I am a homebody by nature and for me, there is nothing like being in your own quiet oasis. When you have a chronic illness the feeling of choosing to be in your home isn’t always there. You can end up with cabin fever, even if it takes months to build up. What do you do if you can’t physically go out? Over the years I have done some crazy things to keep me interested in the big wide world and its helped me have some escapism in my day to day life.

1. If you want to travel, pick a country a city or a place and research it. Find hotels, local interests and maybe see if there are any documentaries youtube video or holiday vlogs near where you want to go. Don’t do this too often otherwise you might be sad that you can’t go on this trip but It will give you some time to see if you actually want to go.
2. Books are the gateway to anywhere in the world. I have read books about Mount Everest and the Antartic. Sometimes if I’m not familiar with a place I google it to better imagine where the characters are. Hogwarts didn’t have too much local information for muggles sadly. 
3. Try to stay up to date on what is happening in the world. You may not want to know what is happening with Brexit and the latest disaster but there are a host of interesting articles written every day.
4. Learn about something that interests you. I learnt how to knit a few years back and loved it. Sadly my fingers got blisters (How that is possible I don’t know) and I had to stop but I know I can revisit it whenever.
5. Focus on creating a sanctuary in your home, be that your bedroom or a tiny corner make it yours make it comfy and use it to hide when you need to. 
6. This is my most out there of all the concepts but I have a safe place I go to in my mind. Sometimes its a cabin in the middle of a forest, sometimes it’s a tropical island. It’s a place to go to relax in my mind. Whenever I think about them I try to see what I can add to my actual reality to give me that feeling of peace and total escapism. Sadly, a hot tub sized bath isn’t going to be installed in my house anytime soon. 

I have had the dreaded questions about my isolation along the way “Don’t you get lonely?” “How do you cope being at home all the time?” “Don’t you go stir crazy?” – A personal favourite of mine ha, ha, ha. But I don’t know how to explain it, besides I know that this is what my body can handle, I don’t like feeling like I’m in a bubble sometimes but I see it like a cocoon, one day I might fly away as cute as a butterfly but for now, my body needs sheltering. Loneliness can creep into our lives but it isn’t an eccentric choice that makes us stay at home. We are sick if you had a tummy bug leaving the house is out of the question if you’re daring you might leave the bathroom. With that logic, it isn’t a choice but I am doing what is best for my body. Yes, my illness has been years but I still need to keep it as balanced as I can.