One Year Since the Last Lockdown, What Have I Learnt?

It’s so surprising to think that this time last year we were all watching Boris Johnson announcing the first lockdown with hopes that it would be for a short period of time. However, three lockdowns later, I feel like most of my life has changed and I have learnt so many new lessons to take with me into the future.

The first lesson I have learnt is to really cherish the time you spend with friends and family. With lockdown ultimately meaning you couldn’t go out with friends or see much family, it was a time to connect with the people around you. At university I made sure to spend as much time as possible with my flatmates as they were my social bubble. At home I spent a lot of quality time with my parents and my sister. Especially at home, I started to cook for the family, and spent more time talking individually to my family members to check in on how they were doing. Taking this with me into the (hopefully last) lockdown, I still do this and really appreciate the time that I get to spend with my loved ones.

Another thing that I’ve learnt through lockdown is that people really are just a phonecall away. Checking in on friends could take as little time as a few minutes to do but could mean so much to that individual. I know people who struggled with lockdown and sometimes they needed a little bit of reassurance that things were going to be okay. However, another big lesson tied to this is that sometimes people need space, and you shouldn’t be downhearted if a particular person hasn’t checked up on you yet, they might just be going through a little rough patch. Likewise, if you don’t feel good yourself it’s completely valid to not have the capacity to help others with their own problems. Instead take the time to yourself.

Lockdown was really tough on people’s mental health and taking a day off to reflect became so important in wellbeing. This is something that I have taken from lockdown, to always reflect on your emotions and how you are dealing with certain situations. To help my wellbeing I would make sure I was sleeping enough and eating fairly healthily so my foundations were stable. From there I would remember to practise self care and would have evenings where I would watch a film with a cup of tea. Taking this into the third lockdown, my ways of relaxing have changed and I draw and read now which have the same effect as my methods in the first lockdown at helping me wind down.

It was also definitely challenging to stay active during lockdown since we were confined to our homes and we couldn’t go to the gym. One thing that kept me positive during this time was long walks. Fresh air did wonders when I was feeling groggy from being indoors. Going on long walks with one of my friends also meant that I could socialise and enjoy someone else’s company and we could talk through any struggles we were facing and let it off our chests.

I would love to know some of the lessons that you learnt during lockdown 🙂 So if you feel like it, comment down any important things that other people could learn too!