This blog is going out to all the kings and queens of the lockdown scene. I’ve just read that lockdown may last a while. We’ve always taken our freedom for granted – the way that it is, is the way that it is. The messages out there now seem to be: take nothing or nobody for granted.
Nothing ever goes back to the way it was before after a change like this takes place. In 1918 , there was a flu pandemic and what followed was the roaring twenties, so hopefully when this is over, some more seismic events will take place for a long time. Humanity has been behaving very badly, like a naughty child and now Mother Nature is taking it’s children by the hand and walking them upstairs and we’re all being locked up in our rooms.
I think it is important to start experimenting with yourselves at the moment. Rather than letting boredom creep into your life, look inside yourself and release your inner Shakespeare. We’re all poets but we don’t know it, so start writing your feelings down and maybe even start putting them out there. During these times, communication is so important with your friends and your family, or perhaps to simply help all the other people in the world that might feel the same and get a feeling of togetherness. You are not alone.
This pandemic has started me meditating on what’s important and what my priorities should be from now on. I have also started being inventive with things that before I found obsolete to keep the boredom away. I found a glut of shower gel and I’ve decanted it into a pump bottle, because unused shampoo can be used to hand wash delicates. Life is throwing us more than our fair share of challenges, at the moment so it’s time to fight back. I personally love going to the gym and working out so I’ve started working out at home instead. Most late afternoons, I’ve had to be inventive and go back to the days when I first started working out, try to imagine what I did and recreate it.
I realise, as there’s no clear end in sight to this lockdown, many of us might be feeling anxious at the moment – I know I am. An ex partner, now a yoga teacher, has been sending me WhatsApp videos of her lessons and I find that doing these yoga moves has helped to reduce these feelings of anxiety that I get. This lockdown won’t stop for a while, and I know how much you all loved your routines, so it is understandable how adrift you must be feeling, but don’t wallow under you duvet – wake up and start doing things. I’m going to list a few ideas to get you all started:
- Create a plan when you wake up and for how you’re going to spend your day. Routine is important. This will give your life a sense of purpose.
- Exercise, be it in your font room or outside in your garden. This will help release your endorphins and help elevate your mood.
- If you have any children or friends who live with you, go and play game with them out in the garden or on your balcony. If you live alone, you can find lots of games to play online.
- This is a good time to learn new skills. I enjoy playing my guitar and writing songs. If you can’t have an instrument laying around the house somewhere, this may be a perfect time to pick it up and start learning. Otherwise, think to any other skill you may have put off for a while.
- Having a thorough clear-out of things that you no longer us in you cabinets/cupboards.
- The toughest task we all face during this period is taking care of your mental health so finding things to do is so important. Remember that this experience will strengthen your resilience muscles, so when you come out of this lockdown, you will feel stronger and more robust.
Lastly, I’d just like to say: spread the love. Think about your fiends and family and all the people in the NHS, those in care homes, support workers and all the people out there doing essential work and remember we’re all in this together and perhaps your situation isn’t as bad as someone else’s I’d like to send all my love out to the people who are working hard to pull us through.
Big love, Paul Maddog.
Maddogrising 