Pandemic diaries

When the pandemic hit and we were forced into a lockdown , the anxiety and stress levels were extremely high given the fact that my husband and I are both healthcare professionals.

We have three children; I had been working part time until then but decided to quit my job altogether not knowing what was ahead of us. It then meant lots of free time at hand; I am not much into cooking, sewing, gardening and I had to find something to keep my mind occupied.

During the lockdown, we were allowed to walk outside, of course observing social distancing. Up until this time, I was not much into any type of exercising . Hence, decided to challenge myself with walking, with a daily goal of 10,000 steps. The Samsung health app was already on my phone but had never paid much attention to it until now. I started walking in our neighborhood, in and around where we live. The first week was very rough, panting, knees hurting, barely making it to even my halfway mark. But then, magic happened on day 6 of my challenge.

I am not a professional photographer but I love to take pictures of anything and everything, especially of flora and fauna.

On day 6 of my challenge, I posted a picture of a flower on Facebook. The amount of response I got to that post was overwhelming.

At that point, the entire world was suffering, chaotic times for all of us. And then it suddenly dawned on me, I could motivate myself by challenging myself with flower pictures, I could combine my love for photography, flowers and add walking to the mix. I was in my element whenever I was walking outside, enjoying the natural beauty.

The daily walks didn't have to be boring, there was abundance of beauty around me, I just had to look; and I could share my solace, joy and happiness with my friends and family.

They say it takes 21 days , to either form a new or break an old habit. By day 21, I was not only walking 10,000 steps and meeting my daily goal but actually enjoying walking.

Since my children were at home, their school being online, they were joining me once or twice a week. Soon we had started walking as a family, the first 3 months of lockdown, we were pretty isolated, I was walking either by myself or the family and only explored our neighborhood, streets around us.

But as the restrictions eased, we explored many different hikes and trails around us and within our state. My husband after working 10-12 hours of shifts, had also started looking forward to our daily escapades. Days turned into months, seasons changed but I kept going.

There were times when it was raining, temperatures above a 100 deg F and when it snowed in the winter but I kept at it. If not outside, I was walking in the house simply driven to see the green check mark on the steps app.

In conclusion, in the midst of chaos, daily walking and posting flower photographs had saved my sanity. It brought me the peace and as we say in my native tongue," the sukoon" I desired.

Now I found myself telling others the benefits of walking and how I had overcome my obstacles. What began as a mundane chore had evolved into something beautiful, I had a whole album of all kinds of flowers, pictures of nature from around my neighborhood, the town and our state.

My daily walks and sharing the natural beauty around me became my cherished ritual, one that brought me enormous happiness and gave me a purpose. It helped me connect with the nature as well as strengthened our bond as a family. That's my pandemic success story, my pandemic ramblings. Do you have a story?? How did you keep yourself occupied?? What did you do for your mental health ?? If you are reading this, please let me know in the comments .

Here is a picture of us as a family.