Chris Stennett, from Felixstowe in Suffolk, lives with FSHD. Here, he shares his daily routine and top tips for staying positive during the Covid-19 pandemic.
My goals are essentially the same as they were before the crisis. I have adapted them to the situation, and I’m finding that as long as I keep myself focused on what’s important, the situation becomes easier to manage.
My routine starts with getting up early and having a coffee with my girlfriend. I am still very busy and she is furloughed, so it is important to us to spend time together before I get to work.
Every day I alternate between heavy exercise in the garden or lighter exercise doing chores. For me, it’s important to both move first thing and feel accomplished at the start of the day.
The rest of my day looks something like this:
- Shower and get ready for the day job – for me that’s at Burhill Logistics.
- Eat a late breakfast or have lunch, and have a guitar lesson on Yousician.
- Check news relating to investments before the US market opens.
- Work until 6ish then cook dinner.
And then either:
- Uni work – although my end-of-year assignment has now been submitted.
- Reading – mostly non-fiction.
- Date night.
My top tips for staying positive during this time are:
- Keep a bedtime routine. Changing the times you go to bed and wake up are a sure way to make yourself feel bad. If you go to bed late, get up at the same time and you will sleep better the next night.
- If you can, exercise daily, even if it’s only 10 minutes. Preferably outside.
- Work towards something, outside of work, every day. Check how far you’ve come in a week and you’ll smile.
- Regularly contact your friends and family.
- If you have a partner, still set aside a date night, even though you are around each other all the time.
- Cook healthy meals and get creative. You have the time to try new foods and recipes, so save money and waiting time from takeaways.
- On a down day, do it anyway. You will feel better afterwards.
I am also due to do an Ironman in September, which is proving quite difficult.
Training at the moment means not going out. No one wants to get hit by a car while running or come off their bike, but these things happen and I would rather eliminate risk of hospital right now.
I have a skipping rope, weighted vest, truck tyre and sledgehammer in the back garden to keep fitness levels up but will also resume open-water swimming now the government has advised this is OK to do.
I am a little concerned, but I am still maintaining fitness and not shooting for a record race so I am confident I will be OK.