Thoughts With an End in Sight

All I have been asked for the past few days is what I thought of the latest announcements and the ‘roadmap‘ out of lockdown. I have a tendency towards pessimism but even I am quietly hopeful this time. I greatly look forward to the times when we can finally say we have returned to normal and though they may still be a way off, it’s nice to have some direction.

But again, as with many things these days, this latest update has forced me into some reflection and I think it’s worth highlighting the things that have so far helped (and continue now) getting me through lockdown. Some of these are things that may have never happened before and lockdown has created some opportunities even where it has taken many away.

It has been a tough time for everyone and for some more than others but we also have to be thankful sometimes. I’d say that things I’m thankful for fall into two main categories but there is no simple way to describe lockdown. I’m sure we all know that feeling by now.

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Technology

The transition to an online working environment has been turbulent. It cannot compare to face-to-face teaching and the certainty that normal procedure offers but I’m very grateful that it was possible in any way to move things online.

The work that has gone in to making this year as normal as possible at uni is clear. It hasn’t been normal but I think a lot of the compromises are the best they could have been. Labs were a particularly interesting case as a physics student. They presented new challenges but we just about managed to work around them and I’m sure I learnt something through the struggle somewhere.

It has been a period of isolation for a lot of people even when not ‘isolating‘ in the containment sense. There has been more distance between us all but the work of societies at uni to come up with new ways to put on events has been great to see. Working on an exec this year, it has been really encouraging to see the determination of everyone to really take advantage of this online setting and try things we couldn’t before.

Again, this doesn’t compare to face-to-face but their has often been a sense of solidarity among people as we all work towards the same goal. I have felt at times that I had no one to communicate with but fortunately, people have come through and still do.

Time

This is a bit obscure but the lack of travelling by bus and going out to events has given me a lot of time. Though I may not have picked up any new major hobbies, I have found time for a lot of little things that I am very grateful for.

I’ve been able to spend more time with some of my flatmates which has been nice. They are all in their final years and I have felt bad for them because they would normally be the ones out and about and I would be the one who was staying in but we have had many enjoyable evenings just doing nothing but being in one another’s company.

And then there are other things like cooking and exercising. These and many other activities like them take two key components, time and motivation. Sometimes I have lacked the motivation (more so in lockdown than normal times) but it has been nice to have the time. I feel I have perfected the student staple that is pesto pasta and it has been nice to be able to go for runs in the middle of the day when the weather has been nice.

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All in all, it has been nice to have people around who are all also trying to make the best of things. In the past, some of these opportunities would not have been available or they would have landed second best to going out so I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to focus on some of these overlooked things about the everyday.

I’m hoping in writing this that anyone else who has found lockdown a challenge can see that they’re not alone but also see the little highlights that they may not have noticed over the past year. Just know that no one has found this year of uni work easy. It’s been strange and isolating but we are nearly there.

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(Photo by Tabea Damm on Unsplash)