Has going outdoor helped you with adjusting to Covid and this new normal?

[Aerielle Max]

This pandemic has made me feel lonely and sad. The outdoor has been a great helped in keeping me sane.

 

[Edward]

I greatly enjoyed walking the dog in the gardens of our block during the first lockdown last March. Traffic in central London (we live just off a major roadway) dropped by 90%, to the point where the difference in the air quality was actually perceptible. We've not been able to go outside all that much, though, as the wife is on the NHS vulnerable list and has been advised by the doctor not to go inside any building other than our own. The upshot of this is we've not been more than a mile from our own front door in nine months because ours is the only toilet she can use. At the minute she's recovering from a long-awaited hand operation to reset misaligned tendons. Should have been done in March, but lockdown saw it get put back. We're hoping to go for a walk in the local park on Christmas day when it's quiet and there are fewer unmasked ninnies roaming around getting too close for comfort. It is nice, though, getting out of the flat. I'm normally perfectly fine with being indoors, but I do miss getting in a good walk.

 

[Monitor]

This pandemic has made me feel lonely and sad. The outdoor has been a great helped in keeping me sane.

Same. I walk for miles every day, sometimes alone, sometimes with my dog. But I try to spend half a day outdoor. Still, having pretty much nobody to talk to often gets me down...

 

[Cornelius]

I get out for at least two walks a day, taking the dog around the neighborhood, and occasionally will run errands on my bicycle, which is always refreshing.

As this year drags on, however, even the dog walks have taken on a depressing side, as I notice our working class southwest-side Chicago neighborhood slide farther into a true economic depression. I would say the majority of my neighbors work in the construction trades & commercial kitchens, all of which have been decimated by the covid lockdown, with only a one-time government payment of $1,200 so far this year. Our postal zip code has had the highest number of covid infections in the entire state of Illinois. And now, as they say, winter is coming.

A small cabinet with a plexiglass window, crudely made from a shipping crate, appeared at the end of our block alongside an empty lot which neighbors had themselves turned into children's playground some years ago [climbing obstacles made from tree trunks, that sort of thing], as the city's Park District has no money to spare. Cans of food began showing up the cabinet, and it's now a full-fledged free food pantry for our couple of blocks. Leave what you can, take what you need. My girlfriend & I will buy extra on our weekly trip to Aldi, then a few times a week I'll leave cans of beans, tomatoes, corn, tins of meat, etc. All gone by the next dog walk. We also sometimes leave packets of surgical masks a friend sneaks out from her job at a hospital. I bought a bag of 100 P-38 can openers from an army surplus site and always leave a few behind on a small key hook inside the "pantry" for guys living rough without a kitchen, the number of which have dramatically increased locally.

A small shanty town has sprung up in a desolate area alongside our neighborhood's larger, official park - it was formerly railroad property, but the tracks have been taken up. Tents made from tarps, men cooking over a fire fed by pieces of broken pallets. Looks straight out of a film of the 1930s, or stories I heard from my grandmother & great-aunt, and never expected to witness in my own lifetime. A couple major freight lines border our neighborhood, running above grade, and now several underpasses host small batches of crude tents along one sidewalk, the other left open for pedestrian traffic. It's rather stark.

So, yeah, strolling around the neighborhood is no longer the rejuvenator it once was - if anything, it can be worse than reading the news! In the spring we began making a point of trying to take three to four hikes a month in the Indiana Dunes National Park, which stitches together patches of forest, beach, and sand dunes scattered among the steel mills of Gary, Indiana, only a 45 minute drive away. That has been wonderful & restorative, and needless to say, the dog loves it as well. Not sure what I'd do without the dog, honestly, as my own work has now began to dry up as well and I spend far too much time at home on weekdays with her as my only company until the evening.

 

[Aerielle Max]

Wow I guess we all have the same ermedy here walking can help to think and feel and breathe good. Thanks! Let us cont to help and support each other.

 

[Aerielle Max]

I get out for at least two walks a day, taking the dog around the neighborhood, and occasionally will run errands on my bicycle, which is always refreshing.

As this year drags on, however, even the dog walks have taken on a depressing side, as I notice our working class southwest-side Chicago neighborhood slide farther into a true economic depression. I would say the majority of my neighbors work in the construction trades & commercial kitchens, all of which have been decimated by the covid lockdown, with only a one-time government payment of $1,200 so far this year. Our postal zip code has had the highest number of covid infections in the entire state of Illinois. And now, as they say, winter is coming.

