Lockdown Positives and why I won’t rush to getting back to normal

So we are finally easing out of lockdown. From tomorrow, pubs, restaurants, and lots of other venues will open again. Part of me is glad. Of course. It is normality for many. But a bigger part of me is divided into worry and also a little sadness.

Lockdown wasn’t too bad for our family. We are both lucky to keep our jobs and carry on working from home. Later I was furloughed on full pay so that even took the stress out of home schooling for me. I know many haven’t been so lucky.

I’m in no hurry to get my hair cut or eyebrows plucked (can’t actually even have that done yet!). I do look forward to a beer garden visit or two. I also really look forward to a little camping trip we have planned at the last minute and being able to see friends & family again.

But. We will keep our socialising to staying outdoors until we see the effect this loosening of restrictions has on everybody. If we do get another big spike, I do not wish to be part of it!

I actually think that lockdown has brought about a lot of really good things, some of which I will try hard to keep going with. So I made a list of the stuff I really enjoyed, and I am truly grateful for.

Nature

When the lockdown was really tight back in April, I noticed that nature just went nuts! Admittedly, it is the best time of year when nature bursts into life but it was wonderful to have the time to see it in action. As we were not allowed to travel anywhere but the supermarket or essential work, we walked and cycled a lot. The air felt cleaner, roads felt saver to cycle on and the only noise was coming from birds or other people. Absolute bliss! No planes, hardly any cars – I was dreading going back to normal every day.

Mental health

Of course, all this outdoors time did wonders for our minds. But there is more. Suddenly, we stopped having to rush to get to school and work. We got to step off the hamster wheel that is the daily commute. On a normal day, the husband spends every morning finding an elusive parking space and I’m forever rushing to school in the morning and home to make school pick-up on time in the afternoon. I’ll be mourning the easy stress-free mornings in September!

Exercise

Ok, this one has been hindered a bit in the past couple weeks due to heatwaves and health interruptions. But in general, I have done way more exercise than I normally have time to! Every day, I have been doing my physio-prescribed and foot drop exercises. And, I have done a handful of small jogs! That is huge!

Home schooling

Doing home school with Noodle made me wish I could do it permanently. Don’t get me wrong, it’s becoming harder as the resources from school are getting thinner. But he has benefitted so much from having no distractions from peers and having one-to-one support from me. I think he has learned more in the past four months than he would have at school, especially in math. And he has really enjoyed it because we balanced it with learning about things that he is anyway interested in. I have surprised myself as I never for one minute considered myself remotely equipped or indeed patient enough! I have even included some German into his new curriculum! 😊

Neighbours

On VE day our fantastic road decided to have one big, socially distanced street party. We prepared our front gardens with decorations, some of us baked, some of us BBQed. It was a fantastic day and we got to know some of our closest neighbours whom we’d never even met before. Without the lockdown this would never have happened!

Now, I could write another long list of things we are sad to be missing this year. There are a lot! But I don’t like to dwell on these. I prefer to find the silver linings and look at the amazing positives we got out of a bad situation.

What about you? Pick up a new hobby or just managed to survive? Give yourself a pat on the back either way! You’re doing great!