Lockdown Life
Firstly, I would like to take this opportunity apologise for my inconsistency with my blogs, life got to me. I’ll do my best to post regularly.
Let’s get to it. Was Zoom your best friend during this pandemic? Yeah, me too.
The start of this year has been shocking surreal, but nothing compares to the COVID-19 pandemic and of course, Lockdown. Where do I even begin? I honestly didn’t think it was going to get as serious as it did, and boy, was I wrong! Every news report, tweet and conversation was about someone sadly losing their life due to this awful virus; it was too much to take. Inevitability, we were put on a very stern lockdown, this lasted for months, but felt like years. Nearly everything was closed and the streets were slowly gathering tumbleweed, the only things on the road were people on Boris bikes and Pigeons. It was as close to a real-life Black Mirror episode as you could get.
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The impact/s of lockdown have been extremely consequential, as thousands of people unfortunately lost their jobs and companies were rapidly losing money, I couldn’t believe it; however, life had to go on, but not without its downsides. one being the impact on your mental health. The constant repeated days, and knowing that you’re unable to leave your house to see friends or family, it can take big toll on a person, me included.
For me, it was fine at the beginning, but fast-forward two months and things took a turn for the worse. I couldn’t take being locked up in my own house and tried doing almost anything to distract me from this harsh reality — trying and failing. Being suffocated by the four walls around me almost put me at breaking point, but this was before I invested my time into things that I and most people truly enjoy. Working out. In terms of looking after your mental health, for me, it’s the best thing you can do. Looking back, I should’ve started sooner than I did, but instead, I was constantly eating and laughing at all of the lockdown jokes on Twitter…that’s how it goes. Like most people, I had to buy gym equipment and the prices for common dumbbells were £100/150 (as I type this the prices have dropped significantly) or more, they were selling like hotcakes. It was really frustrating because it felt like people were buying the equipment on impulse, only for them to stop using it after a few weeks. However, enough with the subtle shade. In the end, I chose to get reasonable priced resistance bands and I haven’t looked back since. Most of my energy from then until now has been put into working on my body which is a factor as to why mental health improved and I’m so happy about that. I can genuinely say that gym/working out gives me so much peace and I love that.
I must say, there has been an upside from this too, and that is having the time to work on yourself. From conversations, this was something many people managed to do, it might be hard at first, but it’ll definitely be beneficial in long-term. Whether it’s becoming more frugal with your money or aiming to become a better version of you. I’m happy that my spending habits have somewhat decreased, for a while , I was buying things that would be nowhere to be seen in two weeks later. My motto was growth, and I didn’t look back.
Let’s end on a lighter note. Zoom calls. Almost everyone and their grandmother have used this at least once during lock down. It brought everyone virtually together when we couldn’t be socially together. I’ve had my fair share of good times on that app, from weekly calls, to church services/debates. Also, let’s give an honourable mention to this classic saying: “Sorry, I was on mute.” The app was a temporary but convenient fix; however, nothing will compare to being in close proximity to your friends and having making memories.
Now that the country is slowly but surely opening up, it’s an opportunity to make up for lost time. With this being said, don’t forget to have your face mask and hand sanitiser with you at all times.
Have fun, but stay safe whilst doing so!
