Beauty in the Beast of COVID-19

Ah, there's nothing like a global pandemic to put your affairs in order. Right?

The grasp of COVID-19 has had an unprecedented impact on my everyday life and every aspect of my wellbeing, as it has for everybody not just in the U.K., but around the world. It should be a time to be thankful for the good health of myself and my nearest and dearest, and how fortunate we are to live in a developed country. Despite this, having the rug of normality well and truly ripped from under our feet has been testing to say the least.

Now, more than ever, I think it's important to take back some control over our own situations in this bizarre and crazy time. Don't we always wish we had more hours in the day? Perhaps this isn't quite how we imagined or dreamed of this wish being granted, but suddenly, the time is there. For a lot of us in the student boat, anyway. And out of every bad (or in this case, colossal, unimaginably heart breaking) situation, I am determined to find the good. And believe it or not, even here- 13 days into lockdown and 23 days away from the end of my university career (and only just shrouded under a sliver of existential dread)- it can be found.

Firstly, we have some time to recharge. To re-evaluate our lives and ourselves. Isolation, although at times lonely and tough and a completely different experience for everyone, is an opportunity to look at our version of normality and think, 'what do I actually want?' Whether it's jobs, friendships or our work/life balance- what are the things that bring you joy? What doesn't? Can we find a way of letting these bits of happiness into our daily routine more? I've personally taken a lot from being forced to slow down. Instead of 100 commitments on my plate, I have, at best, three. And although it's no secret that I love to be busy, I think I have really benefitted from not having to spread myself so thin, and putting all of my energy into just one or two main responsibilities.

It's also no secret that I don't cope very well being on my own for long periods of time, so this lockdown has been a source of a fair bit of anxiety. But with lots of books, podcasts, art, and a fab flatmate I've been getting by. In the off chance it might help some of you, I've put links at the bottom of this post to podcasts I've been enjoying.

Highly recommend getting cosy and buried into an adult colouring book- 10/10 quarantine activity

This period of lockdown also means that we can face the mundane household tasks (thrilling, I know). But finally seeing the bottom of the washing basket, or sorting out the deepest, darkest depths of the kitchen cupboards can be surprisingly gratifying. I recently discovered a tub of chocolate spread that I forgot about after getting pushed to the back of the top shelf, too far away for me to see (oh, the joy of being 5ft tall) and it has been the highlight of my month. It's ticking these little things off the imaginary, but lengthy, 'Things I'll Do Another Day' list that has helped keep me sane, and lifted a bit of weight from my cluttered brain. Plus, Nutella on toast is a peak breakfast treat!

And perhaps most importantly, this whole social distancing malarkey has meant finding new ways to reach out and connect with the ones we love. I am immensely tactile, so being forced to keep a distance from people has been one of the biggest challenges to come from the pandemic. But in many ways, it is this distance which has made me feel more connected to my friends and family than ever. Keeping in touch more regularly and having a laugh over video calls, rather than just texting has been such an unexpected joy amid the madness and worry. It's funny how life has a way of grounding us, of reminding us of the 'little' things we are often too busy or short sighted to take notice of. Suddenly, not being able to nip across the road to visit my friends holds a lot more weight than if I simply 'didn't have time'. We are full of excuses. And I hope that once the lockdown begins to lift, we will all be more inclined to prioritise the things we take for granted.

At the end of the day, when you take away the structure of routine and the expectation of productivity, all we have is each other.

Niamh on a calm Calton Hill

Maybe all of this will pass and we will simply go back to the way things used to be. Somehow, I'm not convinced. I think it would do us good, in a few ways, to hold onto this lockdown mindset and keep practicing some of these habits. Whether this is by phoning the people we care about more, checking up on them, just because we can; having a night in and making a pub quiz with friends over Zoom, because it's better to save some pennies than have FOMO and go out, even though you can't afford it; or going for a walk, or run, or cycle to places rather than taking the car, because we appreciate being able to spend time outdoors (and can save those CO2 emissions).

Although it might not always seem it, among the chaos I think there are a lot of beautiful things to be found, and that will come from it as a result. I know that once this passes, I will be holding my friends tighter, spending more time and money doing the things I love, and not taking 'normality' for granted ever again.


Maybe, just maybe, this is the wake up call we needed.


Vicky x

Happy Place

•  Fearne Cotton's Happy Place Podcast is one of my favourites, and her recent Isolation episode with Russel Brand is fantastic. Really worth a listen if you are feeling a bit worse for wear under the current situation.
  

The Naked Student

•  a fab set of podcasts dealing with big issues we are generally too scared to talk about. Check out their corona eps!

NT at Home

•  Every week the National Theatre are releasing one of their Live screenings, available for a week. This is something I'm definitely looking forward to keeping up with throughout lockdown!