By hiding ourselves away from the invisible corona-villain, we’re not only having to deal with heightened anxiety, but also loneliness, boredom and uncertainty. Put simply, being “locked down” is as unnatural a situation a human being can possibly find themselves in. Over millions of years, we have evolved into incredibly sociable creatures. Back in the day, if we broke from our tribe we would have had very little chance of survival; therefore, being stripped of the most basic of social interactions will undoubtedly play havoc with our hardwired sociable brains.
That said, with the meteoric rise of social media, we are but a click away from reaching out to friends and family, so we’re not actually as isolated as we think. In fact, could it be that a little lock-down might actually do us the world of good? Today we’re going to swerve away from the negative aspects of lockdown and concentrate on the upside of isolation:
Education, education, education
The digital world means that it has never been easier to learn something new, and if we use all of this newfound time constructively, we can re-enter the post-pandemic world as skilled-up citizens ready for a brand-new challenge! Now is not the time to sit back and stew in our own self-isolation juice. Now is the time to look forward and sharpen up our skills. From Spanish to sugar-crafting, there is an online course out there for everyone and what’s more, many are free so you can’t even use limited funds as an excuse!
Here at Fuze, we offer a number of comprehensive, accredited and exciting online courses where you can train to become a first-class celebrant or simply sharpen your celebrant skills by signing up to one of the following short courses: Public Speaking, Customer Management or Health & Wellbeing. Get in touch to find out more.
Hot new hobbies
As with education, the internet has blown up with inspirational hobbies and interests that we can take up in the comfort of our own homes. So whether you’re looking to get arty or crafty or you’re hoping to hone your culinary skills, there’s a YouTube tutorial out there with your name on it.
Love thy neighbour
On a day-to-day basis, we might offer a fleeting hello to the cashier in the local grocery shop or flash a discerning smile at the bus driver or postman. We don’t ordinarily give these exchanges a moment’s thought. Coronavirus has changed this. Now we truly value these “essential” workers and this new wave of feeling has spread out across our communities and it’s having an incredible effect. In short, we are becoming tribes again; working together to survive. A recent study found that 64% of adults believe that the pandemic is bringing their local community closer together. The study also revealed that one third of us were checking in on elderly relatives and a quarter were getting in touch with a vulnerable neighbour to offer help. What could be better than this?!
Enjoyment in exercise
Having had our freedom to leave the house stripped away, we’re now taking full advantage of our daily exercise slots. People are power walking, taking up jogging, cycling and generally enjoying exercise, rather than it being just another chore that we have to squeeze in around all of our other jobs. On top of our “daily exercise”, online offerings have exploded and are mostly free! Peloton are offering a 90-day free trial and Joe Wicks is putting us all through our paces during his morning exercise classes. There has never been a better time to get fit for free!
A spot of virtual travelling
Until now, we have been spoilt rotten when it comes to travel: “Oooo there’s a cheap flight to New York next weekend, let’s go!”. This kind of spontaneous travel has ground to a halt leaving globetrotters bereft at their loss of adventure. This phase isn’t going to last forever, so how about we use this time to research and list the places and destinations we’re planning on visiting in 2021 and beyond? Scour the internet for the best restaurants, bars and beaches. Research the area comprehensively so when it is time to globe-trot once again, we’ll have an even better adventure than we otherwise would.
Dig out those marigolds!
In ordinary life, there just simply isn’t the time to get everything done and unfortunately deep cleaning and DIY generally get sent straight to the bottom of the to-do list. Why not seize lockdown as the perfect opportunity to get on top of all those niggling jobs that continually cause us low-level stress? Defrost that freezer, landscape that garden, repaint that bathroom! Whatever you’ve been putting off for months/years, this is your time to get on top of it so when you’re eventually freed from the shackles of lockdown, you’ll (literally) have a clean slate!
