With quarantine having been extended for three more weeks, I wanted to bring to life a different perspective to this situation. This perspective is different, because it strays from the other article styles which I have been reading that are advising tips on how to cope etc. Perhaps it may be described as pessimistic or a mood killer, but this is real life! An insight into my experience of the pandemic…..
At the beginning of this experience, I was of the mind that nothing would change for me. I was hearing of businesses closing but I hadn’t yet been affected until college closed! This was the point of realisation were things became real. The danger was close to home now and we were basically put in charge of our own fates (I’ve made it sound like I was one of those crazed people, charging around buying excess toilet rolls. I would like to clear up that I was not in fact one of those people lol.)
Thoughts for my routine to come
I was determined to maintain my normal routine; doing college work, walking my dogs, drawing and reading, etc but in saying this it was only meant to be two weeks. I was being surprisingly productive and actually getting through assignments. I even drew two commissioned pieces for people through my Instagram. Until now, I have been able to keep up with my daily routine but, an injury which I have been recovering from for the past two years has come back to life. (it’s a hip injury that causes misalignment of my pelvic girdle and it hurts). In order to get this injury rectified, the pelvis and hips must be put back in place, however, no practices are open during this time (for good reason) which currently leaves me feeling pretty useless and frankly unnerved by the unknown time that I’ll have to endure this pain for!
Reality
As someone who loves exercise and walking, every time this problem flares, I feel almost frightened by the thought of having to find other things to fill my time with. Many of you reading are probably thinking the same thing but perhaps different emotions and for different reasons.
The recent surge in people exercising has also not helped in this dilemma. I find that I am constantly looking at peoples Fitbit apps of calories burned, steps walked, and workouts done which are being posted on every form of social media. Don’t get me wrong I love that people have a passion for exercising too and that it is bringing some light to this tough time but, for me now it is difficult to see everyone around me moving and doing things when I am not in a position to do the same! Guilt for not being as active as I ‘should be’ or burning the calories that others are or for not running the amount I could before or for not being able to do any form of core exercise is in the forefront of my mind and I’m tired of it!!
The Take Home Message
I just wanted to address this for anyone else who is feeling that they are ‘lazy’, ‘fat’ or any less than you were before the pandemic because you cannot exercise; YOU ARE NONE OF THESE THINGS!!!! Just remember that you must do what you have to in order to keep yourself healthy and well during these times when facilities that are normally available to us are no longer. We need to remember that this is AN IDEAL time for recovery! We don’t have to be anywhere or do anything that we don’t want to, so just utilise this time so when we’re released again, injuries will be healed.
The thought of having a time void of pressure to be or look a certain way is driving me to really use this time to recover. If you are reading and you’re in the same boat, please consider how lucky we are to have this opportunity to heal! Its so easy to find the negatives in situations but as the saying goes, ‘every cloud has it’s silver lining’.
