Life after Lockdown ?
How many of you, like me, were waiting for the 7 pm address last night from our Prime Minister ? Waiting to see if life would change in anyway in the near future. Did any-one leave disappointed and disheartened?
We have done six full weeks now, SIX WEEKS! That is pretty much as long as the summer holidays. Cast your mind back to how you feel when a summer holiday is rolling to an end. The house is in desperate need of a deep clean, the cupboards are bare, and the whole family is in need of some routine. If you are honest even the thought of the alarm clock that sets the day in motion is a welcome sound as it signals the return of structure and a knowledge of what is coming with it . A timetable and program of what the week will look like with things to look forward to and activities to keep the kids busy and the days moving fast.
That fatigue you are feeling is not surprising! You have pretty much completed a summer holiday with no pre-warning, no advance planning, no holiday clubs, or lining up of activities. Not only that you have also had to throw in the added pressure of now actually learning to teach your child - like properly educate them - not just practice the spellings, do the reading or run through timetables in the evening!
Add that to the stress of now having to wait in long lines to just get into a supermarket and once finally in, not knowing whether you will be able to buy the things on your shopping list [ something we haven’t experienced often in the UK ] and finally to top it off there is the very real worry of a virus that is literally taking lives all around us. The realization of the fragility of life, and let’s be honest, the grave concern of what if it happens to someone I know, love, and care for.
Let’s just take a moment to appreciate the hugeness of all that we have been carrying for the last six weeks and then realize that is most probably why we are feeling absolutely shattered!
The address to the nation last night didn’t give us anything concrete to stand on or any promises that for many of us the circumstances and situations that we find ourselves in are going to change anytime soon, unfortunately.
I read a post by the beloved artist Charlie Mackesy [ if you have never looked at his artwork before do it’s truly inspirational ] his is the picture on this blog and the dialogue says this
“We aren’t getting through” said the boy.
“Did we get through the last bit?” asked the horse.
“Yes” said the boy.
“Then we are getting through!”
Can I encourage you to take a moment to look back and see how far you have come and all that you have accomplished so far! The new technologies that you have had to quickly learn, the trials you succeeded in, and the opposition that you have pushed through and won. If your house is anything like mine, there has been tears, snot, and drama, there has been temper tantrums and standoffs but when that is all said and done we are still here and still standing if nothing else strong and more determined through it all.
Take a moment to celebrate all that you have accomplished so far! You did it! You are amazing!
Let’s remember to be gentle on ourselves, give ourselves those moments to recalibrate and find the downtime in the madness, the peace in our storm and to think through the things that we are grateful for because we will all have them.
I am not saying that it’s going to be easy but we got this far – don’t give up now! You can do this! We can do this – TOGETHER! Holler at someone if you need to, have a cry if you need to but DON’T GIVE UP! !!!!
REMEMBER THIS TOO SHALL PASS - not yet but it will.
