Making the Most of a Season of Uncertainty
It's a sunny Monday afternoon, the flower buds are beginning
to blossom, the sky is an endless blue. There is a light breeze that makes the
air feel fresh and crisp. But we are all
inside.
It's a very strange set of circumstances that have meant I
am sat with my laptop writing a blog post. I should be in sixth form studying
for my A Levels, or more realistically, sat in sixth form eating strawberry
laces and complaining about going to work this evening. It's in this season of
uncertainty that we begin to realise how much we have taken for granted.
Coronavirus has meant that we are all attached to the news
apps on our phones, glued to our TVs at 5pm, and waiting for the next piece of
breaking news to hit. The most recent notification I got on my phone was from
the BBC news app nine minutes ago: "Hold this device at an arm's length.
Double that distance, and that's how long you should stay away from
people...". The world has changed in ways we cannot imagine. Schools,
restaurants, bars, gyms, and cinemas are closed. We cannot visit elderly
grandparents or relatives for fear of transmission; many vulnerable people have
been told to stay indoors for months.
Supermarkets are having to put restrictions on the amount of toilet
paper, medicine, and household cleaning products we can buy, and pasta, milk,
and flour have become luxuries. The safest way to talk to our friends is over
the phone, and yet we have been told our phones could be harbouring the most
dangerous bacteria.
But we are not entirely without hope. The pace of life is
having to slow down for many people, and communities are being drawn together.
Libraries are extending the number of books that can be taken out, schools are
opening their doors to care for frontline workers' and vulnerable children, and
neighbours are doing the weekly shop for those who have been asked to stay
indoors. Despite the uncertainty, we can be certain that this is a time for
hope.
As all the schools in the UK have been closed and exams have
been cancelled, I am taking this as an opportunity to document this crazy time.
I want to use this space to offer some advice to people taking exams in the
coming years who have lost a term of contact time, as well as sharing updates.
We can get through this!
Wishing you courage and strength, Marti
thank you for your positivity, scary time, but we'll get through <3
ReplyDelete(tried to comment a while ago but it didn't work, so thats why it's bit late aha)xx
Thank you for such a sweet comment! xx
DeleteThe first paragraph hooked me on. You’re undoubtedly correct; we can get through this).
ReplyDeleteWE can! :)
DeleteI'm really enjoying your posts! NZ is on a 4 week lockdown so you can't leave your house unless to go to work if you work in essential services, to get gas for your car or groceries, or go to doctor or get a prescription. Nobody is actually allowed to step inside a pharmacy now, the pharmacist comes out to you, and only 2 people allowed in a supermarket at a time in some places! You can go out to walk your dog , but you're not allowed in parks or to walk in public areas etc, or go driving unless it's to get essential services. So it's all pretty crazy! The nice thing is that pretty much everyone is listening to the rules and considering other people which I like. They've also set up a little thing where every house visible from the street puts a teddy bear in their window for kids to look out for when going out for a walk :)
ReplyDeleteIt's really scary because I live with 2 people who have serious heart issues so it's really worrying with that, and the other big concern for me is trying to find a job afterwards/how long this will go on for when it comes to needing or wanting to start doing a course or study etc. But one good thing I've found is my anxiety levels have gone down a lot and I feel more relaxed because I don't constantly have everyone on my back telling me I have to get a job/go to uni, and now everyone is in a similar boat so I think it's a way for people to understand more how others feel and to be more considerate of other people. Thanks again for your posts x
Thank you, Rosie! It's a hard time, sending love! x
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