What helps you to stay positive?

I am writing more - losing myself in worlds where there is no covid 19, but lots of happy endings!
Only fly in the ointment is the children's novel which I entered into a competition for unpublished and unrepresented authors has extended their deadline because of the situation, so there'll be more rival entries - particularly as everyone is home and bored!

I'm retired and live with dh in Spain. Weve been in lockdown for 19 days now. We get on very well together and are well used to a mostly quiet life. However I, finding being totally confined difficult. We're not allowed out for exercise at all and only 1 person to get food or drugs. We usually go out for coffee or drinks with friends and go on holiday quite a lot. We're both a bit lacking in motivation at the moment . I knit and papercraft but cant seem to concentrate. Dh plans our holidays in great detail and hes missing being able to do that. We were looking forward to going to Cyprus this spring. In the great scheme of things its totally unimportant and I keep trying to look on the bright side. Also the weather hasn't been brilliant so I don't feel I'm missing much.

Don't know if this will work but for me Terry Waite puts it all into perspective.

My life isn’t that much different to before the virus! I wake up and make tea. Back to bed and start the Times cryptic crossword online. Do a few clues and then start the Polygon , a word thing also in the Times online! My sister and I have several scrabble games going online. So I take my turn. I get up and get into my my exercise gear and do an hour to the Best of Adele belting out from my Sonos speakers! Then I feed the birds. Robins are nesting and are usually waiting for food. Time for a shower. I then do an hour online learning Spanish with Duolingo. Unload dishwasher and have coffee. During the course of the day there are several phone calls with friends and family. No set times. I do an hour in the garden and it is looking great now!
I am helping other people with food shopping although I am old, I am not frail! I get it online and redistribute it!
I am making cakes for the family, Yesterday I made Mary Berry’s all in one brownies which were amazing!
It is a great time to catch up on paperwork and have a sort out. Also sort out the wardrobe! I set a quiz every morning for my grandchildren and they have to get the answers to me by the end of the day. There is a monetary reward which is growing daily! They love an incentive! If I feel I need it I go for a walk in the afternoon. Not enough hours in the day !

Finding ZOOM so I can see my children and grandchildren. Also my Mum's care home told me to download IMO onto my tablet so I can now see and talk to my 92 year old Mum! When I get a bit wobbly I talk things over with my dogs. They don't answer but they do tip their heads from side to side in a most endearing way to let me know they are listening! Chins up ladies.

Very boring but extremely necessary, clearing out the garage. A long way to go but I can now get in the door.

I have rebooked our holiday in North Wales in October, to give us something to look forward to. Also trying to make a point of watching some of the old comedy shows on You Tube and keeping in touch with daughters, grandchildren, and friends on Facebook!! No time to be bored!

Rarely listen to the news on the radio and never on TV. Pottering in the garden - it is so neat and tidy, can I keep it up for the summer. Daily walk with DH. Much clearing out of cupboards, sorting old inherited and unidentifiable photos and finally binning them, not to mention some of my teenage holiday photos. Fortnightly trip over the moors for our Click & Collect shop - oh how easily pleased we have become.

Optimist, you're rightly named. Well done you to have undergone so much and still positive. My plusses are thoughts of the eventual reunions with those I used to fraternise, the unexpected daily calls, riverside walk and time in the garden. I also force myself to do one of the lesser desirable chores on my must/should do list. The latter actually gives me the greatest kick/sense of relief when achieved. Onwards......!

Love that MawB, will pass that one on!
The lockdown has resulted in me being able to enjoy something I wouldn't otherwise have had the chance: (chicken keepers look away now) a vixen has set up her den under our shed and given birth to a litter of cubs. We have been watching as they've emerged, 1 on one day, 2 the following day until 4 yesterday. They are lovely to watch playing in the garden or being fed by Mum. I have been feeding her and yesterday she almost, but not quite, took the food from the dish while I was still holding it. She is clearly comfortable with humans, but the downside is that I'm trying to give them space and therefore not going out in the garden except for providing in-house catering services, so have had to resort to going for a walk round the streets, not a particularly uplifting outdoors activity! And according to my husband, after I had gone to bed last night, they were creating a racket and probably a mess in the garden for me to clean up. Worse than having kids over again!

