When I first started hearing about the spread of Covid-19 and the subsequent lockdown’s, it took me a while to consider it a direct threat. In Europe the first cases appeared in Italy, then Spain, then France and eventually it reached the UK’s shores. Our country is small and compact, there is a dense population with limited space. Perfect conditions to spread a pandemic.
As the death toll across the globe continued to rise, the repercussions began to emerge. Flights were cancelled and companies were advised to work from home, still I didn’t think it would reach Cornwall. It was like every other Tuesday, I drove to work, turned on my computer and scanned through the articles I would be writing that day. I had an interview booked in for late morning and was working on numerous feature pieces for our luxury lifestyle publication.
Unlike any other Tuesday, the directors of the company interrupted our standard morning routine with an announcement. “It turns out the current climate with Covid-19 has become a lot more serious, we don’t know what’s going to happen yet but what we do know is that everyone’s lives are going to change.” It’s safe to say that our usual working day was completely blindsided by this announcement and it induced a company wide struggle to focus, we comforted ourselves with a constant supply of tea and intermittent hot cross bun runs to the shop. By the end of the day we had been encouraged to work from home and by the following week our status as furloughed members of staff was enforced.
Going from working a hundred miles a minute for one of Cornwall’s biggest media companies to being told that that I couldn’t do any work for the company or any other business but would still be paid, albeit at a lower rate, didn’t feel like a catastrophe; it felt like a blessing. I know, strange thing to admit considering the awful circumstances, but on a personal level I had been struggling with the 9 to 5pm weekly grind for a while. I was craving a change of pace and that’s exactly what I got. I feel like my life has been put on pause and that I have the rare opportunity to take stock and think about what I really want.
The crazy thing is, the very day that my furlough was announced I was intending on handing in my notice and terminating my contract with the company. I have been part of the editorial team for the last 2 years, I had learned everything there was to learn and I had a pressing and unavoidable urge to leave the country and explore the rest of the world while I’m still in my mid-twenties.
Travelling the world has been a dream of mine since I was 17 years old. I intentionally didn’t take a gap year before uni because and I quote, “I might never come back.” Then after university I did a ski season, which helped ease my pressing wanderlust and on my return decided that I should get at least a couple years of experience in my chosen industry before beginning my true life adventure which was to travel. So I came home in May and applied to work for a media company, I didn’t hear back from them so I worked the summer season in a beautiful garden cafe and spent the winter travelling around Europe in a campervan. 8 months after my application to work for the media company, when I was sat in the van by a remote beach in Northern Spain, I received an email asking me if I was still interested in working for the company, yes! I couldn’t believe my luck. Now, 2 years down the line I was supposed to be leaving to start my travels in May 2020. Well, that’s not going to happen now is it. So my dream to travel has been delayed again but this time not by my sense of obligation to get a degree, not by my sense of necessity to gain experience in my field of expertise, this time by a global pandemic.
Having my control on life taken out of my hands does feel like I’ve had the rug pulled from beneath my feet. But as I lie here on the floor looking at the ceiling and wondering how everything got turned upside down, I realise that there are some silver linings in this perspective. Actually, it’s quite nice to lie down on the floor for a change and give my legs a rest from the constant standing, moving, walking and running. It’s quite nice to see a blank wall above me, white with possibility, and it’s quite nice to have the time to take in the simple beauty of my surroundings without the humdrum of life constantly interrupting me.
I hope that everyone else can manage to find their own silver linings in the unchartered waters that we find ourselves in and seek refuge in the fact that we have recovered from catastrophes before and we can do it again. Life may be on hold but the wheels of change are constantly turning, and it won’t be long until we emerge from this. Hopefully with new found appreciation for the little ‘everyday’ things that make us smile.