Feeling More Positive

I've been feeling a little more positive in the last couple of days. I think it's because I accepted the other day, that I'm actually very angry about the situation we find ourselves in.  Now I know that being angry isn't any use to anyone, but it is useful to me, to acknowledge how I feel and express it. That doesn't mean that I'm going to grumble on about things, I'm not. I just need to voice how I feel and move on from it and make the most of a horrible situation for everyone.

Talking of which, Joe Wicks has been helping to keep me sane this week. I enjoy doing bits of his workouts as I'm walking the dog. It's lovely to do exercises in the open air.  I think people think I'm a little mad, but you know what, I just don't care. I don't judge them as they jog or walk along. The dog usually objects and often starts nipping me to play with her, but she's got to accept that these days the walk is for both of us and not just her.  The workout only takes up part of her walk anyway, so she'll just have to get used to it.

I think what Joe is doing is very commendable. He must really be helping parents to get their children into a routine when having to home school. It's not something that is common here in the UK, so it probably doesn't come easily to many parents. It's not just kids and parents he's helping either, he's helping the likes of me and my friend from the gym who is also doing his workouts every day, helping us to stay sane, not to mention the money that is being donated to the NHS from ad views on his YouTube channel.

On the dog walk this morning, I saw this poem attached to a bench in the park.  I thought it was worth posting, as it was a nice sentiment.

This afternoon, I received the first of what will be weekly emails from my employer, which suggested that there are lots of free courses on the Open University site that we might find engaging whilst on furlough. I took a look, but nothing really jumped out at me. It did, however, inspire me to jump over to Udemy.com.  I'd done a visual merchandising course on their site a while back. I think I paid £10 for it, but it was pretty useful for work.

I had a look around on the site and found a great Charleston dance course for £11.99. (It was on special offer of 40% off, which ends tonight I think.)  The teacher is a dancer that I've watched on YouTube in the past and he's great.  I signed up immediately after watching some previews of the course and did half of the two hour course this afternoon.  It was quite energetic, so was well worth the expense. I can view it and use it as much as I want to from now on, so I think I'll be following it a few times during the lockdown. I've still got the second half to finish, but I'll save that for another day. It felt so good to get my dancing shoes back on.

I also saved another free course, which gives you a 10 minute Yoga practice to do in a morning. I'm yet to try it, but I might start it tomorrow. I have to admit that I'm not really a yoga fan, but I need to do something at home and I might actually find it beneficial to do 10 minutes a day. It's worth a try, as it isn't costing me anything and the teacher seemed lovely.

You do need to preview the courses, because sometimes I don't find it easy to watch some of the teachers, but it is a very useful resource and there's a thousand or so free courses on there, as well as 10,000 courses you can pay for.

I've earmarked another course in ballet, as I was considering taking it up again before I started my Jazz classes. I studied ballet for 5 years from the age of 10 and it's quite good exercise and discipline. The course offers 5 and a half hours of tuition, which is pretty good value for money. There was also a shuffle dancing course which looks great, although it is aimed at a much younger age group, but what's to stop me having a go. LB could use it too.

Hence, it's been another good day. I'm finding things to occupy me and some of our seedlings are sprouting, which is another bonus.  Here's a picture of some of them, mostly kale and kohl rabi for the moment:

They've come up pretty quick seeing as OH only sowed them at the beginning of the week.

Anyway, tonight is Pizza night, so I'm going to head off and eat my pizza and then watch Gardener's World later.

Have a good weekend.