Summer falls as Autumn hauls

Autumn has arrived. Sunny days have made way for general gloominess. I don’t mind the wind or cooler temperatures. What I always have trouble adjusting to, is the grey skies and the increasingly shorter days. Changes in air pressure always make me feel like I have a permanent jet lag <which is so much fun!> and it makes it hard for me to get motivated to do anything but the necessary <a.k.a. work and household>.

I’ve scheduled the Which Way Challenge until December, so thankfully I’ve all of that sorted! It’s my other posts that I find hard to keep up with. Let alone keep up with what everyone else is doing. It’s not because of lack of ideas, resources or enthusiasm! I think it has to do with the season and ‘The Rona’ and being parched after spending a whole day on the computer. Weirdly enough, when I finally sit down and start blogging, I ask myself why it was so hard to get started in the first place. Anyone experience that? I’m so out of practice, that I’ve only now started using the new block editor. Oh boy! Hahaha.

Since mid March, we’ve had to work from home. Over the summer, measures had been eased and we could occasionally go into the office for team meetings. Of course abiding by the rules set by the government. It was so nice to see actual people and have real life/work interactions. I’ve been out of shape though, so interaction with people, commuting and having so many more stimuli were tiring. But it was worth it. Then last week, measures became stricter again, as the so called ‘Second Wave’ has started here in The Netherlands. Working from home is the default again and going into the office is only allowed when it’s essential for your work. Our project is important, but not related or essential to fighting Covid-19. So it’s back to working from home full-time <yay!>. It’s also advised to wear masks in public spaces, like shops. I abide by any rule if it means contributing to kicking this virus in the ass.

I’m also doing my best to stay healthy and sane, haha. Here are five things I’m doing…

• Whenever possible <preferably every day>, I go out for a walk. I’d go crazy if I had to stay cooped up in my apartment, so I welcome the fresh air and the exercise. I take different routes every time, though I usually end up at a local park, just to get some Vitamin N in. Today was a particularly lovely day for a walk, it was even sunny! In a grass patch, I noticed some mushrooms. Isn’t that the epitome of soggy, damp Autumn? The lighting was gorgeous so I snapped the photo above.
• In the line of walking, I also try to do my home workout. I’ve been slacking lately <also thanks to the ‘jetlag’> but will definitely pick it back up.
• I’ve gotten an external monitor to improve the ergonomics of my work space! No more starting at a 11 inch laptop screen, but enjoying a 24 inch screen instead. Nice! Oh, and I could declare it as a work expense because we have to work from home and my employer is awesome like that. The rest of my work space was already pretty good, so this made it better.
• I’ve bought a daylight lamp. I’ve heard great things about how these things help fight off the winter blues. I’d been thinking about it for a while, but finally decided to bite the bullet and get one! It’s an ugly thing though, but if it works, it’s worth staring at this ugly round thing, hahaha.
• I’ve painted the walls of half my living room because I was bored with staring at the same walls. I’ve taken down my shelves, ordered a new cabinet and a new dining table. I’d been thinking about refreshing my living room for a while, but ‘The Rona’ made me do it? 😉 It’s so much brighter with the walls white instead of grey (which I loved at the time, but it was time to go).

How are you guys doing? Have the measures eased or become stricter where you are? What are you doing to stay safe and ‘hang in there’?