Just writing a short post today, the first semester of university is coming to an end and there is a whole load of assignments and wrapping things up to do, so just bear with me for the coming weeks till Christmas, ill keep you updated as always! Today I wanted to write about something that I think all of us could give a little more consideration to during times like these, and these are the little blessings that we have around us that we don’t normally realise.
Think of the small things that have kept you sane during this pandemic, it might be a pet, or a game you play with your family or even TikTok that has kept you occupied! think of those things and always be grateful for them and keep them close as once this all passes, you need to remember to not take them for granted and appreciate them in the long run.
Count the blessings you always have around, it being family members or friends via online right now, cherish the time you have with them because you don’t know when the next time will be when you will have time to talk again, in our busy schedules as human beings.
Count the blessings of health and our enjoyment of the simple things, as these deteriorate and change over time, another thing you should see as a blessing, time. Spend your time wisely and on things that are important, as we only have a limited amount of time here on earth and we need to make the most of it, make it unforgettable.
My blessings during the pandemic are my family, my friends who have kept me sane, my boyfriend who always comes up with new things to do, even during the lockdown, making time for each other in our busy schedule. My blessings are also my pets, who always are there for comfort and happiness even in the darkest of times. My distractions are also my blessings during the pandemic, taking time to relax, watch some Netflix, participate in my hobbies and do some university work takes away from that reality of what is going on around us.
I want you to consider your blessings and everything around you, how lucky you are to have what you have. I hope you have enjoyed this very short post on blessings and see some of the ones around you. This post was inspired by my little hammy Pickle, who will be greatly missed by me and @simplyeverythingblog, being the best boy and will forever be remembered.
As the pandemic is growing bigger and bigger every day, with more infections all over the world, this new normal is growing to be scarier than any of us imagined. As I am now currently in a second lockdown in the UK, my family were personally affected by Covid, me and my dad both had it a couple of weeks ago as I am writing this. There is a lot of media panic about this pandemic and many untrusted info sources spreading misleading details, so I thought it would be beneficial to share my experiences of having Covid 19, what I went through, what my parents went through and how to carry on keeping safe.
Me and my family continuously follow Covid rules, so we did not contract it by not wearing masks or not washing our hands, my dad simply caught it from a colleague at work. He is a mechanical engineer so they can’t wear masks while working and sometimes it is hard keeping social distance. So first tip, keep in mind even though you might be following all the rules, stay cautious, as you may still be able to get the virus. My dad brought it home, got sick, then I got sick and the 2-week isolation began.
I will discuss my dads experiences later on, as he is 40+ so he went through it differently to me, but first I wanted to explain my symptoms to you, as a 20 year old, who is completely healthy:
Coughing: This was the first to come, one day I went to bed with a sore throat and three days later it was fully developed. It was never so excessive that I couldn’t stop coughing or I couldn’t breathe, but sometimes I would feel heaviness in my lungs.
Breathing: This was common in the middle of my illness, normally I would be fine and breathe as I usually do, but if I used the stairs, for example, I would have to sit on my bed for 5 mins after to catch my breath. Not the best again, but it could have been worse.
Tiredness: I felt very fatigued during the whole illness, just had very little energy, I still did university work and attended online lessons the whole time, but I found some days to be very tiring, going to bed at 8 pm for example.
Loss of taste and smell: This came in the second week of being ill, it was more annoying than painful or difficult, I would eat and not feel anything, it was frustrating. It made me discouraged from eating really, works oddly on your brain mentality when you don’t really know what you are eating, but slowly I got it back nearing the end of the week.
These were the only symptoms I had, no temperature, nothing else. My illness was not as bad as my dads but I still did not feel 100% obviously, this just proves that being young and healthy does not give you immunity like some believe. You should still watch out for yourselves regardless. I tried to take off as much time as possible, as I was working on assignments at the time and did not really want to take extensions if possible, but still made sure to rest and look after myself.
(Doggy representation of how I felt because I looked too awful to take selfies)
There were not many things that helped, as commonly know, it’s just a case of sitting it out and resting through it. I did drink Lemsip and take paracetamol if I felt very weak or stuffy, but that was just a short term solution when I had my worse 2 days during the whole illness, where I generally felt bad and just stayed in bed, but no different to a common cold or virus.
My dad on the other hand, as mentioned, had a more difficult time getting through it, taking him nearly over 3 weeks to fully recover. Age does make a remarkable difference while getting through Covid as I have seen it personally, a 20-odd age difference between us and I can tell he felt worse than me by just looking at him. He slept all the time, did not want to eat, had a temperature, coughing, breathing difficulty etc. It just made me think that if he feels like this, I would not like to see what a grandparent would feel like or someone who is elderly. Oddly enough, my mom did not get Covid at all or went through it without symptoms, she was with us for the whole month of being ill and all she got was a rash on her neck, which I have heard that this is something that can happen when going through it symptomless.
