Things I’ve learnt from 2020

Welcome to my first blog of 2021 – Happy New Year

On the 1st January every year we tell ourselves this year is going to be the year. You know the ‘New Year, New Me’ resolution. You instantly find your gym has become a lot busier than it was with everyone on the ‘get fit’ campaign. Suddenly you see photographs of fruit smoothies and avocado salads soiling your Instagram and Facebook feeds. In truth we shouldn’t have to wait until the clock strikes midnight on 1st January to make some changes in our lives.

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2020 for the vast majority of us was a tricky difficult year. Many of us separated from our family and friends under lockdown and restriction rules. Many of us becoming redundant from our jobs (including myself), others placed onto furlough with worries they may never return to their jobs again. All of us just wishing for ‘normality’ to return were we can hug our loved ones, socialise with others over drinks without the need to keep our distances. Some have spent this period alone finding ways to communicate with the outside world were social media and technology has been utilised like never before from ‘at home’ work meetings, school lessons and the social interactions; Everyone’s social media posts tagged with #selfisolation #quarantine2020 #lockdown hashtags.

Lets hope as the somewhat tamer more socially distanced or virtual fireworks explode ringing in 2021 we can see some end to it all.

That said, 2020 hasn’t been a total write-off. Here are some things I’ve learnt….

SELF DISCOVERY

The vast majority of us have been in some sort of lockdown or restriction for the past part of ten months. We have all had to adjust and adopt a new way of surviving – Some of us not being so lucky to have the technology of being able to see our families on a screen. Many of us have learnt the understanding of no-longer receiving a hug when we’re saying goodbye. We have all had to learn how to un-naturally socially distance ourselves from the person nearest to us in shops, restaurants etc. In a sense we have had to learn how to be self independent and how to deal with our own company.

I’ve learnt what makes me tick. I went onto furlough in March soon realising I had months (6 months in fact) of no work ahead of me. I had to figure out what I needed to do to occupy myself? Make plans I needed to set to occupy my days.

At the end of the six month furlough I received my redundancy notice from work as the business was making huge cut-backs. With a mortgage and bills to pay the panic set in as to how I would fund these outgoings, whatsmore, where would I get a job knowing businesses all over the country were beginning to make their employees redundant. I learnt very quickly how assertive my mind could be and how organised I was filling out almost 30 applications for various positions in and out of my skilled field within a week of receiving the redundancy news.

GETTING OUTDOORS

As the gyms and leisure centres all began to close with national lockdowns and restrictions one thing being trapped indoors has shown me how important it is to get outdoors. My grandparents’ generation believed that to stay healthy you had to breathe in fresh air. I’ve had the desire to get out for a brisk walk, go jogging, or take up any form of recreational exercise that whips up a sweat in the one hour window permitted by the government.

PERSONAL GROOMING

I’ve concluded that one thing NOT to do during a pandemic is cut my own hair. I tried it, and although I didn’t make a pigs-ear of it, it looks as if something had been chewing at the back and sides. When the fireworks rang in 2020 little did I know that PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) would become my best friend. I never thought that washing my hands every 20 minutes (Not literally but feels like it) and using hand sanitiser would be the daily norm. Who’d have thought a face covering or a visor would be on your check list of things when leaving the house…. you know, keys, wallet, phone, mask, visor! How many times have you left the house and then thought “Sh*t! I’ve forgotten my mask”

NOTHING FEELS BETTER THAN BEING YOURSELF

Being socially distant I’ve learnt my life has become so much better now that I am no longer trying to ‘fit in’ and it can be hard to break that habit. Stop changing who you are to fit in, your interests, your style, your morals, your personality. Keeping socially distant has forced me to make my own decisions, scrutinised my own thoughts and figuring out how to relinquish any thoughts of boredom I had.

I BECAME ENTERTAINMENT

During furlough I managed to occupy myself by redecorating the whole house and staining the garden fences. However, there is only so much decorating one can do at any one time. Over the space of 11 weeks or so, and being easy misled by Tik Tok, I decided to create 15 second videos and tagged them “Saturday Night Disco”. I am not entirely sure even to this day whether my friends were being super nice or whether they were genuinely excited to see the latest moves being thrown across the kitchen floor. All I know looking back in reflection they encouraged me to recreate another video that very swiftly became a “craze” throughout furlough. It entertained me for sure. I also realised from Saturday Night Disco how many of my social media friends and followers actually engage in my accounts. Thank You.

DON’T GET CAUGHT UP IN MEDIA NEWS

I’ve tried not to obsess about COVID-19, but I find that, every day, I learn more about it than I want to, thanks to friends and newscasts. And sometimes when I get together on Facetime for a couple of hours with those same friends, we spend the whole time talking about the pandemic. For now, that’s what our lives seem to have boiled down to.

CHANGE IS IMPORTANT

I carried on with my fitness regime I implemented in 2019. Yes, the gym’s were closed for several months but this did not stop me using my one hour window outside to start jogging a few miles and doing push-ups on the lounge floor. Yes, I even purchased exercise bands and a pull-up bar to fit over the internal doors to try and keep up my strength. I even decided to take up canoeing were I would clock up a few miles on the local canals.

YOU STILL DON’T NEED TO HAVE IT ALL

Let me tell you a secret. The way you wanted your life to be when you were 20 years old probably isn’t going to happen and that’s OK. When I turned 30 I thought I had to have everything in my life sorted and planned by now. The house, money in the bank, dream job etc, but that just isn’t reality, that’s simply society making you believe you should. By 40 you find a true sense of being and where you fit into the world. I may still not have the dream job or stacks of money in the bank but I am comfortable and I do own my own home.

We are constantly growing, the world is constantly changing and how things were in 1995 is not how they are in 2021, certainly post pandemic. If you have a great family, great friends, can afford to pay the bills and have fun on the side then you are doing amazing.

TRAVEL IS STILL GOOD FOR YOU

I was one of the lucky ones. I managed to fit in a trip to Australia back in January 2020 before any pandemic was known. That said, with the implementation of travel restrictions I haven’t been overseas since. Despite this minor set-back I still go by the notion travelling is probably the best thing you can do offering experiences not faced back home, and developing your own skills and knowledge.

It doesn’t have to be lavish. It could be a simple weekend or an overnight stay somewhere local.

SPENDING TIME WITH GOOD COMPANY IS BETTER THAN PARTYING

Yes right now many of us are still having to be ‘socially distanced’ from those dear to us, nonetheless technology has been so pivotal to people keeping in touch. Many of us have had house parties over Zoom, Facetime or Whatsapp video adopting to the ‘new socialising’ rule. Many of us have watched concerts online or played pub games/quizzes. Being isolated doesn’t mean your alone.