Compared to, I’m sure, many people’s experience of the past couple of months, mine has been a fairly pleasant one. There’s certainly been high points and low points but on the whole, I would find it difficult to complain about the alterations now firmly fixated within my daily routines.
I’ve begun to eat a lot healthier, no longer eating crisps or sweets, and have cut carbohydrates such as white rice and pasta out of my diet altogether. I’m also reading a lot more and completing quizzes on a regular basis with my housemates, improving my general knowledge and world-perspective more so than if my time had been consumed by commuting and other laborious tasks. My work has also been a fairly large positive release for me. It’s not even that I’ve necessarily enjoyed the tasks or projects I’ve been partaking within, it’s more that it just gives your day some structure and without that lure of productivity, I fear my mental health could have wobbled during this unusual period.
I suppose what I’d say I’ve found most difficult, is the fusing together of spaces and their functions within my home, with my living area now resembling an office, kitchen, and general space for relaxing and chilling out. We’ve managed to create a sort of terrace space on our roof which has proved a real blessing, as it gives us somewhere to enjoy the recent glorious weather and offer us a form of escapism, in what I’m sure is a time many up and down the country, have felt trapped.
Prior to the recent announcements, I suppose the lack of direction and ‘the unknown’ was also a fairly daunting prospect, however, I now believe, along with many others, that there is a clear path out of this – with each passing week ever more promising than the last. I certainly miss the small things i.e. seeing friends, the pub, the more general hustle and bustle that London life typically delivers but on the whole, I would find it disrespectful to class my personal lockdown experience as a negative one, when there are so many out there who have certainly had so much worse.