Above, progress on my new painting commission ‘Aberlady’.

And here’s me painting it in my new temporary studio! …

I’m currently staying with my partner so we can be in one place during the Covid pandemic. I’m happy with the arrangement; luckily we get on very well (hence the relationship!) but even more so since I brought in my painting supplies and computer. We can settle down here and hope that this situation passes at a not unforeseeable time in the nearer rather than later future!

It’s a very strange time isn’t it? We went shopping yesterday, a security guard was posted outside the shop letting one in and one out at a time, so there were no more than around ten people in the shop.

The streets sounded quiet because there were so few cars – people don’t have the same need to be anywhere, they can’t work, or visit people. Lots of people were out walking and jogging though, looking slightly confused, tense, or just chatting as normal. I know I’m already missing friends and family – being able to drop in for a visit, or just worrying about people and what’s to come.

There’s a sense of general anxiety and I’ve felt that myself. Luckily I learned how to deal with panic attacks about twenty years ago when I went through a time of acute anxiety over a year. My approach was partly mind-over-matter, but mostly the discovery that running for ten minutes got rid of the panics. I posted about this the other day on Facebook and it was shared by a few people, so here’s a little piece of advice if you feel anxious (everyone finds different things helpful, but this is worth a try)…

Anyone feeling anxious … speaking as someone who used to suffer from panic attacks, I highly recommend getting properly out of breath for at least 5 mins. Running, jogging on the spot, dancing or whatever. It works because it fools our limbic system into thinking we’ve dealt with the scary lion. Our system is primitive in some regards. Adrenaline/fear feels the same whether a real lion is growling at you, or if too many bills come in at once. If you see what I mean 🙂 Keep well folks xx