Surviving snap lockdown.

It seems both yesterday and a year ago that our studio went into a snap lockdown, but it was exactly eight weeks and two days. That sunny winter Saturday we had gone to our local for breaky, there was no whisper of lockdown in the air. After lunch our besties came over for a few round of cards, when out of the blue Kristian got a notification via twitter and says “um, I think we are going into full lockdown in like, 3 hours”.

We are still in that lockdown.

You know that gif where the guy is riding his bike, thinking nothing of it and then he rides head first into a lake? That has been my overarching mood since that day.

I feel wobbly. Unsure about every thing. I feel like a dummy for not being able to do normal things. I weirdly felt guilty.

My first reaction was to smash out content on IG to try and keep some kind of momentum going to salvage the situation. But after a week of that and my birthday energy had worn off, that’s when I rode my bike head first into the lake.

So something needed to be done. For the sake of my mental health and my roommate husband.

So here’s what I did, in this order…

Number one. I accepted that I will not be the best version of myself in this season. I tell myself things like, “ I might not be able to reply to all texts messages right now, but my friends know that I love them and they love me and it’s going to be ok” or “Amanda, you are allowed to get to the end of the day and you have done absolutely nothing, it is ok.” There’s a lot of “it’s ok” in general.

Number two. I turned down the noise. I shut down that mindless scrolling on IG and put a limit on conversations about anything c-v-d related. I don’t generally believe in sticking my head in the sand…I like to seek the hard truths. But right now, for the sake of my mental health, I am sticking-my-head-in-the-blooming-sand.

Number three (my favourite) I am accentuating daily rhythms. Making mundane just a little bit special has become my day job. This could be anything from buying fancy condiments that are a bit too expensive, having coffee in the garden, making apple cider vinegar from scratch, rearranging a cupboard, pouring wine at sunset, lighting candles or incense. It’s looked a bit different everyday.

Number four. A kind of extension of number three… rising with the sun and winding down at sunset. I could bore you with the science, but maybe you just have to experience what this does for your body and mind for yourself. Can’t recommend enough.

Number five is journalling. Getting all the toxicity out on the page and feeling it leave my mind.

Number six (last one) meeting someone local for a walk and talk. Oh my heavens this makes me feel like a human again. I am exhausted afterwards, because of my shrunken social capacity, so I’ve only been doing it once a week. We are lucky to live in a beautiful local area with a beach, a lagoon or a farmers market we can safely visit. The small part of me wants to hide indoors, but making myself do this has definitely paid off.

Eight weeks in and yesterday I had my first ‘maybe lockdown isn’t so bad’ thought.