Staying occupied and distracted Group

We all know that staying occupied and distracted is difficult to do but very important to help us heal. I'd like to get this group going with ideas and suggestions on staying occupied and distracted.

 

Personally I'm looking forward to warmer weather so I can get outside, hit some golf balls, go for walks and even do some gardening. Reading a good book has also helped.

 

What are you all doing? Is there something we can do on this forum that could help us?

Hi this is definitely a good idea as sometimes distraction is necessary.l find walking the dogs in a forest photographing nature helps a lot.Also decluttering the house l find very therapeutic.Crosswords,word puzzles and games help to redirect my thoughts.l look forward to seeing other suggestions.

I'm following this.thread, as I definitely need help in this area of my recovery.

 

How do you stay on task when at work and all you can think about is your heart beating out of your chest?  Then I start scaring myself, thinking I can't work!

For my part, I think my trouble with DR/DP went on quite soon, because in month 2-3 I started with brain gymnastics.

 

This may sound childish, but I have written a magazine for children and adults in the family. There have been competitions with, for example, questions in history and geography, traffic issues and yes/no questions. Have had a lot of pictures I have had in different registers. I still do this, and this has been my rescue.

This has been much appreciated, but I hardly think I will continue with it when I'm healthy. I will probably disregard being very sick, and it may cause unpleasant memories. But right now, it works really well, it's a very good distraction and time goes by. 

I am watching movies, more like comedies, documentaries about nature ....not much basically. Recently I was able to cook and clean the house (my husband took care of these in the last 2 months)

I love this thread.  I knit.  I am currently knitting myself a blanket.  It's my Hope Blanket.  I am a beginner knitter just learned in withdrawal by watching youtube videos and it helps immensely.  I knit whenever I have a wave and it doesn't make the wave go away but the distraction helps with any anxiety that may come with it.

 

I also do the "adult coloring books" from time to time and those have helped a lot.

 

I walk and I clean.  I was working and that was a great distraction but I just took a leave from work because my sxs are too bad right now.

 

Thanks for this!

I have found playing gin rummy with friends helps me to relax 90% of the time. This is always in the evenings when I am usually more relaxed but i notice after an hour my anxiety is much lower and my heart rate is down..

Thank you for this thread! Just left my new job because stress hampering recovery, but now don't have that distraction. Try to do yoga at home with YouTube (yoga with Adrienne.) Walk when gi issues allow. Write about this experience to give it some purpose in my own mind.

Reading at night.Daytime I make a list of easy chores to do (inside house & outdoors) also spend time watching movies (nothing that causes anxiety)

I enjoyed crafting but that has gone to the wayside until I get that focus back.

Beekeeping and gardening are my favorites,I'm seeing some issues in physical clumsiness,Cog fog in my Springtime build up chores.I will have to make battle plans to deal with this.

The first year I sorted thing in the garage. I could stay on task if no one talked to me. The second year I had horrible headaches day and night. The third year pain all over and jerking limbs. So I watched old movies usually comedies. I went to a water zumba class that helped me a lot. It was the only place where I could talk to people because the cool water masked the pain. I could not work or interact with many people because of the brain fog. Now I can talk, shop, drive, etc. It gets easier by the day and one day I will be free.

Sudokus, video games, and when I have to do chores, a lot of times I listen to music, because it really helps to keep my mind from wandering. 

While I am able to lie on back rather than side so can use tablet for longer I have downloaded a load of word puzzle apps to try to help cognition a bit. I can’t believe I was applying fora Ph.D at one time and now can hardly find a word in a puzzle.

Following this thread. When I was feeling better I watched a lot of movies/TV/sports, listened to music/podcasts/audiobooks, did yoga (Yoga With Adriene and Malia Yoga mostly), cleaned up around the house but lately since everything has been too stimulating it's very difficult for me to watch anything on a screen so I've been desperately looking for other distractions. I try to do adult coloring books and have started latch hooking. They don't really take my mind off of how scared and disoriented I feel though. I really wish I could just watch movies and TV again and go for short walks.

Thank you for this thread! Just left my new job because stress hampering recovery, but now don't have that distraction. Try to do yoga at home with YouTube (yoga with Adrienne.) Walk when gi issues allow. Write about this experience to give it some purpose in my own mind.

 

I've been trying to to the 30 day challenge but I just can't get started!

 

But I got my motivation and energy back, pretty soon I will as flexible as a shaolin monk. 

I also recently started doing yoga with Adrienne.  Her neck and shoulder stretches are good.  There was another one I also did, and the two together have helped my neck and shoulder pain significantly. 

 

I have started trying to get some achievements on a video game that I really like, Civilization VI.  It's one of the few games that doesn't make me dizzy or nauseous at some point. 

 

Board games and card games are fun too, if I can find a time where enough people in my house are not looking at a screen. 

Yoga With Adriene is great but I found the 30 Day Challenge to be way too much for right now. I definitely have to go with her less intensive videos as much as I want to push myself to do the more challenging stuff. It just revs me up too much that it's not worth it even though it feels good to sweat in the moment.

I used to be able to do Yoga with Adrienne but now muscle problemsand pain are so bad I can’t and the slightest activity ramps everything up.

Yeah, I'm the same way. I also have a pretty intense 30 minute Denise Austin DVD that I used to do pretty much everyday but now I get revved up so easily that I am having trouble doing a Yoga in Bed sequence or just a stretching routine.

It’s ME Awareness week this week so I am pushing things around the Twitter echo chamber from my bed and trying to convince myself it is meaningful activity.

 

If anyone wants to help support ME Awaremess and the Millions Missing Campaign please come and join in.

Yeah, I'm the same way. I also have a pretty intense 30 minute Denise Austin DVD that I used to do pretty much everyday but now I get revved up so easily that I am having trouble doing a Yoga in Bed sequence or just a stretching routine.

 

Oh Fuzzy,  :smitten: , I have Denise Austin DVDs too!  Her stuff is so much more doable than those crazy high impact aerobics.  I stick with her low-impact aerobics.  The one I have been doing the most of lately is called, "Shape Up and Shed Pounds".