Where next- celebrating the positives, keeping the community going!

How is everybody doing?

A  few weeks ago I posted about good intentions while on furlough and even as I finished writing, I knew that it would be really hard to maintain the routine I proposed. However, I needed to have something to aspire to. A goal without a plan is just a wish, after all.

In reality, it's impossible to get through something like this without tears, anger, meltdowns and the full set of emotions, negative and positive.

Even if we haven't been aware of cracks in our armour, we have all started to experience increased pressure on our mental health as we get through this national lockdown.

Some of us are like caged animals, nowhere to go, not enough space, too many voices around us and not enough silence and peace. For others it's too quiet. We miss our friends, our social life, our connections and the business of the everyday. Some of us are scared. We are vulnerable and feel exposed, we worry that our health will not stand up to this crisis. Some of us are feeling guilty that we can't teach our children how we would like to. Some of us are being very brave and going to work, despite this crisis, to perform key jobs in supporting our country. Perhaps we are worrying that very time we go to work, that we put ourselves at risk and every time we come home, we put our families at risk.

Some of us wish we were going to work, so we could be away from our difficult relationships at home. Some of us are grieving, for family, for friends, for loved ones lost.

Are there positives from this crisis though? What can we learn from it?   

People are reporting that they are exercising with their family and learning to appreciate the time they have outside more. Some are taking time to experiment with creative outlets they hadn't felt able to try before. People are working at home and realising it makes them more productive and more relaxed at the same time. People are becoming more charitable and more conscious of other people's needs in their community. Businesses are becoming more flexible and customers are becoming more patient. Carbon emissions have reduced and people are witnessing the natural world in a way that wasn't possible before without the slowing down of industry.

Beyond this crisis, will we be able to keep these positive benefits without the negatives continuing too? Are we going to rush back to older habits and climb back on the hamster wheel, rushing about and consuming more than we need?

Let's just hope that we can keep reminding ourselves of what we have seen ourselves become capable of. The incredible charity that has been performed over these last few weeks, whether fundraising, or helping our neighbours. Let's remind ourselves to keep appreciating the outside and to keep celebrating the incredible (and up to now, invisible) jobs that people in our community perform every day.  

Even a fledgling brand like Ubiety has benefited from this amazing generosity, our fulfilment being carried out for free, our social media ran on a voluntary basis. I'm certainly feeling grateful for all the support that we have received and I hope that we will remember how we pulled together at this time. I really hope that we can celebrate everything good that we have done over the last few weeks and make an effort to preserve that community spirit for years to come.