So.......as of 26th December 2020, we have been put into lockdown No 3.

My initial reaction was that I'm over it, I don't want to do it anymore, however I quickly realised that this is in fact a golden opportunity that has been presented to me, and in fact anyone else should they wish to use the opportunity to its full advantage.

In Lockdown No 1, back in the spring, we were blessed, the weather was unseasonally glorious. It was almost as if the universe was saying 'I'm temporarily removing you from you normal life, but have some great weather as compensation'. I got a suntan over Easter! The fact that I am able to use the words 'I' and 'suntan' together in a sentence is much bigger than you could even begin to comprehend. My belief for many......in fact...for ever, has been that I don't suntan, I burn, I peel, I hide. This time I was able to observe my then landlady, sunbathing most days and going a beautiful colour, which made me curious, and able to believe that maybe it was possible for me after all. So I went for it, lots of suncream is the answer, for me at least, she didn't go near the stuff, but her belief was that she didn't need to, and it worked very well for her. Some days I thought I would dispense with the suncream, and just go out for a short while. In doing so I got burnt, I peeled, but it did go brown, so I wasn't put off. 

Anyway, in the first lockdown I had this need to prove something almost, I have to go out cycling every day, I have to be creative every day, I have to keep positive every day. And I did all of those things for the most part, it was a roller coaster ride, but it got me through. That lasted for just over three months.

I went back to work in July, it was far from normal, but we adapted into a new normal, and we settled back into a routine. After weeks of speculation, in November we were put into lockdown no 2, this time we were assured it would be for one month, after which the country would be placed into a tier system, so only certain parts would stay in lockdown if necessary. This time it was cold and wet, I had no desire to achieve anything quite frankly, I figured if it was just for a month then I would just relax and watch netflix. I also went out walking sometimes, made my Christmas cake, did a bit of writing, it was quite nice in fact to not put any pressure on myself to do anything. And it was indeed just a month, after which we were able to return to work.

However just three weeks later, our region is placed into tier 4, and we're back into lockdown for the third time. I wasn't prepared this time, I haven't been watching the news, so I hadn't realised we were on the verge yet again.

So initially it was a bit of a shock, but not for long, let’s face it, we’re old hands at this stuff now!

So, having accepted the inevitable (a total contradiction, as nothing is inevitable, but that’s another story!) I have decided that this time I am going to take a whole new approach. I talk the talk, it’s time I walked the walk!

This time, I want to give my days some structure. I get most of my pleasure from creating, and I am currently writing a book, how wonderful would it be to come out of this with my book complete and ready to start its next part of the journey.

So I am giving myself options, not options that I am saying I have to complete, but options for when I lose my way and would like a reminder of where I am going.

My first option is to meditate, I don’t do this often, but when in the past I have got into the routine of doing it, I always find my day is just better. Everything goes my way, I have more clarity, I find more adventure. In fact it makes everything go so well that I forget it’s the meditation that was helping me, and I forget to do it. To be honest I’m not a big fan of the word meditate, to me it has massive connotations. Just hearing the word originally put me off, because I imagined having to sit a certain way, having to make weird sounds, having to do it for a set amount of time, and having to instantly achieve world peace……..yeh, ok, maybe not that quite extreme, but you get the picture, I felt under pressure before I’d even started, so it was a non-starter to begin with.

So as I’ve gone on my journey, I have discovered that meditation is actually just a way of making space in your mind for new thoughts, new ideas, new inspirations. It is literally a case of sitting quietly and not thinking anything. Obviously that is an oversimplification since one thing our mind loves to do is think, think, and think some more. The trick, is not to try to stop thinking, but to find something not very interesting as your focus, and focus on it. I use white noise, I’ve tried various background sounds, but have found that for me, white noise is the least distracting. So I just concentrate on my sound. The first few times you do this, the mind will still go off and do its thing, because that’s what it does and that’s what it knows. But the mind can be retrained with a little gentle persuasion - focus on your sound, when you notice your mind wandering just draw it back to the sound. Your mind may very well wander off without you even noticing, and that is to be expected, it will take time, patience and focus, and when you do notice just gently steer it back towards sound, you may only achieve a minute or two of focus initially, but that’s perfect, baby steps! Never berate yourself and say you can’t do it, because you will believe what you say, even if it doesn’t go how you expected, soothe yourself by saying next time will be better, because it will! Somehow, simply releasing your mind from thinking, albeit briefly, has a huge positive impact on the rest of your day, and as you get more practised, you will start to notice new and inspiring thoughts coming to you on a more regular basis. How long should you do this? Ideally 15 – 20 mins every day, preferably first thing in the morning before too many negative thoughts set in, but honestly even 5 – 10 mins is better than nothing at all. It’s all about you and what you’re comfortable with, just find somewhere comfortable to sit, where you won’t be disturbed and relax.

My next option is to do some form of exercise every day, preferably outside. Energy tends to stagnate if we don’t create movement so just going for a half an hour walk will get things moving, how often have you done some form of activity that you really didn’t want to do, only to discover afterwards that you’re so glad you did it.

My next option is to find something to direct my focus at, finding something that interests me without caring about whether or not I’m any good at it, if it’s fun, then it’s good. What I have realised is that it’s good to spend time thinking about what you want to do, and what you want to achieve by doing it. The reasons should absolutely be your own, if you’re doing it to gain approval from other people, then you will fail at the first sign of disapproval. If you’re doing it solely for monetary gain, you may very well succeed, but it will always be about the money, and you’ll always be reaching for the next big money milestone. If however, your primary focus is for self-improvement or to learn a new skill, then that will give you an acceptance that you won’t be great at it right away, and it doesn’t matter anyway. We are here to expand, and you cannot expand if you are already perfect. Deal with it!!  The irony here is that if you do something purely for the love of it, then money and love will follow it anyway, it’s the Law Of Attraction!

I have learnt also, that when starting a new project, don’t talk to anyone about what you’re doing, unless you are rock solid about it. Too often we share our dreams, for them to get shot down by others telling us it’s impossible, or we’re not capable. They can’t judge you if they know nothing about it. If you absolutely have to tell someone, pick one person that you know will help you to build your launching pad.

I no longer watch the news! If you really need to keep up with current events, find one reliable source and read the headlines once a day. Don’t read newspapers, don’t indulge in any conversations about what is going on. Doing so will simply confuse and depress you, there’s nothing you can currently do about what is going on, so ignore it and make the best use you can of this lockdown.

Ultimately we all have a choice, we can choose to be frustrated and angry that this is being imposed on us. Or we can choose to make the best of it, and enjoy the gift of free time that we have been given.

It really is all about perspective!