Grateful and Grounded

It’s been a month since Boris’s TV announcement putting the UK into lockdown. I’m not ashamed to say I cried whilst watching it. It all suddenly seemed real and we were all plunged into insecurity for both our health and our finances and far too many people have now been directly affected by Coronavirus.

A month on and I think we’ve quickly adjusted to our ‘new normal’, so much so I think it will be a struggle to adjust back to our old way of life. Time to have a think about what we actually want to go back to and what we’re better without.

I’ve continued to have moments of worry and sadness over this last month but I’m a big believer that we need to focus on the positives and in doing so this can completely lift our mood, so every time I’ve had a moment of feeling sad I’ve written down something I think is a positive to come out of this situation:

A sense of community - people out clapping on their doorsteps, helping their neighbours out, all feeling in it together, connecting with people (virtually) who you may not have connected with before, sharing ideas of how to entertain your children, putting a rainbow in your window and thanking the key workers

Being less wasteful - being conscious of sell by dates, using food you already have, not ordering a takeaway because you can’t be bothered to cook and then throwing away perfectly good food from your fridge

Feeling grateful - that we have a comfortable life at home and can still have so much fun, we have internet access, can stay connected to our friends and family and are able to still go and shop for our food rather than having the police or army deliver food parcels to us. When this is over, we should feel grateful for our freedom, being able to drive to the seaside, going out for coffee or a nice meal, getting our hair cut, taking the kids to soft play (maybe?!!!)

Connecting to others more frequently - because we can’t see people and we know people are anxious, lonely or isolated, making sure we reach out often via message or FaceTime to see how they’re doing. We’ve never been more connected as a family unless it’s Christmas! We have a weekly FaceTime quiz. Poppy has had lots of FaceTime play dates (which turn out to be messier than real ones!)

Having less plans - not having overbooked schedules, or loads of weekend plans that mean you don’t have any downtime at all to yourself

Enjoying the simple things in life - nature, listening to birds, our own back gardens, smiling at a stranger (from 2m distance of course), enjoying walks on our doorstep and doing our hobbies. On our walks we talk about the flowers, the birds, the trees, we look for ladybirds and butterflies and spot the holes in the trees where the woodpeckers have been

The environmental benefits - a jellyfish has been seen swimming in the clear Venetian canals, the Himalayas are visible in parts of India for the first time in 30 years, the planet is having a breather

I’ll continue to add to my list and I’d urge you to do the same - it helps keep us grateful and grounded