The NormalNess Podcast – Season 2 Episode 4 – Visual Stimulation
In this episode, I talk about being stuck inside and how visual stimulation (when I finally got it) made a world of difference.
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Episode Transcript:
One of the downsides of COVID for me was the lack of visual stimulation. I also want to prove This by saying, look, Australia has done pretty well. My experience is not the most horrible experience in the world. So I don’t want you to make, I don’t want anyone to think that, you know, my experience is the worst. I just want to talk about one aspect of it. That happened during COVID.
I really suffered for a while with a lack of visual stimulation. When everything first went into our version of lock down in Australia, you’re wearing the elite athlete allowed to leave the house for essentials. And that included exercise. Unfortunate, unfortunately, I had hurt my foot and I couldn’t walk. I could limp around the house fine, but much more than that was you know, was painful. I get you know the kilometre or two to the supermarket or the vet but again, couldn’t drive much further than that. Of course it was my right foot. I injured the one you need for driving, you know, brakes, accelerators, useful things like that.
I mean, the good part of having this happen during COVID is that I was working from home. So it meant I got to keep my weight off a lot more than if I was commuting and working in my office. Silver Lining, I guess the downside for me, which is what I was trying to talk about, is the lack of the visual stimulation, and it started wearing on me, and it started wearing on me when my foot started healing. I guess for me when I couldn’t walk, I was just accepting that, you know, I need to stay still, I can’t do anything. It’s the best thing for me. It’s it’s healthy, safe.
But when I started to be able to move a little bit more, I found myself frustrated by not being able to move a lot more. That’s when I felt trapped by the four walls of my house. Again, I can only speak from my experience and that is that a house to live in a different does and I don’t know how to balance this The privilege, I have privilege here. And I guess that’s all I can really say. The Walker visual stimulation just just got to me so badly, though.
And it got to the point that the actual first time I managed to get out the house on my own, and go for a drive of all things to a medical appointment been out, my brain just felt so much more alive. And that was just from driving down some quiet blind and uninspiring suburban roads. But that was still visual stimulus stimulation to me. And I guess the thing to learn from this is it’s actually something I need to make sure I include in my life, like it does matter to me, it bothers me. I feel uninspired. I feel it contributes to making me feel trapped.
I guess the interesting thing is that visual visual stimulation for me, doesn’t even necessarily have to be like, you know, Instagram Abul gorgeous scenery. I mean, of course that’s fantastic. But sometimes for me, I’ve gone to like, gone to like trying to park in one of those shitty housing estates I hate where every house has a tiny little cardboard box, it looks the same. Even something I actually pretty much hate, like those housing estates can still be visual stimulation for me.
So I think it’s about just making sure I see lots of things and it just sort of cleanses my brain. Yeah, I don’t know. It’s just a very interesting thing I’ve experienced during this time. It’s not something I really see written about or hear spoken about. So I wanted to share my experience because I figure copy the only one I’m not that unique, so be super curious to hear from you. No social media blog post comment, email, whatever works about Yeah. Is that a thing for you is that I’m curious. It’s something that I’m hoping to now be able to do more. I’ve got permission to exercise again from my physiotherapist. So, hopefully that will contribute to my my brain being happy. Stay safe.
