Hope

So I don’t even know how many days it has been now since the start of lockdown. As I write this it feels like the start of a movie I may have watched about the start of a new life for civilization after an awful pandemic, oh and here we are. I, like many, struggle still to get my head round how our lives have changed so quickly with so little time to adapt and change. We are creatures of habit and we like routine and normal. We like freedom and the chance to do as we please. But freedom, choice and chance have all been snatched away from us and we are left with ourselves and our own resolve. For some that is just about manageable but for others it is unimaginably hard. Over the weeks I have been on a rollercoaster of emotions, some days it feels ok, other days feel dark and hard to manage. It has been a unique and leveling experience to realize that no matter how much wealth or power you have you can not buy your way out of the situation. What makes you rich and powerful right now is love and mental strength. The currency isn’t green anymore.
We don’t really know how long this will go on. We live in hope that the brilliant people out there will bring light to the end of the tunnel and a motor to the rudderless boat, but there’s no guarantee. So what we need to do is adapt and overcome. Find new ways of coping with the new norm. What I’ve gathered so far from my clients and friends is that above anything else ones own head space has been very much magnified, the ability to dilute stress and self doubt has become difficult to execute. I’ve noticed, since it’s my industry, that people have become exercise obsessed as a way of coping, diet and food obsessed, most over eating. I will admit it’s hard I find myself in the kitchen more than usual and thinking “oh it must be time to eat again?!” But try not to beat yourself up, make allowances, don’t get caught up in a viscous circle of guilt.
I feel like the best place to start is getting into a routine so that each day you are completing tasks and feeling a sense of achievement, albeit a Groundhog Day like feel to it, at least then you will have some structure and a sense of outline to each day. Get up at the same time, exercise daily, create something, take some time to relax and reflect on everything we have to be grateful for. Try not to put too much pressure on yourself to over achieve. If you are home schooling just do a little each day so that it doesn’t end in a fight with you screaming blue murder and turning to the gin at 10am. It won’t help anyone and certainly the kids as the whole process is already way out the ball park weird, so don’t make it worse.
Make the most of this time, we won’t ever have our children around us like this ever again, it is precious time. We’ve been forced to slow down and be still so try not to fight that too much and if anything embrace it, even if only possible for a short while.
Negative thoughts and down days are going to happen regardless of how much you try and keep them at bay. So let it happen, invite thoughts in, ponder them then send them on their way. My mother always used to say. “It won’t always be dark at 6pm”, there will be better days and so just hang on to those thoughts.
We will look forward with new goals and dreams, re organize our priorities and know what really matters to us. We will look back and remember how this made us more patient and resilient and how important the smaller things are.
Be kind to yourself and to others, know we are all in this together and one day we won’t be apart anymore.