Currently we all, everywhere in this wide world of ours, are going through the Corona Virus Pandemic. We literally can not find a pocket on this Earth of someone who is doing normal right now. We are all going through this, together. I want to create a space and record this period of time because we can't forget it. It is too big. I am working on a list of ways I and my family have gotten through it.

One of the biggest things we have all actioned in our house is to follow the rules of our country. We have stayed home, not gone out for any reason other than specified.

Talk through what is happening and decide together

We talk A LOT! We are officially a talking family! Decisions are pretty much made together and we can only action something if we all support each other. This is true for the smallest to the eldest. Even the fur babies are considered in the decisions. They are so important.

Routine

We make routines and stick to them but at the same time are flexible. For instance today was a school day and we all worked but the sun was shining and the weather was beautiful. So for the afternoon we all went into the garden and did some gardening. We all benefited from the Vitamin-D and it definitely lifted our moods. The garden looks better too!

Bad days happen

I would love to say we are all a fountain of positivity, if I did I would be lying. We are not. I am definitely not. Yesterday was a bad day for me and I struggled. Today is a good day and I am doing well. The big thing is; no judgement. We are all in this together so when the bad times happen the message is 'feel it but don't throw it'. What I mean is, it is ok to feel rubbish but not ok to throw the rubbish at your loved ones or someone else via the internet. Sit with the crappy feelings and support yourself and let others support you. If none of that works...I ended up just going to bed and hoping tomorrow would be better. Thankfully it was. If you can not get support at home, reach out. There are organisations who want to help you. If you need some contact info let me know and I will point you in the right direction. xxx

Be Creative

This weekend I really yearned to go to a cafe so I dusted off my old chalkboard and turned our kitchen into a cafe! It was simple, nothing fancy. I recreated a soup I love from a special place I go to often and the all  important cheese scones using a special recipe. Again, it was simple but the experience hit the spot for what I needed right then. I have also had to be incredibly creative with online media, using apps, new browsers, learning platforms, communication platforms all new media, all new things. Which brought with it the need for my technology to keep up! Once the dust settled on that the opportunities to help others came through and reach out via the online media. Different ways to be creative!

Contact

I love going out and contacting people but since all of this I need to schedule in regular contact with others via the phone or laptop or I go nuts. I schedule everyone actually. Everyone in my household is asked regularly if they've contacted others outside of the household. We all have differing levels of need for contact so it is not the same for everyone but my oh my is it needed.

Adjust

At the start of all of this I spent about two and a half weeks adjusting to the constant rush of changes that came at us all. My work as an artist and art teacher dissolved and I had to adjust to that. Schools closed but they didn't and I had to adjust to that. All of my training, supervision, meetings, therapy, seminars went online and I adjusted to that. Work came into my home and that was a huge adjustment. Massive. My boundaries had to be re-evaluated and adjusted. Which was hard. Then the physical factor of moving work into our home. Which was another adjustment! The big question is, what will be left to go back to?

Fear

Which brings us to the elephant in the room: Fear. It sits under everything  right now. For a while when we first moved back to the UK we lived with fear pretty much as a constant. It ebbed away for a while and now here we are again, smack back back in the fear zone. I can't tell anyone what to do with fear but I can tell you that it is ok to be afraid, we all kind of are right now. For me I don't always cope with fear very well. In our family we don't tend to 'do' fear very well. I think we are learning how to work with fear instead of repress it and be strong aka come into action. So that is why somedays I struggle. Those days I go through the routine and yeah maybe get a bit shouty but I own it, name it and claim it as my stuff. I could tell you here the perfect response i.e. I go and meditate or go exercise but I don't. I cope in those moments, I get by any which way I can and I am lucky to have a family that supports me and we all get through it in an imperfect kind of way. I am healthy, I am alive and I am breathing through it and for that I am grateful. 

Anna-Lou x