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I think we’re pretty much all struggling at the moment. Life is incredibly weird right now, with COVID-19 or Coronavirus massively affecting the entire world and causing us all to have to distance ourselves from one another and some of us to self-isolate.
Friday was day 14 of our self-isolation. We hadn’t left the house other than to go in the garden for a little bit on one of the lovely sunnier days we’ve been having. It’s unusual for us to have weather like this in March, so I can’t help but feel that the wonderful sunshine has been sent to save all of our sanity a little bit. Grey skies and rain would make this even more difficult right now (says she, looking out of the window at grey skies).
This is bloody hard. It’s hard reading everywhere about how many more people have died each day, it’s hard to see photos of all of the people who are ignoring Boris’ orders and still gathering in groups. It’s hard having very little work to get paid for, but still having to manage what there is alongside homeschooling my daughter, and it’s hard keeping her inside all of the time and her not getting to see her family or friends.
So at tough times like this, it’s even more important to look for the positives and the joy in the little things. So I thought I would share some of the things I’ve noticed that have improved, little benefits from all of this and some positive things I’ve seen in the world.
Before we had lockdown here in the UK and China were in a really bad place with the virus, I saw a picture on Twitter of how much less pollution there was over China without everyone moving about all the time. It can’t be a bad thing that our planet is getting a slight break from all of the air pollution from fewer planes in the sky and fewer cars on the road. Presumably, there is less rubbish pollution too, which means less plastic in our seas and less unethical fishing and fishing in general as people aren’t eating out in many places.
Sadly I’m sure it will all go back to normal as soon as we are all back outside again, but the break can’t hurt.
I know, I know! It can be bloody hard suddenly spending 24/7 with your nearest and dearest when it’s not what the vast majority of us are used to at all and when your child follows you to the bathroom every single time you go either not bearing to be without you (me) for two minutes or needing a poo.
But it is also nice to be able to have more quality time together, to get to have more time with our children and to get to do some work with them and help them to learn a little. It’s bloody hard, but kind of lovely (sometimes) too.
We’re all chilling a bit more together, watching more films, playing more games and chatting more and it’s okay, ya know!
I’m never a fan of the school run so I’m appreciating the (looooong) break from it. No big rushes in the mornings and trying to persuade my daughter to just bloody put her damn uniform on for the fiftieth time, no de-icing the car in the freezing cold weather or it starting to pour with rain as soon as we walk out the door to pick them up.
I’d like to say it means more lie-ins for us and A getting lots of sleep, but no. She’s waking up earlier than she often does and I am sleeping very badly.
Not a massive amount has changed here for me as most of the time I am in leggings and a t-shirt at home anyway. But as we’re not going out at all we can stay in our PJ’s all day if we want to and not put a bra on for weeks at a time. Some people say it’s important to get dressed so we can have a proper routine and feel more together, I say do whatever works for you. But it’s nice to be able to just be as comfy as we like and not to worry about what we’re wearing every day. Hopefully, it also means less washing to do for some people (not me – we seem to have loads and I don’t know why!!).
I’m looking forward to it being warmer so I can embrace bare feet around the house and in the garden. I love feeling the grass on my feet whilst I feel the sun shining on my face.
Life is always such a big rush for all of us, and we go from one thing to the next and rarely get time to slow down and appreciate everything we have.
I’m not at all suggesting that we all suddenly have a shit-ton of time on our hands — the majority of us, I’m sure actually have way less time to fit everything in. But I do feel like having to stay home does encourage us all to slow down a bit and spend more time with those closest to us. We’re not popping to the shops all the time, or rushing to work and school, off to meet friends or go out for the evening, so we don’t really have a choice but to live life a bit more slowly.
It’s encouraging me to read a bit more in the evenings to switch off and unwind after a hectic day with Ava, I’m playing with her a lot more because we learn through play, right?! I feel like I’m finally putting down my phone more and concentrating fully on her and what we’re doing. I don’t usually enjoy getting down on the floor and playing (and my old lady body can’t take it for too long), but I am enjoying it (mostly) at the moment, and it’s really nice.
It clearly should be something that we do all the time, but it has been lovely seeing so many people reaching out to our elderly and more vulnerable and offering to help them. I posted a note to my two elderly neighbours and they both rang me — we don’t normally tend to speak to them often and they’re not exactly very nice people, but it feels good offering to help them in any way we can and for them to know we are here, and seeing people coming together more has been really uplifting.
I’m also part of a Whatsapp group where people in the local area have come together and posted an offer of help to every single house and I see every day, people discussing going to the shops or chemist for people near them who are self-isolating, as well as giving old people who are feeling lonely a call and chatting to them. It makes me feel all warm inside.
On the same note, it’s really felt like we are a community recently when my area has never ever felt that way before. There were so many of us standing on our doorsteps clapping and cheering for the NHS and key workers last week and I didn’t expect it at all. It was so lovely and made me feel quite emotional. I’m so glad that all of these people working their arses off for us, and having to deal with such awful stuff, are getting the appreciation they deserve.
Those of us with children are all, sort of, finding out what it is like to homeschool a little bit and so are our children. Okay, it’s not exactly how it would be if we did it properly and full-time — we’re all trying to manage working from home, being stuck indoors the majority of the time, and dealing with how our kids’ are being affected by all of this, plus cooking dinner with limited resources and trying to keep up with housework a little bit!
But it still does give us a bit of an idea of how it might be if we were thinking about homeschooling. I’ve vaguely considered it before when Ava was having a lot of trouble at school, and she has also been asking me for months to homeschool her.
Now we both most certainly know that neither of us wants to homeschool when all of this is over! I don’t enjoy it at all; I know now that it isn’t for me. Ava said to me the other day when she was whinging and I said to her that I thought she was desperate to be homeschooled — “Yes, but this isn’t proper homeschooling, if we were doing it properly I would be doing online learning all day”! So she thinks sitting at a computer all day long would be more fun that what we are doing now! Little sod.
For those of us that do have more time, or are not able to do your work, it is a good time to learn a new skill, like learning BSL (British Sign Language) or a new language with an app like Duolingo or anything else you’ve been wanted to do for a while and not had the time!
I know that for the majority of us we actually have less time now that we had before and that things are very stressful at the moment, but it’s still a good time to make a little bit of time for ourself, even if it’s just escaping with a book for five minutes.
For me, I’m learning to be more patient right now (hahahahahaha!).
So many of us doing PE with Joe Wicks each morning, or dancing or yoga on YouTube and I’ve seen so many adults who don’t usually do any exercise joining in and it’s really nice to see. Even though we’re all probably eating and drinking more (just me?!), maybe we’ll all come out of this a bit fitter and healthier.
It is such a weird time right now, but I do think we’ll all appreciate the freedom’s that we have a lot more after all of this is over, and hopefully, maybe all be a bit nicer to each other and carry on caring about the people that need it most.
It does feel like we’re all in this together (which we are, of course) and that the world is as one for the first time ever in my lifetime. And even though it’s for a horrible reason, it is nice to feel like we’re not separated as we usually are by all of the things that often divide us ❤
Welcome to Birds and Lilies! I'm Lou: mother, blogger and freelance writer. This is my lifestyle blog, where I talk about motherhood, infertility and IVF, beauty, my love for food and wine, as well as my thoughts about stuff, and our real-life and travel adventures.
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