My Quarantine Challenges: Staying Creative, Healthy And Active

When it became obvious that there will be restrictions, serious restrictions due to the covid-19 pandemic, I knew right away I need something to do during this time and the most obvious was doing creative works, among which the most important was sewing.

I did a post 15 days ago, I Do My Own Time, Not Covid-19's, in which I started my strategy of working on my project and not just waiting for the whole situation to end.

I believe staying active and finding things to do during the lockdown is the most important thing. Staying out of trouble, avoiding getting infected is important but keeping yourself occupied is just as important. I'm capable of more than just staring at the screen and filling various social media platform with whining about being locked inside the house.

Some people are dependent on others, can't seem to do anything on their own and I'm not referring to disabled people but to those who just don't know what to do with themselves. I'm not that person luckily. I have hundreds of projects and plans in my head and never enough time to work on them.

I knew I need to go buy supplies as fast as I can, before the non essential shops are closed or ran out of stock. The next day I headed to my favorite second hand shop where I buy my supplies for my upcycling jeans bags and to the shop that is selling zippers and interfacing to buy everything I need. Not only I bought the last zippers and interfacing, also got jeans on sale. Not to mention the next day the second hand shops were closed, all of them, every single one! I'd say I was lucky.

So my plan was sewing all along but haven't set a target for myself. Yesterday I saw @anomadsoul's challenge that made me thinking. Settings up some targets is not a bad idea. The last two weeks I've been super busy, had my niece staying with us as her parents were placed in isolation at home, so she's escaped before getting in touch with the one that may have been infected. Thank God everyone is fine, she's going home soon, so I'll have more time. Family always comes first, no matter what, so I'm not complaining.

My Targets For The Upcoming Weeks

I'm going to work on multiple projects as working on a single one is boring, plus I have so many.

Sewing and Creativity

This is my main focus during the lockdown and I need to do it as if not now, then never. This project needs time, you can't just work half an hour here and there as that won't get you anywhere.

I'm a beginner, I need to tell you at the beginning so you don't get high hopes. One month ago I barely knew what is what on the sewing machine. Since then I made five (5) bags in total. Four are already posted, the 4th one is for a challenge and will be posted on Monday.

So my plan is to create one bag a week. Maybe it doesn't seem much but unfortunately I need to keep an eye on my supplies and be careful not to run out of anything as I can't buy new ones till the lockdown is over and and even then it'll be difficult as financial crisis settles in and who knows what I'm going to get. I bet most of the small businesses will be closed, unfortunately.

Check out my bags:

• My First Bag
• Upcycled Double Pocket Denim Bag
• Upcycled Double Pocket Tote Bag, My 3rd One
• Upcycled Denim Zipper Bag

Another goal is to use the leftovers to create small items like wallets, Christmas decorations or other things. This is not a well defined one yet as it depends heavily on what I'm going to be left with after finishing all the jeans and lining I have. Even then it's bee highly questionable as I can't buy new supplies. Throwing away supplies is not an option, never was, never will be. This project is about #upcycling, #recycling, and #reusing,so one no wasting by throwing away. I strongly believe in reusing everything I can, giving objects another life. It is possible and now also a must as supplies are limited.

I know Eric specified that we need to set up dates but for this one I can't. Let's just say I'm going to do progress reports from time to time.

Staying Fit

The lockdown is making my job harder when it comes to getting the necessary 10k steps a day. Not just mine but everyone's but I'm only responsible for myself in this. These past two weeks I've been struggling to get to 5k but that is going to change from now on as I have my stationary bike and can use it more often.

My plan is to get to 5k every day unless I'm not feeling well, that's the minimum. So I need to get as many steps as I can.

My plan is to do 30 minutes pedaling/day. It's not much, have done it before, so it's totally doable. My progress will be reported daily on my actifit account @erikahfit.

I'm monitoring my pedaling through an app and for this year I have 731km. I'm planning to reach 1000km till the end of April or could be even more if everything goes as planned.

Engagement on Hive

As I've mentioned above, being busy with family also meant missing out a lot on Hive. Last week I barely had time to post, let alone read posts and comment. This is going to change and I'm going to be active, contribute to different projects as well as engage with the community.

This however is not something you can set up numbers or targets for. I'm not a spammer, don't want to say I do 10 comments a day just to reach my target. I condemn those who are spamming the chain with meaningless comments because commenting is rewarded. I won't do that.

Weight Loss

This is a project I'm also working on (or struggle with?) but talking less about it. It's not because I'm not making any progress but because it's not something I'd like to fill my blog with, plus I like my privacy. People couldn't care less about my weight so why flood my blog with it.

However, that doesn't make it less important! Therefore I am going to focus on it more as the given conditions are not ideal and focus is key, especially now.

I'm setting a modest target for myself, which is 1kg per month but that is a must and not negotiable.

Setting up too much goals and then struggling to reach them would be a deadly mistake, so I guess this is what I'd like to achieve during lockdown. If I can achieve more, then I'll be happy. There are others like reading a book, taking photos etc. which I won't set as goals as it's going to happen anyway. Any additional achievement will be a bonus for me and I'm sure there will be plenty.

These are my entry to the My Quarantine Challenges and not only for the sake of the challenge but for myself. These were in my mind from the start, this contest just helped me put them on paper as they say.

I hope everyone has a plan of how to stay active during the lockdown and I'm already looking forward to reading your posts 😊