or: My Manifesto for our second lockdown
Our second lockdown began a few days ago. I’ve already lost track of how many days. Now that I think about it, it’s more than a few. It’s definitely not a full week yet.
It’s Lockdown Time.
That weird limbo where time both speeds up and slows down. There are various moments in life when this happens and now I have another one.
We have the same overall restrictions as our first one – no leaving the house except on the two days based on our surname so we can go to the supermarket, bakery etc unless we have a Work Access Permit. While scuba diving is great for mental and physical well-being, the government hasn’t deemed it as one of the essential services so I’m at home.
I’ve learnt a few things from our first lockdown which has resulted in my Lockdown Manifesto for this one.
It’s a good starting point and could change over time.
Most of these things have to do with my attitude. It’s accepting the bits I can’t change and changing the things I can so I have a more positive and less frustrating experience.
I also acknowledge that Lockdowns are a little easier for me than for a lot of other people as:
- my work from home scenario is a lot less than when I’m in our Dive Centre so I have extra time on my hands that I wouldn’t have if I was in many other types of work
- my only need for homeschooling is the online and book learning that I choose to do for myself rather than supervising, teaching, encouraging any children, teenagers or others
- my entire household are supportive of each other (we live in a building divided into a various houses with each containing another part of the family). They may not all see eye-to-eye all of the time (what family does that’s not part of a weird TV show / movie?) but there is a lot of support. We all have our own space yet everyone is there
- our place has some outdoor space ie a porch with some chairs, bench seating, a couple of tables and now some exercise equipment
Lockdown Manifesto
- Focus on each day rather than the end date
- Look for Government Communications once per day only
- Set Goals not Tasks
- Clean-up early and keep clean
- Enjoy daily sunlight
- Limit exposure to annoyances
- Wear jewellery
- Be realistic
1. Focus on each day rather than the end date
While the lockdown is supposedly for two weeks, I’m not expecting it to end then. It means I’m not focused on this “two week” statement and thinking of it as the end date. The first lockdown, this date shifted that many times, each time as we were nearing the end that the lockdown went from two weeks to four months. It’s not great to have expectations built up like this to then have them dashed every time so this time. I’ve described this as “death by a thousand cuts” to others.
I’m going to focus on the day I’m living in rather than the (possibly changing) end date. I have the current day and it can’t move and what I choose to do during it can be anything I want. Quite liberating when you think about it like that!
2. Look for Government Communications once per day only
I found the whole communication process incredibly frustrating last time. This was in spite of there being an app specifically for this purpose, multiple FB pages for the various news agencies, the internet in general, plus word of mouth.
This time, I’m not actively searching for communications throughout the day relating to what’s going on. There is a lot of misinformation and finding the government information can be tricky at best. All ready I wait until the evening for the government’s press release and catch up on the news then. Their timing is all over the place, sometimes it’s in English and sometimes it’s in French, but they do finally get something out.
The thing is, nothing actually changes for me in knowing what it says. I’m still in lockdown until they say I can come out of it so there’s no real point in trying to find anything out any sooner. I can’t change it.
3. Set Goals not Tasks
I’m not setting myself daily tasks. This is a bit of a counterintuitive one as normally I like to have a To Do List and tick off tasks as I finish.
I realised from last time that I was putting myself under pressure to do this each day and it left me feeling frustrated and tired.
Weird given it was all self-imposed but I thought I had to get through each day having achieved something. This is not a good way for me to be thinking during Lockdown. It leads to disappointment if I don’t get through my list.
Instead, I’ve set myself some Lockdown Goals. Some of these are part of my bigger goals for the year and some are specific to the Lockdown itself. Unlike my usual Goals, these ones are only loosely Time-bound. They follow the rest of the SMART Goal criteria as that’s a habit that many years in HR can’t break! For those who may not have spent much time in the corporate world, or another that may use this time of performance management / objective setting process, SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented / Achievable (depending where you work, either is used), Realistic and Time-bound.
Anyway, having Goals, gives me greater flexibility for what I do each day and allows me time to do absolutely nothing.
I can do things that will get me closer to a Lockdown Goal each day.
Or not.
I can read, watch another episode of The Crown (I’m finally up to the Diana season) or something else again. Unless my reading is something educational, neither of these activities relates to anything likely to appear on a To Do List however they do relate somewhat to my Goal of putting less pressure on myself to be productive and to relax.
I’m also a big believer in having nothing time as that gives space for ideas to happen.
A Lockdown is not a normal holiday so I don’t need to be productive for big chunks of it if I don’t feel like it. A Lockdown and the social isolation as a result, means my reactions, mood and general feeling of well-being are going to be different so I need to allow for that. This means no To Do List and to have Goals instead.
No additional self-imposed pressure is needed when a Lockdown itself isn’t a normal way of living.
4. Clean up early and keep clean
While this may sound like a Task, I see it as a Goal. It’s a Goal to have a clean and tidy space to relax and think in. It’s important for a fresh mind. A Task is the actual action.
This Goal started a little differently as my initial focus was only on my office space.
It has since expanded to cover the entire house and porch area.
It’s already clean and organised.
Now to keeping it that way!
Just before our first Lockdown, my furniture etc arrived from HK so we had some boxes to still unpack and our kitchen renovation wasn’t finished either. This added to the challenge as we needed to keep some of the things in boxes and live around those.
