The last time I was quarantined in my house I was 4 and had come down with the chicken pox… didn’t think 18 years later here we would be.

I had a number of blog posts planned for this year, some that took a lot of courage for me to start writing. However it feels futile to write about anything other than the current situation we find ourselves in. Where so many lives including parts of my own have been turned upside down. I am in no way an expert on giving advice, I simply write from my experiences and hope it helps someone out there. This is the strangest thing we will probably ever go through in our lifetime, and I don’t know about anyone else but I’m drained. Drained by the bombardment from social media, even though I find myself scrolling on my phone for 80% of my day. Messages blared across my screen ‘Be positive, be productive, find a new sense of purpose, no take time, be still, don’t do anything’. When really there is no set structure or ruling for how to deal with a situation like this. 

The internet can be overwhelming at the best of times, but right now the rate of news positive/negative has increased dramatically. One thing I am trying to do, is not to use social media any less than normal. As at the moment it is one of the key ways we can connect with each other. I’m trying to use the internet more intentionally, following people who motivate and inspire me, spreading positivity where I can. It is important to watch the news to a certain extent, informing ourselves and keeping up to date with what is going on. This can be done whilst stopping mindlessly scrolling, complaining and engaging with negativity, so that it doesn’t affect your mindset. Remember it’s okay to hit the pause button on what you consume online, take some time out, most of the world is on hold itself.

Don’t get me wrong there are days where I want to scream, cry and I crave every sense of normality back into my life. I’m angry most days so angry but anger does nothing. I’m writing this post on a Sunday where to be honest I had an awful week. I felt unproductive, agitated and on repeat. So today moving forward I am taking those bad days as they come but not letting them consume me, counting every little blessing I have. I am grateful for my house which keeps me safe, the air in my lungs, my amazing friends, my job which is stable, my family and the sunshine on my skin. Along with all the other amazing parts of my life that make having to stay at home so bittersweet. So be patient with yourself and your emotions as we live through this global pandemic, you will have good and bad days. I’m grateful that for me, today is a good day. 

It’s important to keep grounded in this current situation. Yes parts of my life might have changed, it’s upsetting and we are allowed to be upset. When my mind wanders I think of the people dying alone in care homes, my friends having to bury their loved ones by Facetime. I think of all the people left without jobs, fighting for survival and key workers like my dad having to move out of their homes to keep their families safe. Suddenly that holiday or night out I had planned doesn’t matter, because this simple isn’t about me, it’s about them. I’m not staying home and distancing myself from my loved ones for me. We stay home for the vulnerable, the elderly, the people with underlying health issues, who simply cannot afford to catch this virus. This situation is overbearing and it feels like there’s not a lot we can do. What we can do is stay home and take all the measures to keep the people around us safe. So when I think of all my plans that have been cancelled and the ways my life has changed, I remember why and who we’re doing this for.

As a country we are very politically divided, and although this is a time to stick together saying ‘don’t make it political’ is a privileged mindset to have. In this day and age, especially in the current climate most things are political. We are governed by a party who have demonised the people who are now branded as frontline workers, putting themselves and their families at risk everyday. They are the people who over worked, underpaid and ridiculed by society for being low qualified. Yet whilst the streets of London are bare, the offices in central cleared, they stay and serve this country. The Tory’s immigration policy states that anyone making under £25,600 is deemed as a low skilled worker, funnily enough I’m on three grand less than that myself. The cabinet is with us every Thursday in coming together to clap honouring our NHS. Yet most of them clapped vigorously when they refused a pay rise to the nurses and doctors, who are now fighting to save Great Britain. People will say this isn’t the right time to criticise the government’s handling of the pandemic… how many more people have to die before it’s okay to criticise.

With that being said at the moment we can only focus on the here and now, although we can’t change the past, we can make sure that the future is better. As we move forward I hope we can come out of this different as a nation, as a world. Look at the way our government and world leaders handle things, look at the way we as people handle things, and do better. Be kinder, be more empathetic, appreciate everyone and everything. Those people that were looked down on for their jobs are now at the front line of this battle. I think of them everyday and remember how lucky I am to be able to work from home and keep my family safe in this pandemic. 

Times are uncertain and there really are no answers for what the future looks like. It is all about making the best of what we have, being compassionate and gaining that sense of community that this country had lost. Things will not be like this forever, so we need to take it one day at a time, that’s all we really can do. Making sure each day we do the right thing, stay home, stay safe and lean on the good stuff that remains.

My thoughts are with the people who have lost loved ones to this virus, those still fighting it and all the front line workers sacrificing more than we can imagine to keep us safe.