No doubt, the internet is already saturated with blogs on this topic, with titles like ‘How I’ve been keeping busy during COVID-19 Lockdown‘, but I thought I’d add my 2 pence worth as well.
Let’s not sugar-coat the situation; lockdown has been hard, we’re in the middle of a pandemic – of course, it is. For everyone. In every kind of way you could imagine and yes we all need to check our privilege every now and again but that shouldn’t take away the fact that we’ve all had something taken away from us.
I can’t lie and say I haven’t been lucky; I live at home and pay a small amount of board to my parents and I have a job that allows me to work from home with very little disruption. I was even able to ‘pass my probation’ at work during lockdown, via a lovely Microsoft Teams video call. I’m very lucky. I’m not on furlough and if anything, I’m saving money because I can’t nip out of an overpriced coffee at lunch or accidentally spend sixty quid when I head to Newcastle city centre on a Saturday afternoon.
This doesn’t stop me feeling miserable though. Not all of the time, don’t get me wrong, but there are just some days when I do not want to get out of bed, put clothes on or even speak. I hate those days, they make me feel guilty, because after all…I’m one of the lucky ones. My family is safe and well but with 4 grown adults in a house that we’ve long outgrown, sometimes I really can’t be bothered.
Okay, I’ve finished complaining now, let’s get on with this.
Well, in reality, this piece started out as a small list of good things in lockdown and I slowly morphed it into a list of things that make my lockdown experience a lot less crap, so here goes:
PODCASTS
I subscribe to some amazing podcasts that cover a broad range of subjects and come week 3-4 of lockdown-life I had a backlog of over 25 hours to listen to. Now that my commute was only downstairs to the kitchen, there was no way I could get through them like I normally would. So I set myself a challenge; a minimum of 3 podcasts a day. I’m not too sure about anyone else but I know I’ve been watching A LOT more Netflix / Amazon Prime / YouTube than I normally would so I’ve been making a conscious effort to listen to my pods. It’s nice listening to something that isn’t the news and not sitting in front of a screen (even though the majority of my listening is done during ‘office hours’ so technically I’m still in front of a screen…but still).
My current podcast favourites are:
LAZY WEEKENDS AND GIN O’CLOCK
I’ve found it particularly important to separate my working and non-working days. Monday – Friday I wake up as I normally would and go for an hour walk with my mum, which averages about 5km a day, then come home and get ready for work. This has been especially great because distance-wise, it’s the equivalent I would normally walk to and from work.
On weekends I lie in, stay in my dressing gown longer and make sure to not use my work laptop, even for Netflix or browsing. There will be no guilt about not being productive at the weekend and Friday gins at 5pm have become a staple, a tradition, a necessity to mark the start of my weekend.
TRYING TO DITCH THE ELASTICATED WAISTBAND
Let’s be honest we’ve all been living in elasticated waistbands the last few months and I think the novelty of wearing full-on comfies for work has worn off. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still a time and place but in a bid to feel a bit more summery I have been digging out my dresses and classic ‘nice tops’ (to wear with sweatpants).
I know it’ll be a culture shock going back to casual office wear and I don’t want any nasty surprises. Plus, sitting out in the sun during my lunch break is a lot more comfortable in a dress than hoodie and sweats!
THE POWER OF (AMAZON) PRIME
In reality, having a constant flow of parcels arriving is probably NOT the best. But I have been enjoying the surprise parcels showing up at my door (‘surprise’ because shipping is taking a little bit longer and it’s a lottery on what will turn up first). Pick-me-ups, unnecessary make-up and Boots orders are common-place in our household, anything to bring ‘something new’ into our lives, because we sure as hell aren’t having any new experiences.
But I promise that I have actually saved a fair bit of money throughout this lockdown.
There’s not really a take away for this piece, no big revelation; I just felt like sharing the small things that are bringing me happiness (other than my boyfriend, family and friends of course) and remember, it’s okay to have rough days.
One last thing, please… NO. MORE. ZOOM. QUIZZES.
Until next time,
Hannah xo
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