I agree that you can dwell too much on the negatives, trying to remain cheerful is key. I don't overdo the news, keep occupied and as active as possible.
I have rediscovered Bored Panda website. Take a look. Some very amusing and heartening pictures and stuff on there at the moment. Have a good day all.

I have a routine and treat it as a staycam.Exercise my one walk with my dog texting my friends.A video call with my son eldest.Phone calls and text to my Candian and Australia family.Doing a online course having time to spend on my calligraphy
Making sure the house is deep cleaned once a week Been so proud of my husband who works for the NHS and is a Senior Medical Technician who specialises in Ventilators SCUB Special Care Baby Unit.He has given up his holiday to a later date to go into work

As a child I lived through WW2 - living on the outskirts of London was (in retrospect) quite hazardous! It taught me that you can get through anything. Think positive! My grandson is teaching in China, “confined to baracks” but teaching online. Taking it a day at a time. If we all “do as we are told” it will end - everything does! I hate not seeing family but thank goodness for modern technology - we text, phone, Face Time and Skype and exchange photos! Keep cheerful and as many Gransnetters do keep busy - gardening, reading, baking, TV, jigsaws, sewing, reading and so on. We will get through it! Brighter times ahead!

Well done Maw B love that. I’ve always been a half full kind of person so I’m keeping positive by reading, cleaning. Walking round the garden and catching up with all my friends online etc etc and speaking to family

MawB that's such a funny post and mirrors me exactly!! haha I feel so much better when I see and feel the sunshine and hear my daughters voice when she phones me and the happy shouts of the children playing! I'm trying not to talk to the toaster though!!

Hello. Leading a much more relaxed life.Noticing every new bud appearing in the garden. Looking after DH who has some memory loss,phone calls. Still in dressing gown at 11am. No rush to get to my Scrabble Group today. Maw Broon loved your article. Enjoyed the YouTube video from the Carter family new words to One Day More .Try to watch it if you haven’t seen it .It will make you chuckle.

Cleaning - I like it!
A daily walk with DH.
Netflix.
Planning ahead - holidays to come, family party when its all over, Christmas, possibly moving house.

Watching and exercising with Mr Motivator - such a mood lifter. Enjoying walking round the garden. It will soon be weed free?

Because many of us are retired, we have already found enjoyable activities and hobbies at home. ( missing shopping though!)I am finding online children quizzes which I send to my son and then we FaceTime the quizzes one for a 10 year old one for a 5 year old.
Connecting more with my children on a WhatsApp group and my spanish group learning to zoom !!

A bit more lighthearted I know but as we are now having groceries delivered to home, my DH has taken over the ordering and better still the paying and has realised how much food and household goods cost. Every cloud has a silver lining!

I can stay positive because I KNOW that when this has passed, and it will pass, we will all have changed and ours will be a better world to live in.
We, spiritual minded people, have known that there was a shift coming and now it is here we simply must change the way we treat our planet and each other.

I make sure I watch Eascape to the chateau DIY at 4pm on channel 4 every day. It's a delight. I'm also using up a huge stash of yarn by knitting for charity.

Thanks MawB, it's good to laugh. I'm talking to the cat. He seems quite understanding, although he was a bit confused at first that I am now here all day, everyday! We have fun watching birds out of the window. And I'm actually finding it a break from some of the things I am involved in "outside" which can be stressful at times. There's always a silver lining.

Maw B, you need an Alexa.

I think it is crucial to be able to adapt to new situations (and this sure is a new situation).
I have adapted to different types of work marriage, having three children, my oldest child dying parents dying sister-in-law dying niece dying...and husband dying.....now I am a widow in my late seventies and again learning to adapt. I can do it!