Not much has changed in the last seven weeks of 'lockdown'. I have gone from having plans almost every weekend - including two weddings - to spending each and every weekend in my house and in the garden. The furthest I have travelled is the local park and local small shops; that was, until the other day, when I ventured as far as the local town to go to the pharmacy.
It's a weird time to be alive. The government's latest advice is that we are now allowed to go out to exercise as many times as we like (instead of for an hour), but we have to stay in our household groups. Apparently, though, we're also allowed to meet "one person from outside the household in an outdoor area" as long as you stay 2-metres apart; and we're allowed to "drive as far as we want" to go to outdoor areas... Stupid, it seems to me, when 500+ people are still dying every day from the virus.
So we've taken decisive action... which is to ignore government advice about going outside and continue in our own form of lockdown, following the same rules that lockdown had - out only for the shops or to exercise once a day, and otherwise stay in the house. I mean, makes sense, when Wales, Scotland and NI are continuing their lockdowns and clearly stating that no English people should cross the borders to enjoy the other countries' natural areas of beauty.
Anyway! On to brighter and better things. The countdown is on for my MA final deadline, I've got... exactly two weeks until it is due. Strangely, I'm feeling confident about it - I don't think I've ever had this much of my shit together for a Uni deadline so early. There's still another edit to do on my play, and still a proposal and five-year-plan to write, but I feel like those will be simple enough to do when I've got two weekends stuck at home before the deadline, as well as a bank holiday with nowhere to go...
I'm doing yoga much more often, and trying to get into meditation. I've been painting with acrylics, and actually enjoying my own creations. I've been sleeping better; eating probably more healthily, running further than ever before - and not getting tired so quickly; and exercising more consistently than ever before. Strangely, this "pause" in time (brought on by such a terrible thing) has been relatively successful for all the different parts of my life I was ignoring before.
In other news, I've become good friends with a group of ladies through YUW, on Discord. We have book club, we've done a pub quiz, and we're starting up a D&D campaign where I will be acting as DM (my first time as the storyteller!) I feel like, for the first time, I have actually found my 'tribe'. My gang, that I snug into like a puzzle piece so easily fitting.
It's not like I've been searching for this previously, I have always had plenty of friends, but I've always kinda felt like I've had to give certain parts of myself to certain people: butterflying around, being different people and sharing different sides of myself but not the whole (apart from, of course, the Original friend, Mads, who knows me as closely and as deeply as the brother or sister do, seeing as I've known her since I was five and she's basically a blood sister).
Instead, now, this Accidental Coven (as we call ourselves) have bonded more closely than I thought nine people over the internet ever could. I was crying with laughter when we did the pub quiz. We can tease each other as well as I can tease friends I've known for years. We have shared a lot with each other, been incredibly open, I think; and we've also helped each other learn new things. Once we're all unlocked from our houses and seeing each other in person, I think it's only going to get better.
All in all, this seven weeks in isolation may have been more of a blessing than a curse.
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