QUARANTINE DIARIES: CORONAVIRUS 2020
As we all know right now, life is looking more than a little bleak.
With the outbreak of Covid-19 in Wuhan, China at the start of this year and its fast spread across the globe within a couple of months, today in Scotland I face my first day of lockdown. Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, finally imposed lockdown restrictions last night on anyone leaving their house across the country in order to slow the spread of the virus and prevent our NHS from collapsing in the coming days and weeks.
To put it into perspective, the outbreak started to seriously show effects in the UK early last week. As cases started to rise across the nation many people, myself included, wondered why retail shops were open, why people were continuing to shop and eat out as if nothing was going on. Everyday I questioned why I was still going to work and resorted to driving my own car to Edinburgh to avoid all means of public transport and reduce my risk of catching coronavirus and spreading it to others.
By Thursday 19th, the company I work for had started operating on reduced opening hours, and by Friday night we had decided to close completely for a temporary period upon review following the next 2 weeks, as schools shut across the country as well.
I was on a day off Friday and Saturday so, already being at home, I was following the government advice of social distancing. This meant no seeing my boyfriend and no seeing any family I didn't live with. All pubs, restaurants and clubs were asked to close their doors over the weekend and that has since been extended to include hair salons, clothing retailers and any non-essential businesses. That means if you don't sell medicine or food, you're closed.
Now with lockdown in place, the public have been asked to not leave the house unless getting absolute essentials, and even then as infrequently as possible. We are allowed to leave the house once a day for exercise but this must be done alone or only with the people you live with. This means myself, my mum, and my stepdad need to take it in turns to walk our 3-walks a day dogs, who are so used to their routine there is no way we can impose restrictions on them - they'll only drive us loopy otherwise.
So here I am today, sitting on the floor of my bedroom, on day 5 of isolation and social distancing, day 1 of lockdown, and how am I coping? So far I'm alright, I'm exercising more than I would normally - I started doing daily pilates classes online in my own bedroom and then I walk the dogs at lunchtime for an hour. I'll admit that I've had a lot of screen-time which is starting to bother me - more from boredom than anything else. I've been video-calling different friends everyday so that's helped me to feel connected to people outside my immediate family. And I have a strict regime of waking up at 9am everyday, showering and getting dressed (this stops me from feeling too much like a slob for having to stay indoors the rest of the day). I'm trying to only consume the coronavirus news and updates once a day, any more than that and it all feels a bit overwhelming and scary that we're living in a real life pandemic film. And I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that this is probably the best opportunity I have of getting back to the things I used to do and love all the time. By this I mean I pulled loads of art materials out but I haven't quite faced up to doing anything yet - it's been a loooooong time.
With roads and parks starting to become eerily quiet, I can only hope that everyone else is beginning taking the containment measures seriously.
As scary as the current situation is, it is also a massive opportunity for everyone to just slow down a little and appreciate the small things. Yes it's a scary time for everyone, and we have no idea how long this will last (3 weeks minimum by government standards). But just take a breath, keep your body moving and try and engage your mind in things you've not done in a while.
If ever there was a time to get to know yourself a bit better, this would be it.
Melissa x
With the outbreak of Covid-19 in Wuhan, China at the start of this year and its fast spread across the globe within a couple of months, today in Scotland I face my first day of lockdown. Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, finally imposed lockdown restrictions last night on anyone leaving their house across the country in order to slow the spread of the virus and prevent our NHS from collapsing in the coming days and weeks.
To put it into perspective, the outbreak started to seriously show effects in the UK early last week. As cases started to rise across the nation many people, myself included, wondered why retail shops were open, why people were continuing to shop and eat out as if nothing was going on. Everyday I questioned why I was still going to work and resorted to driving my own car to Edinburgh to avoid all means of public transport and reduce my risk of catching coronavirus and spreading it to others.
By Thursday 19th, the company I work for had started operating on reduced opening hours, and by Friday night we had decided to close completely for a temporary period upon review following the next 2 weeks, as schools shut across the country as well.
I was on a day off Friday and Saturday so, already being at home, I was following the government advice of social distancing. This meant no seeing my boyfriend and no seeing any family I didn't live with. All pubs, restaurants and clubs were asked to close their doors over the weekend and that has since been extended to include hair salons, clothing retailers and any non-essential businesses. That means if you don't sell medicine or food, you're closed.
Now with lockdown in place, the public have been asked to not leave the house unless getting absolute essentials, and even then as infrequently as possible. We are allowed to leave the house once a day for exercise but this must be done alone or only with the people you live with. This means myself, my mum, and my stepdad need to take it in turns to walk our 3-walks a day dogs, who are so used to their routine there is no way we can impose restrictions on them - they'll only drive us loopy otherwise.
So here I am today, sitting on the floor of my bedroom, on day 5 of isolation and social distancing, day 1 of lockdown, and how am I coping? So far I'm alright, I'm exercising more than I would normally - I started doing daily pilates classes online in my own bedroom and then I walk the dogs at lunchtime for an hour. I'll admit that I've had a lot of screen-time which is starting to bother me - more from boredom than anything else. I've been video-calling different friends everyday so that's helped me to feel connected to people outside my immediate family. And I have a strict regime of waking up at 9am everyday, showering and getting dressed (this stops me from feeling too much like a slob for having to stay indoors the rest of the day). I'm trying to only consume the coronavirus news and updates once a day, any more than that and it all feels a bit overwhelming and scary that we're living in a real life pandemic film. And I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that this is probably the best opportunity I have of getting back to the things I used to do and love all the time. By this I mean I pulled loads of art materials out but I haven't quite faced up to doing anything yet - it's been a loooooong time.
With roads and parks starting to become eerily quiet, I can only hope that everyone else is beginning taking the containment measures seriously.
As scary as the current situation is, it is also a massive opportunity for everyone to just slow down a little and appreciate the small things. Yes it's a scary time for everyone, and we have no idea how long this will last (3 weeks minimum by government standards). But just take a breath, keep your body moving and try and engage your mind in things you've not done in a while.
If ever there was a time to get to know yourself a bit better, this would be it.
Melissa x