The effects of Lockdown

Auckland has been in lockdown for 70 days.

I wanted to jump on here and talk about the effects this lockdown has had on not only myself but I would say the majority of Auckland and how many normal day-to-day behaviours have changed over the past 2 months.

Talking to people there is a shared collected feeling that lockdown has had many negative effects on their mental, emotional and physical self. Being confined to your home can be a very lonely, boring, and extremely frustrating place.

Although in previous weeks the weather has been amazing allowing for people to connect with their family and friends through outdoor picnics as well as endure outdoor activities. But when it comes to horrible weather like what we are experiencing currently, this is a whole different story.

Having the freedom of choice to be able to see anyone, go anywhere, and do anything you want has been taken away from us. The feeling of being isolated and restricted in options forces people to give up on the day and retract to their favourite spot on the couch. I am not saying this is a bad thing because we all need those days, but for us, as humans, we need to be exposed to different things throughout the day to not only challenge ourselves but also feel as though we are being productive and having fun through getting those natural happy dopamine hormones which influence our mood and feelings of reward and motivation.

Since being in lockdown I have felt a sense of frustration within myself towards being productive, keeping myself busy, and also being active. Being inside puts pressure on what I do daily, forcing me to question myself on whether I am gaining value in what I am doing or if I am being lazy.

In addition, who feels as though they have to re-train themselves in speaking to others? Isn’t socialising such a foreign concept? Because we aren’t having exposure to speaking to different people daily, especially face to face, it is affecting our abilities to keep up with conversation or knowing the main fundamentals around how we should communicate and cues around our body language. I picked up on this when I was having a picnic outing a little while back, I came home exhausted and tired and it wasn’t due to the person I was with, but it came down to the fact that I hadn’t been around a friend for a larger length of time and putting all my energy and concentration into the conversation was something that my body and mind weren't use to.

In contrast to this, I have recognised that lockdown has allowed me to change up my fitness regime and has allowed me to focus on mindful eating and listening to my body when I am tired and low. I have also found that I have invested more time into my hobbies and finding new creative things to do.

I have acknowledged that although lockdown is demoralising and an extremely confusing time, I don’t want to take advantage of this spare time that I have been given. All the things I use to wish for when I wasn’t in lockdown are the things I should be putting my time and effort into. When working, I use to wish I had more time to work out, so now being in lockdown although I am still working my full-time hours, that time spent driving to and from work on a normal day can be spent doing those workouts I use to crave before or after work.

In conclusion, I hope you all are staying well, connecting with your loved ones, and taking time out for yourself because this lockdown has tested us mentally and emotionally, but do not lose hope because we will come out the other side more in tune with ourselves, I hope you all listen to your bodies and mind because this is the time to focus on ourselves and the ones we love.

Love,

Shania xx