This Lockdown, the kitchen renovation is complete, the boxes unpacked however we have things through our home that weren’t as neat as they could be. As an example, I think we had batteries in about 43 different locations. My office space was organised albeit packed full of things, including a cupboard that had a variety of stuff in it including some things that belong at the dive centre, some that aren’t even ours and some random odds and ends. This is why my intention was to focus on this space.
As a bonus of focusing on once space first and then moving the cupboard into another room which meant that furniture from that room also needed to move, it led to sorting out of more cupboards, reorganising more things, donating quite a bit and cleaning the house.
This means for the rest of the Lockdown, we have a neat and tidy space to relax in as well as not having the idea of cleaning up on such a massive scale hanging over our heads. It’s also eliminated one of the easiest ways to procrastinate since this can turn into something that’s never complete!
I’m all for procrastinating during Lockdown in particular though this is one that can drag through the whole Lockdown and never get done (regardless of how long Lockdown becomes) plus the mental benefit in doing it fully and early far outweighs the benefit in delaying it.
It was done a bit at a time and the end result has exceeded my expectations.
This was something I had control over so I took it.
Now to keep it clean.
5. Enjoy daily sunlight
While I’m normally in my UV80 / 50 skins when diving, I still get sunlight on my skin and in my eyes. I limit it since I’m worried about skin cancer though I still make sure I get it.
Sunlight has many health benefits, both mental and physical.
It’s easy to stay indoors during the whole Lockdown. This time around, we don’t have access to our upstairs area so I’m going to spend some time on our porch so I can get some fresh air (aside from opening the windows!) and some sunlight directly on my skin for a little bit each day. It’s a great spot to read a book and have a cup of tea so I’m going to make the most of it.
As a bonus, I can also see the ocean from this spot and that’s definitely good for my mental health even though I can’t be in it for a while.
6. Limit exposure to annoyances
This one has a few elements. The first is recognising what triggers an annoyance in the first place and the second is knowing how to avoid it while the third is actually avoiding it.
During Lockdown, my main one is the octopus hunters and fishermen. In fairness, the octopus hunters are always an annoyance for me since it’s illegal during particular times of the year yet they still do it year round and the population can’t recover. If they just stopped for one month all at the same time, this wouldn’t be an issue. Anyway…
a) seeing them on / in the water (fishermen are allowed to this time however it is still illegal for octopus hunters)
b) I can’t see the octopus hunters from the porch (I could see them from upstairs) though I can see fishermen from time-to-time here so I’ll not look in the space I’m likely to see them
c) working on it!
I’ll also acknowledge that I’m a bit jealous of this group of people since they are in / on the ocean while I’m not and would really like to be.
7. Wear jewellery
This may seem an odd one. Since I’m normally diving every day, the only jewellery that I always wear are some stud earrings and a necklace. When I’m going out, I tend to put on a couple of rings and a bracelet or bangle too.
This is a massive shift from my HK and Japan days where I would change what I wore on my fingers, wrist and neck on daily basis to go with my clothes whether it was for work or socialising.
I miss this at times.
Wearing jewellery for me is a way of finishing my outfit and being ready for the day.
It’s accessorising.
It’s dressing up.
It’s also a lot of memories as I know who I was with and where I was when I bought each piece or those that were given by family and friends. I like to carry these with me and at times, it’s nice to think of them as with me when I’m going into a particular meeting or seeing someone or going somewhere that I’d like them there too.
During Lockdown, wearing jewellery makes the day itself feel a bit more special when it can so easily become Groundhog Day. I’ve dressed for the day and finished it as though I’m going somewhere or doing something.
I can look at each piece and someone is there to support me without having to be with me at that moment as all these people are still in my life.
It also gives me the opportunity to wear pieces I haven’t worn in a long time as I haven’t had the occasion to wear it here yet.
It makes me smile.
8. Be realistic
Globally as the pandemic unfolded and countries went into their first Lockdown, many people spoke and wrote about all the different things they were going to do from learning a foreign language, eating healthy for every meal, exercise each day, not yelling at their significant other / child(ren), being positive, getting in touch with everyone they’ve ever known, finishing the never ending laundry, staying on top of xyz and all while juggling coconuts and smiling.
Did I mention they weren’t going to drink either?
Some of these may be realistic however all of them at the same time, in the weird environment that a Lockdown produces, is setting myself up for disappointment.
I know I’m not going to be positive all day, every day so I’m not going to try.
Does this mean I’m going to be a right royal pain in the backside to live / virtually socialise with?
Yes.
Is this different to how I am normally?
No.
We are all right royal pains in the backside from time to time and a Lockdown is no exception. If anything, it’s likely to exacerbate it since we are in each other’s pockets for longer and away from our usual routines.
This also means that I’ll find the people I spend most time with the same way – pains in the backside.
The best way for me to avoid this is to recognise when I’m about to behave badly / say something terrible / be a pain in the backside or when I’m just feeling blah and tell whoever needs to know.
I can either then walk away from the situation (since alone time can also be useful) or they will know to take what I’m saying at that point with a grain of salt.
I can also contact someone else for a chat if needed. This could be particularly useful if I have an extended blah time.
Sometimes though, it’s good to feel blah. Recognise it for what it is, sit with it for a bit and then move on when feeling a little more myself again.
Nobody is positive and up-beat all the time.
This is a time where we all need to cut ourselves, our friends and family a little more slack than usual.
It’s Lockdown Time!
Thanks to Ben Lee for the title to this post.