Some Positives From Lockdown

It has to be said that physical Lockdown thus far hasn't been too difficult for us as a family. I think because we are quite a homely kind of family, it hasn't been too bad.  We live 180 miles away from other family members anyway, so are pretty independent and used to long periods of not seeing them.  In addition, aside from our various hobbies and friends made through them, we're not great socialisers, so staying home hasn't really been a struggle for us either (save for LB who is much more extroverted, but even she has been coping well with the change).

Financially, it's been a bit more challenging, as OH works for himself and has seen work dry up virtually over the past month. He's had a few ongoing jobs to continue working on, but no new jobs, save for one potential one this week, which is perhaps a sign that we are slowly coming out of the immediate crisis and people are starting to look to the future.

As I work part-time, 18 hours per week and have been furloughed on 80% of my salary, things have been a little tight, meaning that there is no extra cash for treats or non-essentials. This hasn't been so difficult, as there isn't really that much that I need and it has made me appreciate that I have plenty already.

In addition, staying home everyday, you don't exactly need much.  New clothes and accessories are useless to fight against a virus, unless you need them to protect you in a working setting. When everyone's staying home, there is already enough stuff in our spaces and adding to it buying furniture and other home accessories can and make conditions even more cramped, so this hasn't been too hard.

I think the hardest thing for me is not having spare cash to make donations to help causes related to the virus. I've made physical donations of work goggles for the local hospital, food for a local food bank and arts and crafts materials for a local charity working with families, but I just don't have any spare cash to donate money at the moment.

I do intend to donate to some causes at some point, I just need to see how it goes. My last month's salary was in full, but I had large credit card bills from previous spending to pay off, plus I bought extra food and other items, so no cash was left over. This coming month's salary, paid out next week, will be my first month on furlough and I don't know how much I will receive as yet, but if there is spare money at the end of the month, I will make some donations here and there to help people struggling during lockdown. This should be easier, as I have hardly spent anything on my credit cards this last month, save for ordering a handful of things online. I guess the most important contribution is staying home and not catching or spreading the virus, which we definitely have been doing.

Anyway, onto the positives, which are the reason for this post. It's occurred to me that aside from the obvious positive of being able to spend unlimited time with the ones you love, there have been several other positives that I have taken from being on Lockdown.

1) Slowing down - This is a major one for me.  The last three years since I started my job working in a charity shop, have been pretty busy.  Work is relentless with an unending stream of stuff coming through the doors to be priced and resold. I've put 100%+ into everyday at work to try to be as efficient as possible and raise as much as I can for the charity, sometimes to my own physical and mental detriment. Being able to take a step back and just breathe, without worrying about targets, volumes of donations, shop performance, etc. has been very beneficial. That's not to say that I haven't thought about what it will be like when we go back.  I think about it a lot and how it might be and how we can build the business back up and recoup at least some of the money lost during lockdown. But these thoughts have been thought whilst walking the dog or doing other tasks with no time constraints, which is a great priviledge.

2) Sorting out my home and garden - This has also been a big positive. Starting with doing some jobs in the garden, then coming into the home and completing long neglected quilting projects and doing a thorough declutter of my sewing room has been very therapeutic. It will enable me to return to work feeling like I have my life a bit more under control, which frees me to give everything I can to my job when I'm there.

3) Being resourceful in a crisis - I think most people on Lockdown will have benefitted from this positive. It is a good feeling to know that you have coped in a crisis and provided for your family and used your resources as economically as possible.  This will help us all going forward, to know what we are capable of and that we can cope and cope well. Granted things could have been a lot worse in terms of availability of food and other items, but even so we have coped with shortages of some things and got creative to find solutions.

4) Having time to re-connect with your self - This sounds a bit alternative, but what I mean is that having time at home to sort through my sewing room in particular, has put me back in touch with the person I was before I started my current job. Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but I also enjoyed doing a lot of creative hobbies from quilting to making my own clothes before I started it and I have been just too exhausted on my days off in the last few years, to even think about creative projects, let alone do any. It has been lovely and almost meditative to have the time to work on long neglected projects and once they are all completed, I will have the opportunity to move on and start new and exciting ones.

5) Not needing to dress up - Staying at home has meant that I haven't needed to dress up each day to go out and face the world.  My track pants and t-shirts have been in high demand. I might have worn jeans a couple of times, but the rest of the time these have been my daily uniform and it's been a complete relief from angsting over what to wear each day. That's not to say that I don't look forward to a time when I can get a little dressed up again. I could still do it if I really wanted to, but I'm very happy not to for the time being.

6) Reading more - I've loved the fact that I can stay in bed for an hour each morning and read. My 'To Read' bookshelf (non-fiction only) has suffered as a consequence, but this in itself is a positive, making more space become available in my home if nothing else. What is the use of books sat unread. I've really enjoyed reading some of the books I've accumulated over the last year and thinking about the ideas they offer up to the world. Some have even inspired me to get stuck into projects around my home and filled me with vigour to return to my job feeling even more positive about it.

7) Eating Less - Despite not being able to exercise as vigorously as I normally do at gym classes and dance classes, my weight has remained pretty stable for the past month.  I think this is partly because I haven't been so exhausted and felt the need to cram calories into my body on my days off, and partly because I've gone back to eating salads again after a six month or so abstention. I think the nice weather has helped and been a contributing factor. Being unable to go to classes has been one of the hardest things for me as they were both social, as well as exercise and I miss that. I haven't been able to afford online classes that have been devised either, but hopefully at some point I might be able to  as this will help the teachers who are self employed and rely on the income.  Also, it doesn't seem like I will be able to return to physical classes for a long time either with social distancing remaining in place for the remainder of the year,  so online or reduced size classes will need to fill the gap. It will be interesting to see how gyms and dance schools further adapt to accommodate the changes required by the virus.

8) Thinking Time - Another very important positive of Lockdown has been the time it has given you to think about how you live your life, what your priorities are and what you choose to do with your time and money. I wonder how many people will not want to return to working in the office, or even their jobs at all, having spent time at home with their families. I wonder if people will spend their money in totally different ways, having been unable to shop for inessentials for the duration. The whole landscape of work and consumerism may change in coming years. Talk of staggering work starting times to avoid rush hours sounds quite interesting too. It does seem ridiculous that millions of people crowd into major cities at the same time to go to work, causing severe congestion and overcrowding. (This change may actually be detrimental to me, because I start slightly later than many offices in central London and don't quite get caught up in the main rush hour, so it might make transport busier at times I use it). Maybe it takes such a crisis for us to finally think about our working day and whether we are as efficient as we might be by way of it's current set up.

I'm just hoping that our enforced return to a kind of simplicity will result in a better world.  What do you think?