'Uncertain Times' An Honest Opinion

I wish I had kept a tally of the amount of times I’ve heard (and even said) ‘uncertain times’ in the last five days. There’s no getting away from the fact that everybodies lives have been turned upside down, and whilst we all scramble to find some normalcy, it’s easy to be swept up in the anxiety, the stress and the unknown.

At the end of the day; it really sucks. We’ve been taken out of our usual routines and been told to stay at home in lockdown, our movement restricted, in many ways our freedom in small part denied and we have to simply accept that this is life for the foreseeable. It’s horrible, there’s no point denying that!

But, there are positives. Small to start – we’ve bought back the time on the commute. If you commute 30mins to and from work everyday, you’ve been given back five hours a week, that’s time you could use to make a home cooked meal at night, or devote to a project that you never seem to have the time for. You’ve been given the chance to work in your comfy clothes, we don’t have to put makeup on everyday or wash our hair! We can be in the comfort of our own homes without the pressure or social norms.

Here’s an unpopular opinion on social media – try to not find normalcy. Who says we need to stick to a routine? Probably somebody who thrives on routine! We can use this time to work out what suits us, because if you don’t want a routine, don’t stick to one. If your working day starts at 9am and your commute is bed to laptop, only get out of bed when you’re ready to. This could be the time you get a full eight hours sleep every night! How much more productive will you be when you’re fully rested, and not relying on caffeine to wake you up?!

If you are the kind of person who enjoys a routine, by all means, wake up at your usual time, get dressed for work and be present in your day. But, don’t do it because you feel you have to. These are strange times we are currently living in, so use this time to decide what works for you. Having gone from working in a gym, on my feet all day to sat behind a laptop, it’s strange to know that this is now my job. But, it has taught me that I enjoy the face to face, I enjoy being around people, I enjoy the ache in my feet at the end of the day.

We do not know how long this will go on for. But, we can be positive about it. We can set ourselves small challenges everyday, we can get creative in our home workouts and we can get around all those little projects that often slip through the cracks. Every day, or when you feel you can, try and take a moment to list things you are either grateful for, or things that are going well. Remind yourself of the positives in this situation. Be kind to yourself, remember that this is easy on nobody and we all get to be a little angry, upset and anxious, but that we will come out the other side of this