The Highs and Lows of Lockdown for Me

Today, I am going to speak about the highs and lows of lockdown. I am sure that you can all remember the lockdowns vividly. Back in March of 2020, when the dickwad Boris Johnson said that there would be a national lockdown, I didn’t care. I am a pretty reclusive homebody and I thought that it would be fantastic. Obviously at the time, we thought that it may last a couple of weeks. Never did we think that it would be months and then there would be a second one. Needless to say, I still tried to go about my days with optimism.

The reason why I wanted to write this post is because it is a big chunk of my life. We all spend almost two years in lockdown, and I don’t want to disregard that time. There were certainly highs and lows of lockdown. Even though we all probably look back on that time with negativity, overall, it wasn’t. That is why I thought that I would write this blog post. I no longer want to look back on that time with negativity. It was certainly different, and it shaped me in so many ways. Here are my highs and lows of lockdown and how they affected me…

 

High – Spending quality time with my closest family

My home situation is pretty bizarre. My husband and I bought our first home together back in 2019. Then in early 2020, we asked my mum to move in with us. We had a huge house that was sat empty with the two of us in. She lived in a rented property and her landlord was horrendous. She moved it and everything has been smooth sailing ever since, which I know is a rarity. However, the lockdown forced us to spend time together. My husband is usually all over the place due to his unhealthy obsession with Sheffield Wednesday. Honestly, when I think about all the quality time, it is amazing.

 

High – Taking time for myself

The first lockdown taught me how to relax. I feel like generally I am a sucker for punishment. Whether it is for my full-time job, my freelance writing, my blog or my home, I always need something to do. My view has always been that sitting around and doing nothing, is just a waste of time. Now I know that isn’t the case at all. You need time to relax and recoup wherever necessary. I now appreciate taking down time and I make it a priority for myself. Since doing this regularly, I feel so much lighter!

 

High – Learning French

You can completely blame Escape to the Chateau for this one. I have always watched Escape to the Chateau, but I binged it in the first lockdown. I went right back to the beginning and by the end of it, I wanted to speak French. I downloaded loads of apps, bought loads of books and knuckled down. I am not at a point where I could say the odd sentence and I can comfortably pick up certain works. Don’t get me wrong, there is still a long way for me to go. I will get there eventually, and I still haven’t given up.

 

High – Doing DIY in the house

Because there wasn’t a long list of things that I had to do, I got time in the house. Prolonged time in the house however made me quite twitchy. I would sit in the house, take a look around and see everything that I wanted to do and change. There was so much. I added panelling throughout, fit my own kitchen, laid flooring, etc. I loved doing it and I am now so proud that I put my own stamp on my home. If there was no lockdown, never in a million years would I have done those things.

 

Low – Made me more reclusive

In the intro I mentioned that I am reclusive. My home is amazing. I still pinch myself that I own the house that I do. Plus, now it is getting closer to fully decorated, it just feels amazing. Very rarely am I actually happy about leaving my house and going out and about. Spending a vast amount of time in the house has only made me fall in love with it even more. I am my true self at home and that is where I want to be. But I also recognise that it is not healthy for me to be at home every single day, every single weekend, every single month, with no interaction.

 

Low – Ruined some budding friendships

I have mentioned here on my blog that I don’t have hordes of friends. I could count my good friends on one hand. Don’t get me wrong, I think that can be a good thing generally, keeping a tight circle. However, it would be nice to have a couple other friends that I could call on. Just people that I would feel comfortable texting to go out for a drink, or to head out and do some shopping. Before the lockdown, I was getting close to some people, but I didn’t feel like it was far along to keep in close contact via COVID.

 

Low – Made me spend more money

This one kind of links into the comment above, but I spent so much cash. All of a sudden, I had time on my hands. I was browsing through online stores all day, every day. I bought myself so many treats and I could just see the money flying out of my bank account. Not to mention that doing DIY is super expensive. I was spending hundreds of pounds on pieces of wood for dado rails and coving. It is the first time in my life that I have ever spent as frivolously, and the guilt was real bad.

 

Low – Intensified my OCD

You guys will know by now all about my OCD. I have shared many of the details about how my OCD works. Since my diagnosis, my OCD was not centred around cleanliness, it was about organisation. The early months of COVID really changed that for me. When we would receive our Ocado order, I would be stood in the kitchen for hours cleaning the food. Then I would love onto washing the doors, handles, etc. It was craziness. Never had I felt like that before. I know that for many people their hygiene levels increased. However for me, it set an obsession really into action.

 

I hope that you guys enjoyed reading this blog post. I don’t want this blog post to make it seem like I am grateful for COVID. You guys will know that isn’t the case. However, we were flung into a lockdown and we got through it. I am not saying that for many people and their families there weren’t devastating consequences, but we move on. We all grew from the lockdowns in some way or another. I am going to remember that period of my life as absolutely bonkers, but it was necessary.

 

I would love to hear from you guys. Please leave me a comment below. Share with me your experience, did you have any highs and lows of lockdown? Let us all just hope that we are in a much stronger position now to move forward and away from COVID.