It’s been a tricky few weeks, hasn’t it? Some of us are fine. Some of us are struggling. Emotionally, physically, both. Some of us have gardens and fields to walk or run in. Some of us are in apartments with little or no outside space. Some of us are working. Some of us are desperate to work. Some of us never went out much anyway. Some of us miss our friends and socialising. Karaoke, pubs, queues, hugs. We’re in it together but it feels we’re all coming at it from our own personal angles.

The one constant that unites us is that every one of us has to find their own “my way” during the lockdown. 

You can only do you. 
Want to join Joe Wicks every morning, Insta your lunch, Yoga flow in the afternoon, heck, learn to speak Uzbeckistani (no idea why Uzbeckistani came to mind other than how exotic does it sound as a word?!) then that’s fine with us — not that you need our permission. The point is that it’s up to each and every one of us during lockdown to just. do. you. 

There are lots of articles telling us to stay away from the news and to put down our phones. This isn’t one of them. Being informed is a good thing — endlessly scrolling through Twitter at night, is not. Absorbing information on your own terms stops the 24hour news cycle of gloom being so overwhelming. Remember, you alone control your responses and can take or leave what you read and how and when you experience it. 

“Control the controlables” ~ Jo Hodges, EqUa Coaching

Having a day off from Facebook is a healthy choice too but there’s also much good to be found. If we hide from it all completely we miss gems such as Captain Tom’s fundraiser, Londoner Dabirul Choudhury walking 100 laps of his garden to raise money for victims of Coronavirus, while also fasting for Ramadan, Giles Paley-Philips running a marathon in his garden and all the countless tales of local people coming together to help the vulnerable. It’s hard to hear the positive over the shouting frenzy of negative, but it’s there, we promise.

Remember, isolation comparison (something we talk about in our latest podcast) is a waste of energy and time and it’s far kinder to let ourselves be however we want to be. Instead of worrying about what you can achieve during Lockdown, how about thinking of what you can change when normality returns. 

Compassion in checking on neighbours doesn’t have to stop. Regular exercise doesn’t have to stop either. Neither does saying hello to our fellow exercisers and dog-walkers. We have a great opportunity here to take stock of our current lives and decide what we want to do with them in the future.

Control the controllables, as Jo always says.