All this just proves that anyone can get it and it is so varied for everyone, there is not a simple checklist we can put together of what everyone and anyone will go through. We all need to look out for one another and our selves, keep following the guidelines and distance as much as possible, regardless of how tired we are of it. The news about the vaccine is amazing and I do hope, like many, that we can get access to it asap.
I hope you have enjoyed my post on my Covid experience, and it gave you an insight into what someone my age goes through during the illness. Me and my dad are planning to go give blood to help others who are not as lucky as us during experiencing Covid, If you can and have been through the illness after 28 days, go to the NHS website and see if you can too. We have to stick together.
As I am now back into full speed with university, I wanted to give myself a nice reminder of the summer I got to have even though we are in a global pandemic. To have a fresh reminder of the memories made and know that at the end of all this hard work there is a reward too. You can find it in family and friends, photos and events and have it make your darker days a little brighter. Also wanted to share with you my summer and that doing holidays in the heat of the moment is now the new normal, otherwise, there is a chance you won’t get to go! I had many holidays booked for this year, this was not one of them, but I still made the best out of it. So even if you can’t go on holiday, go see family, travel your country (according to guidelines of course 😉 ) see new things or try new things you may not of before!
Arrival:
Obviously, going to another country this time required flying, not a fan. I have done a lot of work with my flight anxiety since my last time flying and learnt a lot of new ways to keep it in control, let me know if you would like a post on that! Anyhow, I got on the plane, it was not too bad, I didn’t cry, I got safely to the ground and thanked the crew and was on my way. Nothing new flight wise about the pandemic, other than wearing masks at the airport, on the flight and the cabin crew collected information sheets with our details on incase someone caught the virus on the plane, other than that no biggie. When I arrived, at my boyfriends home, we were greeted by family and did the usual introductions, but then I was met with this angel! my dog obsession went from 100 to 150 when I saw her, she then completely filled my holiday.
General meet ups:
While the restrictions in Poland were off, we got to meet a couple of friends and spend some time with them, not common as the last time we saw them was a year ago, so lots to talk about. Had a couple of drinks, a couple of days out, a couple of hangovers, generally a good time!
Heat, heat and MORE HEAT:
it was so hot this summer, I don’t remember when I had sunburn this bad again! most of the time we also spent doing water activities, for example on the first day we all as a family went to the lake, and here you can see we went again on our own for some time alone boating, as relaxing as it was, being on a boat with 2 boys had its down falls, ie they act like idiots, but they did take nice Instagram pictures for me!
Relaxing:
obviously, when you’re on holiday, you come to relax, so when all the family goes off to work and the boys go off to the gym, I take time to soak in the silence and peace around me. Obviously making use of the hot tub all the time regardless!
Sport, obviously:
Could not get away without the boys making me attend any sort of sports event this holiday, so we went to see a speedway match. I enjoyed it live as my boyfriend often watches it on TV at home and its not so exciting, so it was not a complete waste of time. Putting aside that the venue threw all the pandemic rules out the window 😦 so I had to watch out for myself, it was a okay day.
Travelling to Lodz:
Now on to going to see my family and spending some good qaulity time in the city, also going to get some work done …
THE kitchen:
As some of you have seen on my blog, I made it my mission to transform my nan’s kitchen. She has had the whole flat done but due to covid, she could not get the last room done, so I and my boyfriend volunteered to do it for her! I have never done anything like this, ie wallpaper, but we learnt along the way and the results are amazing, I love it so much. Took 3 gruelling days but one pair of happy grandparents for years to come.
Seeing the city:
Took some time off after the kitchen to just go and explore the city, as unfortunately most of my family is shielding from the virus I could not go and see them. Still enjoyed my time with my grandparents, caught them up on our lives and took them out with us too.
Date night:
We also managed to squeeze in a date night, having family around all the time gave us very little “us” time so spending one night alone did us some good. We have been here for a month now and as much as we love seeing everyone, you get enough eventually, so wine and good food came to the rescue!
Time to go home:
Before we knew it, we had come to the end of our holiday. Took the train back to Tourn and got on the flight back, not my best flight I must say but I got through it in the end, I now have some sort of peace of mind that flying is at bay for me now, the only good thing to come from this pandemic. We made it home just in time as a week later the UK and Poland started tightening restrictions on everything and travel, so good timing. Also, I said this puppy was with me the whole holiday 😉
I hope you enjoyed looking at my time on my last-minute vacation! I love doing these stories, but you might see less of them now due to no travelling, but I hope to get one to you at the start of next month with my Halloween night movie date! Also, I have a little announcement post coming later today/tomorrow, keep updated!
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