TTC – How to Have a Positive Mental Attitude During Lockdown

2020 has brought us a devastating pandemic, with unimaginable uncertainty that few could ever have predicted. Out of the blue we’ve been faced with concerns over loved ones, fear for family, friends and those working with dedication on the front line.  Some may be going through the terrible grief of losing a loved one to Covid-19.  To add to that, we have also been affected by financial stress and loss.

On top of these stresses, you may have had to put the longed-for creation of your family via fertility treatment on hold. It feels unfair. That is why we’ve been sharing stories of postponed cycles, to show others they’re not alone in their anxieties, fears and disappointment. At this difficult time, it’s important to take a step back and look at the good around us. Positive Mental Attitude – Hope Is Not Cancelled! Whilst fertility clinics are currently shut, we’ve spoken to trusted clinic, Harley Street Fertility Clinic, about how to look on the bright side of this presently strange life. They have written inspiring ways in which we can occupy ourselves with a PMA (positive mental attitude), whilst stuck at home.

Over to the experts at Harley Street Fertility Clinic…

 www.hsfc.org.uk | @hsfc_uk

As you’ll be well aware, most of us are living in lockdown in the UK and around the world. We’re only able to go out to shop for essentials, for medical reasons, to work (if a key-worker) and to exercise once a day (whilst social distancing). So, what are we left with? Four walls and an outdoor space (for the lucky ones). With this in mind, here we share some ways to occupy yourself positivity:

Top Tips – What To Do Whilst At Home 

Get ‘Outdoors’

• If you live in a house and have a garden, how lucky you are! Take the table outside, exercise, dance as though no one is watching – because probably no one is watching and, if they are, they can enjoy it too!  Music can be so uplifting, now is the time to play your favourite track on repeat. Enjoy!

• Put up a tent and pretend you’re on holiday. Open your mobile and play some sea sounds, close your eyes and you’re there. Pick up the novel you haven’t had time to read during every-day, busy life and indulge.

Exercise and Fertility Yoga

The endorphins released from doing even 20-30 minutes of exercise can be electric. This is also a brilliant way to keep your body healthy during ‘down-time’ of fertility cycles.

• Now is the best time to do a work-out at home. No excuses! There are plenty of apps and videos available. Buy your favourite sports gear to get you going.

• Have an exercise bike? Even better!

• Lay out a mat and practise some fertility yoga. Practising meditation and mindfulness is a great way of keeping positive and relaxed.  Again, there are fertility yoga, meditation and relaxation classes online.

Read here an article giving you at-home work-out tips.

Activities

Do something that you have wanted to do for a very long time, but you never had time for! Here are some ideas: 

• Bake, and while you wait for the oven to deliver your masterpiece, sing or do a sneaky work-out.

• Try out those recipes you haven’t had time for previously – GET COOKING! Be adventurous in the kitchen. Not good at cooking? Don’t worry, we all have to start somewhere.  You never know, you might be applying for Great British Bake Off by next year!

• Shop online – spend the time you deserve pampering yourself with a new outfit for when we can go out again.

• Have you a musical instrument that you gave up or never got round to learning?  There’s no better time than now to get playing – no longer any excuses about not having time to practise.

• Paint or draw – let your inner artist out!  

• If you have some tins of paint stored, recycle some furniture you’ve been meaning to revamp.

• Learn a new language or start an online course. How amazing would it be to look back on this time and have come out of it with a qualification or new skill?

• Open the Google Earth app and go on a ‘virtual holiday’. Plan where in the world you would want to visit. Research the area, activities, hot-spots, sightseeing, restaurants.

• If you have room to store stuff until charity shops reopen, sort out your wardrobe, your flat or house. Now is the perfect time to ‘declutter’ your life. It can be very liberating! Get on top of the things you’ve been putting off

• Working from home or not, don’t lie in bed until 10am, don’t have breakfast at 11.30am or start your work at 12pm. Try to keep your day as usual and as close to your original schedule as possible. Don’t stay in your PJs all day… change into “real clothes” to make your day feel normal.

• Plan some time each day / week to include exercise in your schedule.

• If you have a partner, why not have a date night? Put your glad rags on, some make-up and make yourself feel good by looking good. Don’t beat yourself up about having a glass of wine.

• Watch some old feel-good movies, boxsets, you name it – now is the perfect time, when you don’t have to feel guilty about binge watching!

• Catch up with friends in the evenings. Now is the chance to reconnect with people you’ve lost touch with. ‘Zoom’ and ‘House-party’ offer great ways to chat in groups.

• Limit how much you watch the news. Whilst it’s informative and we all want to keep tuned into the current situation, it can be depressing and overwhelming. So, if you do want to watch the news, try not to do it just before bed when you’re unwinding.

Plan your future and get started with fertility checks from home

Fertility treatment may be on hold right now, but that doesn’t stop you from researching treatment options, consulting virtually and even having a fertility MOT from the comfort of your own home.

Here at Harley Street Fertility Clinic, we now offer testing from home. This means you can use this time wisely to progress the journey towards parenthood, without feeling like you’re losing time. You can find out more about our advanced home MOT testing here (link). Watch this space for an announcement we’ll be making very soon with Fertility Help Hub on this, to help those of you feeling lost not being able to start investigations during this time. HSFC is showing generosity at these unprecedented times, they already have an offer to help the NHS superheroes, which you can read more about on their blog. 

Please be gentle with yourself, remove the pressure and do the best you can to make this ‘down-time’ as positive as it can be. Remember, this is temporary, and it will pass, so do the things you CAN do rather than fretting about what at the moment you can’t. Keep safe and keep positive. Let us know how we can help you.

From HSFC team