Now that spring is here and we’re able to do more outside with our loved ones, we asked member Kathy Feest to share her thoughts on the future and our new, collective sense of freedom as lockdown begins to ease…
The future is waiting for us – our lives are opening up again!
The government has a roadmap, setting out the when, the what, and the with whom (and with how many!), that has been prepared in order to lead us out of lockdown. As restrictions ease, we will finally be able to see more of our family and friends in person, and begin to get our lives back to some semblance of what we would once have called normal. Hurrah!
But here’s the hitch… we are all a teensy bit worried. The habits we have formed in our habitats aren’t going to go away overnight. We took a while to develop new ways of ‘being’, and we will have to be patient with ourselves – and each other – as we move back into a place that is opening up again.
If you, or a loved one had to deal with COVID-19 directly, and the heartbreak that may have caused, you may be even less ready to move back into the world.
For many of us however, it’s become okay in this place where we’ve been holed up for the past year. We are all of an age where, for most of us, there was no daily homeschooling, and no demanding job. We grew to like some of what we did – and didn’t – do. The sameness of it all became a bit tiresome from time-to-time, but we felt safe. In our homes, away from the world and its scary virus, we felt, and still feel, secure. Now, suddenly, there may be people in our gardens; the kids, grandkids, and friends we longed to see. They will be welcomed back into our homes once more. Will we cope with all this change? Will we still know how to do things that once were second nature? Will we recognise the ‘us’ that we were before lockdown began? Of course we will!
The national roadmap is preparing us for what we will be able to do in the weeks and months ahead, but perhaps we need to prepare ourselves by deciding what we want and would like to do with our future. Science has given us a big boost with the vaccine, which is helping to lead us out of this pandemic.
We need to trust ourselves as we begin to take our first steps into this new post-lockdown world. Transitions offer opportunities for discovery. Maybe now is a good time to think through what we’d like to leave behind and what we might like to take forward into the future. After all these months and months of staying in, not seeing people, changing your habits and living your social life via social media, how will you unlock your life?
What comes first? What stays behind? It’s up to you! Take stock and go for it. The future is waiting for us, and soon it really will be all about US! Happy unlocking!
Kathy writes her own blog, Feest Isolation Days – Reflections from self-isolation in Bristol, which she has updated every day since the start of the first lockdown in 2020.