What have you learned about being inside?

[petra]

What's something you know now that you wish you had known earlier in your sojourn inside?

Comments

[lilysea]

Not a lot has changed for me - I've been mostly housebound from chronic illness since 2011.

The main change for me is not going out to the local post office or seeing the occasional film in a cinema.

I'll be interested to hear what other people have to say.

[mific]

Still, a pity to have to miss those outings.

[petra]

I meant this question to apply to folks who have been inside for a long time, too. Do you have anything you've learned since 2011 to share?

[lilysea]

Do you have anything you've learned since 2011 to share?

Message people on Facebook to say hello;
Email people;
phone people

follow other Disabled/chronically ill people on social media, they understand about being mostly housebound

read Dreamwidth;
read Facebook;
read webcomics;
read ebooks

watch films/TV bought on itunes;
watch Netflix

cuddle cat

[petra]

These seem like very good advice to me, especially the bit about finding other people in the same boat you are so you can communicate your situation without explaining it anew every time you meet someone.

[mesotablar]

Having a good sleep routine is definitely the best thing for me. As a teen I had insomnia and when I was first housebound it was a novelty so my sleeping patterns were all over the place, in both cases the irregular sleep made me feel disconnected from other people and myself which led the way to anxiety and depression.
I go to bed around 10:30 and read which means I might fall asleep at 10:35 or midnight depending on how tired I am. Then I am awake between 6-8 am everyday.

Also stay away from screens for a block of time each day. I don't always succeed in this but it is a goal to spend 4 hours away from phone, computer and tv...possibly even books if they are especially trashy. I cook or clean or beauty treatments/personal grooming or face-to-face conversation so that I can look back on the day and say that I achieved something directly related to my space or myself. (what I'm still trying to do is expand that to crafting or working out but I find I have little motivation in those areas right now)

When housebound finding a online community you really click with is really a lifesaver, big bonus if they make you engage your brain in thinking about issues or concepts and they have respectful debates and discussions going on.

[petra]

Regular sleep is one of those difficult things that people persist in recommending for very good reasons.

I admire your ability to detach from screens for 4 hours a day! I've definitely been having problems with that lately, since almost all my socializing is digital and so are the work-adjacent things that I can get done.

I agree that having a good community is absolutely key. It sounds like you have very solid standards for what you want out of your online interactions; I hope the people in your life can live up to them consistently.

[mesotablar]

my internet is fairly bad, anything beyond text based internet usage gets tricky. Youtube isn't really reliable any more let alone videochats. My big vice was computer games and I didn't like the idea of playing all day just because I was stuck indoors.

My real life friends get phone calls and recently I've been writing them letters and sending care packages which all takes me away from screens.

I've been in online communities where it got toxic, and in this anxious COVID isolation time that is something I really don't want to invite back into my life because my personal support networks are not really there as they used to be*. So I've cut back my active online communities to Dreamwidth and Arocalypse because I believe in their community standards. Plus I am finding out so much about gender which is interesting and informative even though I feel completely Cisfemale.

*this was one of the main points of ContraPoints youtube video about Canceling and it really got to me.

[mesotablar]

I've been fairly housebound since 2016, though I was swapping between 2 houses. I enjoyed grocery shopping, the cinema and eating out at places nearby for lunch.

So now I'm just in the one house. I'm not allowed to grocery shop because I am at risk because of my chronic illness but not recognised as vulnerable to shop in the early hours when the shop is cleanest. I really miss eating out and I'm sort of terrified my favourite places won't reopen.

[petra]

It sucks that grocery shopping is a catch-22 where you can't do it when it's cleanest because you're not obviously sick enough, but you're too sick to do it the rest of the time. Invisible disabilities suck rocks.

[mesotablar]

I almost wish there was a chronic illness card that I could flash in those situations..and also so it would be easier to claim my free flu shot