COMMENT:

So we are officially at the halfway mark of the lockdown.

And by now all the negatives of quarantine life have been experienced by most of us: anxiousness, boredom, frustration, inconvenience ...

But what about the positives?

The rise in families baking is surely one of them?

More home cooking, more time to prepare food and plan meals. More wholesome proper food ... less opting for takeaways - given there aren't any. That's been a positive I hope stays with us post lockdown. And not just the cooking and baking, but the mealtimes with the family too. Instead of everyone being on the go rushing between work, extra curriculars, or sport, everyone's home to sit down and eat meals together. That's a treat.

Likewise, sharing more of the chores at home: getting everyone to pitch in and help clean up, the focus on hygiene ... I hope these things continue after lockdown too.

I've also appreciated the slower pace of life, the world being on pause gives everyone a bit more time to reflect. There's less rush and chaos, and more downtime. And it's down time we don't have to feel guilty about either.

It's the first time ever that literally doing nothing, is not only encouraged, but you're a hero for doing it. You're saving lives by just sitting on your bum at home.

It's been a bit of an adjustment as a parent, I'll be honest. Where we're used to yelling at the kids for sitting around doing nothing, it's now reassuring to see them doing just that.

The other bonus of this time is that ever since the government said don't leave your house, except to exercise, I have never seen more people out exercising. Some days our street looks like a marathon course.

More people seem to be out running and walking than ever before.

I'm sure it's a sanity thing as well as a fresh air thing, but either way that's another bonus that I hope lasts beyond the lockdown – more of us being more active.

It's probably also because so many of us are doing so much baking ... and eating so much of that baking.

We're feeling as though we need to get our bodies moving for fear we sink into a carb coma from all those scones.

There is a lot of eating and drinking going on, but we need to not put ourselves under too much pressure while the world is turned upside down.

It's hard yards, yes, but trying to find the positives may help keep us all that little bit more sane.

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website