resting heart rate is dropping back to what it usually is.

Weight

Resting Heart Rate

On a more practical level, my daily exercise today, my dog walk over Darlands nature reserve (today approx. 2.5 miles) was the first time since I hurt my knee playing five a side in February that I have not had significant knee pain at some point. I had a couple of mild twinges, but these were nothing compared to how it has been. I've also been far more productive. I've catalogued many of my parents photographs and sorting them into collections. I've set up four new different collections of photographs from this on Flickr. These are mostly for my own use, a useful reference. I have at least eight more to put together and these will all grow as I progress. I am aiming to do one per day over the next week.

Here is one of them, this is my collection of Mill Hill Pictures. Some are recent, some are not. I've not yet annotated them. I'm sure Mill Hillians will find one or two of these interesting.



I am also re-evaluating my relationship with Facebook. On Twitter, I have long been blocking people who for whatever reason, I feel are toxic. I have started doing the same on Facebook. I have weeded out one or two people on my friends list, who are not friends and add nothing to the conversation. I have also started blocking people on groups, who I find toxic. The benchmark for this is not that they say something I disagree with. It is whether they are bullying or ill intentioned and generally this is not towards me, it is just that I don't want to see their bile. What I don't understand is why people join groups dedicated to a theme, when they have no interest in the posts on the page.

Today is my Aunty's funeral, who died of covid19 a couple of weeks ago. Her passing was a real body blow for the whole family. I think I needed to let myself go for a little while. I do feel like I am starting to get my positive vibe back. The most important thing is to come out of this stronger than we went in. Adversity makes us.  This time next week, I'll be having an MRI as part of my annual check for cancer. This is always a time of turmoil. I've read that cancer treatments are being postponed, so I wasn't sure what would happen. I can't say I'm looking forward to going into the city or lying in an MRI for half an hour. But if we've learned anything through this, it's that the NHS are a gem and we are lucky to have them.  What we all need to appreciate is that we are on lockdown because we love life and we value our friends. That is why a bit of a physical, mental and spiritual detox is a very good idea at this time.  We all have our challenges, we do better when we face them together.