a Year of Lockdown

If you had told me a year ago that twelve months later I would be working from home still in a national lockdown, I probably would have had a nervous breakdown. The idea of being locked down at all filled me with immense anxiety, and I remember texting my manager asking if I could swap shifts at work to be the same as my friend because I was just too nervous to go anywhere without a close friend as a distraction. The same friend, over the previous weeks, had been coming into work daily and giving us updates on this new virus that was spreading across the world and we all giggled at her thinking she was being dramatic. But, here I am, twelve months later and zero nervous breakdowns were had.

Despite being stuck indoors for the majority of the past year, a lot in my life has changed. Aside from the obvious changes that were pandemic related, I changed jobs and I am now in a new relationship. Both of these have been different experiences due to happening mid-pandemic than they would have been otherwise. I have been working in my new job for almost three months and have spent all of it so far working from home, not having met my colleagues. My partner and I are yet to have a normal date, but I wouldn't change that for the world. Meeting and getting to know someone during a pandemic has been crazy, and if things continue to go well, it will be a fun story to tell one day of how we met when the country was in a national lockdown and you couldn't even go to the shops.

During the first lockdown, I started my own business which you may know as Strawberry & Dream. When I was furloughed, I had a LOT of time to put into it and it grew and grew. I have seen my face masks worn in so many countries now, it really warms my heart to have had that support. Strawberry & Dream is still going, even if it does take more of a back seat role in my life now. The demand for face masks has dropped and I am still finding my niche. I am also not furloughed in my new job so I am working full time, so I don't have the same hours to dedicate to my business anymore. That being said, I hope to dedicate a lot more time to it soon and you definitely will be seeing a lot more of me.

It's been a crazy year and we have all been doing our bit to keep one another safe. But, here's to the zoom calls, the walks we walked, the jigsaws we completed (or gave up on), the books we read, the businesses we started, the games we played, the new hobbies we picked up, and to the people who helped us through it.

It's not over yet but the end is in sight.