At the beginning of this lockdown I was worried about my lovely little girl who was getting quite down. Even though lovely Mia has multiple special needs she is not currently able to go to school, which she adores; she can’t see her friends and she’s a very sociable outgoing little ray of sunshine that loves people. So, suddenly not seeing people, alongside not having the regular routine, is very hard.
But I’ve realised since that it was also really affecting me, and she was also picking up on my mood. Being restricted, being told what to do by people who I don’t respect: it was making me slightly crazy. I became quite down, trying to deal with being angry at a situation where I feel powerless and have no control… but. There are things that you can control. Of course there are. You just have to realise that in any difficulty, in any challenge: there is also massive opportunity.
Opportunity to push yourself out of your comfort zone, or think a little differently about something, or try something a bit new that you wouldn’t have tried before.
I cut my own hair. The ends were really fuzzy so I thought about how I could trim the ends when I have some hair scissors and have cut people’s hair before but never been trained and I’m not a hairdresser..! So I made 3 bizzare ponytails and cut the ends of my hair and thinned it out. The result is actually one of the best haircuts I’ve had. Which I’m sure is accidental, but there is no way I would have tried this had I not been exactly where I am right now.
And wearing odd combinations of things. It’s no secret that I love colour, but I do usually go for things that I know go together either in texture (like not wearing a jumper with shorts) or colour. I am currently wearing blue striped crop trousers and a spring green top – which I never would have done before; but I’ve discovered it actually looks nice. Who knew?
Third example – I had a sudden thought that instead of waiting for the right moment when my husband would have time to drill holes in the wall, I bought some sticky things to put things up on the wall that I’ve been wanting to do for over a year. I now have my four masks (I love masks) and two Macbeth daggers in a lovely (albeit a bit strange for anyone else looking at it) arrangement on my wall.
My little girl’s mood is lifted alongside mine, we are finding so much to do at home it’s really wonderful spending so much time with her. I’m reminding myself to wear jewellery even though the only person that notices it is me. I tell myself even though I’ve put on weight during this lockdown (who hasn’t?) that I look nice (if you have nobody that does it you need to do it for yourself: trust me, it helps).
Even when the world seems to have gone mad, there are always reasons to be cheerful (thank you Ian Dury for inspiring the title). You just need to remind yourself to look. And if you can’t find anything, look harder. Even if it’s a small thing: it may make a massive difference.
