As we move towards the end of Victoria's grueling lock-down, it is hard to hear the hints being reported that we may still have more months of restrictions ahead.
If you're struggling or dispirited, I feel you. You're not alone and what you're feeling is a normal and rational response to what is going on. If anyone has said to you something like this;
at least you don't live alone
at least you have a job
at least you [insert thing that could be worse]
I call bullshite!
Don't let anyone minimise your experience.
There's always someone better off and worse off than us, whether we're in a pandemic or not. You're allowed to have feelings of grief, despair, anger, resignation or fear.
You're even allowed to have your feelings of joy and peace and gratitude. Let it all come and go as this roller-coaster of a collective experience continues.
At home in our 2 bedroom unit, concrete-locked in the south-eastern suburbs strip, we have adapted and flexed and adapted again.
First Roland came home to work in the bedroom, then I came home to set up clinic in the lounge-room. Most recently Eleanor has come home too, and we now alternate days between the bedroom-office and a Mummy/Daddy daycare routine. All whilst we build the house in the country we've been saving for and dreaming of. It's been an intense year.
I have certainly felt all the feelings of grief and despair and rage and resignation. And sometimes the peace and hope and joy and gratitude too. Sometimes simultaneously.
But the challenge has been that all the ways I would usually cope with these, have largely been removed. The dinners with my girlfriends, the hikes in the forest, the board game nights with mates, the getaway to the beach. The face-to-face visits to my kinesiologist and body psychotherapist, and most recently my chiropractor too. All of our coping mechanisms have been restricted, whilst we're forced to deal with more than ever before.
At our house we've occasionally carried ourselves with aplomb and we've had plenty of tantrums (and not just the four year old.) We've learned healthier boundaries - essential in a small space we're in all 24/7 - and we've gained in self-confidence, as we make the seemingly impossible happen time and time again.
What about you? How are you adapting to the changes and challenges? Are there any gems revealing themselves from this shitty year?
How are you doing?