Europeans at Home founding member Ben Jones shares his experiences on the topic of “lockdown productivity”, and shares his tips for how to show yourself some kindness and avoid the sense of guilt that can come with not having utilised the current quarantine as an opportunity to be hyper-productive.
Eight weeks into lockdown and I think I’ve finally developed a decent routine. Just in time for the government to start easing restrictions!
It’s been a rocky journey: from the week of drinking every night, to the time when I slept in until 3pm for five days in a row - only to wake up each day with a feeling of confusion about where I was and why there was only five hours left of daylight. I would probably have shown myself a little more compassion for all of these ups and downs in my lockdown routine had it not been for the seemingly endless display of productivity on my social media channels. Friends seemed to be training for half marathons, opening sourdough bakeries from the comfort of their kitchens, developing Da Vinci level artistic skills, and just generally managing to transform their quarantine experience into one huge journey of self-improvement.
Whilst at first I felt guilty, if not ashamed, about my own lack of achievement during the lockdown, I reminded myself that social media was a space where people share the best representations of themselves, and it was surely no coincidence that I could count with one hand the stories shared by friends about their own collapse into a lockdown malaise, in contrast with the multiplicity of posts from people about their proactive lockdown lifestyles. Truth be told, at a time when days of the week have gradually become less and less relevant, I initially felt sceptical about the need to develop any form of lockdown routine.
Since that point – probably two to three weeks into lockdown, as the novelty wore off and it became apparent this was swiftly becoming the “new normal” – I have gradually sought to establish a few basic elements of a routine to safeguard my own mental health and remain relatively stable during this uncertain time. When a huge and unexpected change such as the COVID-19 pandemic surges across the planet, it’s important to re-exert some autonomy over the small things we can control, in order to establish a level of safety and comfort in otherwise anxious times.
If you’ve been finding the current lockdown has been having a negative impact on your mental health, you’re not alone. A recent survey of Italians found that eight in ten said that they needed psychological support in order to deal with the psychological impact of the country’s strict lockdown. Whilst reading an open letter to the U.K. government about the impact of the lockdown on young people’s mental health, my thoughts drifted to memories of the vulnerable young people I worked with last year in a forensic psychiatric hospital, who had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act. For young people like them, who are already experiencing a crisis in their mental health, the Coronavirus restrictions have meant that their precious family visiting time has been stopped, meaning that their access to loved ones is restricted at a time when social contact is vitally important to help them along in their recovery.
This week (18-24th May 2020) is Mental Health Awareness Week in the United Kingdom; I don’t think that there could possibly be a more important time for us to be speaking openly and constructively about how we support our own and each other’s mental health and wellbeing. The Mental Health Foundation’s website has some fantastic tips and resources which I would highly recommend you taking a look at. Even if you haven’t noticed that you’ve been particularly struggling during lockdown, their resources will hopefully give you some ideas for supporting those close to you, one of whom will inevitably have noticed that the current situation has impacted their own mental health.
The importance of building a routine in order to safeguard your mental health has been widely documented, so please take a look below for my tips and advice on how to go about providing yourself with a basic level of daily routine during this time:
1. Do something that you enjoy every day. This is the most important thing you can do during this time. By consistently practising some self-care, you will boost your wellbeing and help yourself to remain positive during these unprecedented times. Some examples could be taking fifteen minutes to sit and have a cup of tea and some cake, going for an evening stroll, or doing some baking. Try doing something that gives you a little boost, and that makes you feel like you’ve achieved something – however small.
2. On top of this daily act of self-care, try and stick to a few consistent activities each week, and spend some time at the start of each week going over what lies in store for the week ahead. This will give you something to look forward to every week, as well as helping you to see that actually you are managing to maintain a reasonable routine during lockdown. Weekly habits will often gradually develop over time without you even noticing. For example, by week eight of lockdown I now have a weekly Spanish speaking class with some friends, attend a couple of quizzes, join an evening book club where we take it in turns to read, and see a friend once a week for a long dog walk. I hadn’t consciously planned to implement each of these activities, but by reaching out to friends and seeing what they were doing to stay occupied, I was able to build a routine that made sure I left the house and enjoyed a reasonably varied timetable.
3. Give yourself some slack if you don’t stick to all of your plans! I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there’s this disease called COVID-19 that’s estimated to have killed over 328,000 people worldwide, and we don’t have a vaccine for it. That’s pretty terrifying, and it’s okay to occasionally feel like you don’t want to socialise, or attend that Zoom quiz, or go on that run. Don’t be hard on yourself if there are days when you do next to nothing, but do practise some self-awareness and reach out to friends and family if you notice that you’ve started to feel a bit overwhelmed.
4. Keep in touch with family and friends and let them know how you’re doing. If you’re anything like me then you may worry that you’re being a bother or a burden by reaching out to talk, when in reality you’d be surprised at how beneficial some social contact can be for your mental health. Yes, Zoom fatigue is a thing, and don’t spread yourself so thinly that socialising becomes simply another chore to complete each week. Contacting family and friends should be therapeutic: really try and listen to what people say and be honest about how you are coping. Once I stopped thinking about ensuring that I said what I wanted to say, and began trying hard to focus on listening to others, I found my conversations were much more rewarding.
5. Similarly, do something nice for someone when you can throughout the week. This can be as simple as reaching out to a friend to explain how grateful you are to have them in your life, or it could mean getting some shopping for a family member or sending someone a card. I cook for my mum a few times a week, and take my dog out for daily walks. Even though it might sound silly, I know that my dog is so grateful that I actually take her out for a reasonable amount of time so that she can exercise and socialise with other dogs, and knowing that I’m looking after her makes me feel like I’ve achieved something positive with my day.
Remember that we’re dealing with the effects of a global pandemic. You don’t have to be doing anything at the moment: it’s enough of an achievement to get out of bed every day.
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