A small cabinet with a plexiglass window, crudely made from a shipping crate, appeared at the end of our block alongside an empty lot which neighbors had themselves turned into children's playground some years ago [climbing obstacles made from tree trunks, that sort of thing], as the city's Park District has no money to spare. Cans of food began showing up the cabinet, and it's now a full-fledged free food pantry for our couple of blocks. Leave what you can, take what you need. My girlfriend & I will buy extra on our weekly trip to Aldi, then a few times a week I'll leave cans of beans, tomatoes, corn, tins of meat, etc. All gone by the next dog walk. We also sometimes leave packets of surgical masks a friend sneaks out from her job at a hospital. I bought a bag of 100 P-38 can openers from an army surplus site and always leave a few behind on a small key hook inside the "pantry" for guys living rough without a kitchen, the number of which have dramatically increased locally.

A small shanty town has sprung up in a desolate area alongside our neighborhood's larger, official park - it was formerly railroad property, but the tracks have been taken up. Tents made from tarps, men cooking over a fire fed by pieces of broken pallets. Looks straight out of a film of the 1930s, or stories I heard from my grandmother & great-aunt, and never expected to witness in my own lifetime. A couple major freight lines border our neighborhood, running above grade, and now several underpasses host small batches of crude tents along one sidewalk, the other left open for pedestrian traffic. It's rather stark.

So, yeah, strolling around the neighborhood is no longer the rejuvenator it once was - if anything, it can be worse than reading the news! In the spring we began making a point of trying to take three to four hikes a month in the Indiana Dunes National Park, which stitches together patches of forest, beach, and sand dunes scattered among the steel mills of Gary, Indiana, only a 45 minute drive away. That has been wonderful & restorative, and needless to say, the dog loves it as well. Not sure what I'd do without the dog, honestly, as my own work has now began to dry up as well and I spend far too much time at home on weekdays with her as my only company until the evening.

Nice this is one best way to recover too, thanks for sharing this bud. I realized that we all have great way to cope esp when you go get some therapy. I was able to read some article the enlightened me. I would like to share this to everyone. Here you go - https://www.prevention.com/health/a34574251/anxiety-vs-covid-19-symptoms/

 

[Pandemic]

This pandemic has me working long days and nights in a dark, depressing, sweaty command center. When I get time off to see my family, I have trouble relaxing and relating to them - I’m still pumped full of adrenaline.

The one thing (well, aside from this place and obsessing about leather jackets) that has helped calm and center me is early morning runs through the park. This from someone who hadn’t run in 25 years. It’s just magical being up before dawn on a trail going through the trees.

 

[BobHufford]

I was able to go for a walk in the woods last evening for the first time since my COVID positive test on 12/8. I can't put into words how much that meant to me.

 

[Jasonindenver]

When this started, we were stuck at home for six weeks due to my kid’s school shutting down and my wife’s need to be extremely cautious (she is an ICU doctor). Normally, I am biking or skiing in the mountains every weekend. This, however, was the longest stretch in my life that I have gone without any meaningful outdoor therapy.

When I was finally able to get outdoors, I stopped my bike in the middle of the woods and simply laid down under the trees by a stream for a half hour. Listening to nothing but the sound of the water and the wind in the trees reset everything for me.

 

[Aerielle Max]

I miss having a good walk and talk anything with someone. ♥

 

[Aerielle Max]

Well normally perfectly fine with being indoors, but I do miss getting in a good walk.

 

[Allydress]

yes I agree esp when there is sunlight

 

[Aerielle Max]

Yeah, I feel like the sunlight clears my mind.

 

[Cornelius]

That's the worst part about winter in Chicago - the cold, you can dress for. A grey sheet of cloud for a sky that lasts 90 days? Not much to be done about that but to take Vitamin D a few times a week.

 

[MisterCairo]

Great to live on a 100 acre farm including 14 acres of sugar bush. Ontario winter weather even lets us enjoy it on occasion!

 

[MisterCairo]

Today was an inside day:

 

[Jeffrey Westcott]

In Burgundy the weather has been snow, snow, rain, rain, rain. Walking is about the only thing my wife and I can do with our little ones. Luckily we live in a rural place and hikes are easy. When the French government institutes the strongest lockdowns (which they have twice) you need a written note just to leave your front door. Grateful to get outside.

 

[Bushman]

Yes, and no. I regularly walk in the local forest preserves, and often take the long loop because it's quieter. For that reason, I've always been outdoorsy, so going out to the woods during quarantine or lockdown was really no big deal for me. What was a big deal was the sudden, large influx of people on "my" trails.