Lockdown Blog
Isolation, lockdown, covid-19, all these phrases being thrown around on a daily basis and none of them carry any hope. The news is bringing us a lot of fear and anxiety, all we hear are the negative stories and it’s taking its toll on our mental health. It feels like it is consuming our lives, it’s everywhere we turn and there is no escape and it’s overwhelming.
None of this still feels real, it feels like we are living in a sci-fi movie but one that we can’t turn off or press pause to take a break for 5 minutes. It’s constant and it’s everywhere we turn.
It’s a time where we aren’t allowed to see our family and friends, we have to keep our distance from our loved ones and that hurts us all. In times of sadness or stress the people that we want to hug us and be close too are now far away from us and there is nothing we can do to change this right now.
We are all thinking about the things that we took for granted, something as little as popping to the shop to get milk, a walk along the seafront or popping over to see family and friends, none of these things we ever thought could be snatched away from us but now as we sit indoors it has all made us realise, they can.
This brings us all kinds of emotions, sadness, loneliness, trapped and maybe even a little anger to be locked inside for so many hours. I can’t even begin to tell you the rollercoaster of emotions there have been, mainly tears, lack of motivation, everything feels an effort, most mornings I just want to hide under and duvet and wait for this to all be over.
Humans are generally sociable, we talk to numerous people on a daily basis and without even thinking about it and overnight we are being ‘socially distanced’ and our communication has been massively restricted. Some of us are no longer working and some of us are working overtime, we don’t have that daily routine in our lives and it all feels a bit of a jumble.
It’s uncertain times ahead, the not knowing of when we will have our ‘normal’ life again, it’s out of our control and we have to be patient which isn’t an easy thing to do in the circumstance.
It’s a time for us to all pull together, most social things have been cancelled or places closed, we can no longer meet for a coffee, have a shopping trip, go for dinner or go out for a family day so it can bring our mood down to be indoors a lot of the time.
There are a lot of things that haven’t been cancelled, like...
Facetiming or video calling loved ones
Texting or messaging to check in on family/friends
One form of exercise a day
Getting artistic and creative
Spending time with your pet
Listening to some feel good music (having a dance along too!) Watching your favourite movie
Reading a good book
Smiling and saying hi to neighbours (from a distance of course!)
Know that this is temporary and we will get through this together. I have noticed a massive coming together of people online and off, we are celebrating the feel like the world has been turned upside down and that everything we know has heroes who are working around the clock to nurse people back to health, supply our food, stock our shelves, deliver our post, collect our waste and keep us going.
It reminds us to be kind to one another and that we are all fighting the same battle, we are all in this together and I hope this unity will stay long after the coronavirus has passed.
So for now we have to stay safe at home, I know what a struggle this feels, it’s taking its toll on everybody but only by doing this can we go back to all the things that we enjoy. On a more positive note, spend time planning all the nice things you can do later in the year, all those days out, trips you had planned and dinner with friends you haven’t seen for a while.
Remember ‘We are one day closer to everything being back to normal again’
Author's Bio
Sophie Collumbell is a regular writer for the Counsellors Café Magazine. In Sophie's words: "I don’t take life too seriously, always joking and making people laugh! Family and friends mean the world to me, and my little cat tiggs! Music is my life, I spend most time with my headphones on listening to anything and everything, I believe ‘When words fail music speaks’! I am more creative than anything, I love writing and knowing that hopefully, writing my struggles can help other people is just the best feeling ever! I cannot wait for the future so I can train to be a counsellor and hopefully help someone the way my counsellor has helped me!'
