Covid-19 - A Subjective View

There are probably if not maybe hundreds, then thousands of articles, web pages and blogs on people’s experience’s since Covid-19 and the lockdown.

This is my self-indulgent, personal and completely subjective view, which I am sure both mirrors and reflects many other people’s experiences.

I appreciate the devastating and awful effect this event has had on lives, families, communities, global society and the global economy, but for me, so far this has been an extremely positive experience.

From the first day of lockdown I was completely blessed, I was not furloughed and I had the advantage of being allowed to work from home completely with no major effect on my work of business. In many ways, I found myself busier and more productive than I had in several years.

There was an emphasis on working hard; being granted the positive of retaining my job meant there was an added but enjoyable pressure to ensure I made the most of this advantageous benefit. Beyond this, though there were some fundamental and significant changes to the way in which work and indeed life was progressing.

Pre Corona:

As with the majority of people, I was always rushing, working long weekdays and being booked up every night and every weekend meant that life wasn’t just fast but disappearing without the opportunity to “stop and smell the flowers”.

Working 9 hour days, with a long commute between, endeavouring to exercise 3 times a week, cook healthy good meals every night, looking after the dog, elderly relatives, maintain a house, property rentals and weekend outings for various hobbies and interests including hiking clubs, surfing, camping etc. means that life is gloriously filled and fulfilling but there is no real time to stop and truly feel things.

I recall being in a small café in Sri Lanka many years ago, up in the mountains near Kandy and we had to wait for a tuk-tuk. There was no tv, wifi, radio; I didn’t even have a book. For an entire 2 hours we just sat and watched – the wind blowing the lampshade on the café veranda, the waiters slowly meandering around the lawn, the tea steeping etc. This was truly a time of just stopping and taking things in even if for that 2-hour period, it felt like time had stopped and the ability to absorb my surroundings had been deeply enhanced to point that it is a prominent memory of that holiday.

Since it has reminded me of the episode of Mad Men (Love Among the Ruins), where Don Draper runs his hand through the grass – at first a meaningless load of indulgent tripe but in actual fact something that is quite meaningful – the ability and luxury of stopping to observe and enjoy what is around you.

Despite lockdown meaning a lot of hard work and self-discipline, it has allowed the opportunity to slow and absorb. This happened for me in a number of ways – eating, cooking, exercise, colouring in, processes of watering plants, finding faces in the trees, the local countryside and even TV shows. Let me explain how with each of these areas:

Eating and cooking: for many years, decades in fact, I would eat out – takeaways, restaurants and in recent years Deliveroo and Uber Eats. The ease at which this convenience allows you to order, eat and chuck away the packaging with no washing up meant this style of eating would become more frequent as life became more hectic. With work and social life developing I would dine out at least twice a week and have takeout’s on busy evenings- and then coffee delivered to the office at a cost of £8.50 a time. All of which seems ridiculous now I have had the time to reflect. With lockdown all restaurants, takeout’s and cafes I would normally frequent closed. This meant home cooking took priority for the first time in years. The time to actually cook, make the effort in frying onions, crushing garlic, mincing tomatoes, proofing pizza dough and making tomato sauce, stews, homemade dumplings and of course the middle class covid favourite – banana bread. The enjoyment of searching for recipes online, weekly meal planning and taking the time and effort to properly cook from scratch, lay the table, napkins and even candles made the entire meal prep an event to be savoured and truly experienced. Something prior to lockdown simply was not possible.

Further, the amount of money I saved was astounding. Here is a small example pre lockdown: coffee, Starbucks Deliveroo (£8.50), Lunch sandwich from Pret with a brownie and smoothie (£10), perhaps a protein bar or snack (£3) Total: £21.50 - Lockdown coffee, freeze dried spoonful (10p), lunch – tortilla toastie and apple (15P), Total: 25p = that is a 10 times difference!

When you compare a meal out in a decent restaurant in Bristol is at least £50 a head – at home I could cook a full on steak meal with potato dauphinoise.

Exercise for many years was a standard 3 nights at the gym every week, and then it was down to cycling to work every week coupled with runs 2 – 3 times on an evening. This was a very repetitive and in some ways, although I tried to increase frequency, intensity etc. it never progressed the way I needed and wanted it to both in strength and general fitness.

With lockdown, allowing more structure and freeing up more time it allowed me to truly focus on fitness goals – particularly with resistance training and weights. Rather than being stuck in a gym I chose to workout in my garden, in nature, surrounded by woods and trees – recalling the book Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder from 1989 how Arnie would go into the woods on a Friday or Saturday night drink beers, have a fire and lift weights – what a world!

Albeit I don’t drink, there was something in line with the concept of mindfulness in lifting weights amongst nature – no distractions, no other gym goers, just the “iron” and the trees. Unfortunately, I did not manage to get a Viking like fire going but that is definitely on my to-do list.

So, the lockdown gave me 2 basic processes and functions back in a way I could enjoy and relish that I couldn’t before. Cooking and exercising- fundamentals to the Neanderthal times!

Then there the routine activities that allowed a sense of calm and control during the lockdown, namely colouring in, watering plants –especially my hanging baskets, walking in the countryside where my main interest was finding faces and creatures in the tress and branches. These routines were again something that were much more constrained during the working week in the office – watering the hanging baskets were a chore, walking in the local woods were a necessity to ensure the dog got walked.

Having so much extra time allowed me to really appreciate these activities.

I would normally allocate myself a set amount of time for colouring in, which in a way would put pressure and subconscious stress to work to a specific timeframe. With lockdown and being afforded so much more free time I could make the most of my colour by numbers set, both dinosaurs and fish (don’t know whether this is appropriate for a 40 year old) but does my mind wonders!!

The same with meandering and walking in the woods, whereas this was previously a chore in line with dog walking- the freeing of time made it an adventure in the woods with the dog. Every morning before WFH we would head out and I would feel like an adventurer from a Jack London esq tale, mists in the trees, birds and squirrels running around in the trees, in my head I was in a movie like Into The Wild or perhaps even Deliverance!

As with probably a large percentage of the UK population, my “down time” for the majority of lockdown was spent indulging in Netflix and other streaming shows. Of course there was the obligatory Tiger King but I found so many more niche and indeed better shows – highlights including Black Spot (quaint and warming) on Netflix and Too Old To Die Young (disturbing and insidious) on Amazon Prime.

Previously I would, like most other people, have “binged” on these shows, almost like a tick box exercise – watched all of Narcos – yep yadayadayada. To sit and truly enjoy each episode, 1 a week causing anticipation and excitement every week, like the terrestrial tv shows of the 90s, it was great. Of course, there is no “water cooler chat” on “who killed Laura Palmer” but Facebook makes a great substitute.

In summary, the great Covid-19 lockdown of 2020 was a bit like a reset for me. Like somebody restored factory settings while at the same time making my goals and accomplishments more efficient and my training, downtime and leisure pursuits more enjoyable and meaningful.

I appreciate this is merely a by-product of the Coronavirus, as in THE lockdown, not the actual virus, but so far this has been my experience!

*caveat

I am not completely blinkered in some ivory towers existence of course and fully appreciate the misery and devastation this has created for millions of people around the globe. Those who have suffered terribly from the disease, losing loved one’s from the disease and the crippling financial implications of the pandemic. Further I fully appreciate how truly lucky I have been – For those people, I hope remedial circumstances and relief come swift and without falter.