Things keep changing, goalposts keep moving, but we need to stay positive. A year on from when the first murmurings of a disease in China started to seep out. Now we have knowledge about treatment & not just one, but many, effective vaccinations. We may have differing opinions on the efficiency of our government, but we are all in this together . We need to look after each other, focusing on community not selfish needs.
That is one amazing thing that this Pandemic & resulting lockdowns have highlighted. How strong our communities are. Many people now know neighbours, we are aware of the need to support the isolated, the lonely, the ill & the deprived. Communities have strengthened & become neighbourhoods, neighbours have become friends. Friends have checked in on each other in ways not needed before.
Let us focus on all the positives, for there are always some in the most horrible of circumstances. There must have been positives for the environment with the reduced traffic on the roads & the skies. We have all had a slower pace of life enforced upon us. People have rediscovered the simple pleasures…jigsaws & crochet, painting & cooking. All that banana bread!! Gardening became the thing to do in the warm Spring of 2020 & hopefully that will become a lifelong pleasure for many. I do feel that we have lost a lot, but that we will not miss all of it. I do not miss the expectation to be busy, I was already a lover of baking & my garden, but I have re discovered jigsaws & the pleasure of reading without the expectation that I should be busy.
I think that we need to appreciate nature more. The healing power of a walk, how it grounds us & helps us appreciate where we are in the world. I don’t know about you, but I am connecting back to the Earth now the temperature has warmed a bit & I am more enthusiastic about getting outside for more than a dog walk! It is lovely at this time of year to notice the new shoots peeping through, daffodils already in bloom in many places & even the odd bit of green showing on trees. I have even mowed the lawns already!! Life is returning out there after the hibernation of Winter.
It feels that this enforced pause of lockdown has reminded us of the natural cycle of nature. How nature itself pauses, let’s go & returns brighter & stronger. Let’s hope that we are going to do the same. No one can anticipate what is next & what course the virus will run. However, we can learn from the positives & the negative in whatever the next stage is. Just like the early frosts are an almost guaranteed part of Springtime, let us not be demoralised by any glips in our release from lockdown. Just like we know Summer will arrive, eventually, so will our freedom & a more normal life.
Let us hope that the increased community, kindnesses & caring continues when life returns to busyness. Let us continue to add some slowness to our days, some pauses in our week. Let us take the positives from this experience.
