What Lockdown Has Taught Me

So, firstly apologies for taking so long to blog. Life has been so hectic. Things have changed a lot in many ways and not in others. Lockdown has been such a strange experience and one that I hope we never face again. It has however given me time to reassess my life in general and my horse goals.

I Love Working

This might sound weird but Lockdown for me, meant I was furloughed. This is weird experience. Initially it was a bit like a holiday. I quite liked it. I got loads of stuff done. Having recently moved house, I actually had the time to unpack properly and set the house out just as I wanted. After 3 weeks, depression set in. I am not going to lie, I know I was very lucky to still have a job but for me, not working was so alien. I also freelance a fair bit for cash and this also dried up so I was losing money and had nothing to do. I did occupy myself, I set up this site. But something was missing.

Once work started moving again, it was worse. I just wanted to work. Thankfully I am now back as work and I appreciated my job more than ever.

I Waste So Much Money Eating Out

With all the restaurants shut and being locked down, I stopped going out. In the first month, while I was still ‘working’ or just on furlough, I saved so much money. I even started a LISA and put some money into my other savings account.

Will I go back to eating out so much? Probably not, I know live outside of town and so it’s not so easy. I will still go out a bit but I will monitor it so much more. We do get a takeaway every two weeks to support local businesses that we love and want to still be there when this is all over. The first Thai was just pure bliss. I love Thai food and I had missed it so much.

I Can Live With My Mum

So as a single late 30-something, buying a house is very much at the front of my mind. My plan to buy with my Mum has been quashed due to stupid rules over her age and mortgages. However we are still planning to live together. I moved out of home 20 years ago and never went back. Mum moved in, just before Lockdown as she was vulnerable. And we didn’t kill each other! Amazing as we had planned she’d move in and I would be at work so it wouldn’t be so intense. So if we can cope with me being at home all day with her and not being able to get out away from each other, then we are ok.

Lockdown Didn’t Really Change My Day To Day Life

Sad but I actually quite liked being in quarantine. I like horses far more than humans anyway. Thankfully as my yard was DIY, I still could go there twice a day and so my daily routine started and finished the same. I know I was so lucky to have this and I did treasure it.

I Really Missed Training, But Not Competitions

So with my riding, I have had to accept that until I find another horse, that I won’t be doing anything other than light hacking. Poor Nickel, at 17 and being massively high mileage before I got him, just wants to retire. We have come to a compromise, in that he is happy to hack slowly but does not want to school. He is so much happier for it. But I miss schooling so much and I do fear what effect this is all having on all the good work we had done. Nevertheless, as I can’t afford to just buy another, I have to suck that one up.

Competing, I don’t miss that much and that surprised me. That would probably change if I had something exciting to produce.

I Can Exercise At Home

My body is a bit wrecked from years of abuse mucking out. But I knew I had to do something to keep moving, so I didn’t get fat. I started doing the Joe Wick’s PE With Joe. I might not have been his target audience but it helped so much. The first two weeks, I was in agony. 13 weeks later, I am loving it still and it’s a habit well formed. Even since I have gone back to work, I try to do at least 3 sessions a week. I can no longer use not being able to afford the gym as an excuse.

What Next

So as we move to getting out of Lockdown, I am hoping that I can keep up with my fitness work. I would love to find a nice loan horse to get going with my schooling again. I also think that I will be far better at budgeting and spending my money far more wisely!

What are all your thoughts, what did Lockdown teach you?