Life After Lockdown? Is the big question!
Hello and Welcome back,
Today I'm going to reflect on the last few months, How I'm feeling about the current COVID situations, whats happened and how I'm preparing for Life after Lockdown.
Its been 109 days, just over 4 months and the country is reopening, YEAY! Getting back to some normality, getting out of the house, seeing places and faces again, well I never thought we would get there?! But we did, As I write this I'm back to work in Denise beauty & skin clinic doing nails and catching up with the other girls and seeing clients. As a Nail tech, we are on the medium - high risk industry's as we can not keep a 2m social distance, but have all the COVID19 salon hygiene regulations, procedures and PPE in place and currently gearing up for reopen day which is 28th June. So as your reading this I will be finished week two, which I hoping I feel different than I do right now sitting at my desk with slight worries, a bit anxious and nervous about going back into a world with a killer virus. Yes I'm excited about getting back to work, Yes I'm fed up of being at home, but also I'm comfortable at home, I feel safe, I'm keeping my family safe, I have a sense of freedom and escape from the world. So as someone who overthinks everything, likes to be prepared and organised at all times, I am working myself up a bit to much. I know this is normal to feel like this, and I'm writing this down here to show you that if you have mixed feelings about life after lockdown, Its OK! Your NOT alone, just feel it, talk about. We all talked about mental health at the start of lockdown and I think its just important at the end of lockdown too. The only difference is there is no panic or no shocking news, there are rules in place and guidelines to follow, we know the COVID numbers, the stats in our local areas and we can physical get back to life safely, it can be done! We just need to get our mental health ready now too.
Accepting change, adjusting our lifestyle, keeping connected, we need to talk about our feelings and keep supporting each other as we all have throughout this pandemic. At the start I released we cant control everything, we can only take control of what you can. Now going in to life after lockdown I will try to accept the changes that have to be made, because things have changed? life isn't going to be the same as before, were entering into 'THE NEW NORMAL'! Being more cautious with our health and hygiene, focusing on the small things that really matter, taking our time and slowing down. Which is pretty sad we had to go through a pandemic to make these changes, but the reality is life is going to be different, and its up to us as one human race to make the most of what we have.
Get a conversation going at home, ask the person next to you how are they feeling about Life after Lockdown, their struggles, their worries, their anxieties?
You can find support and resources with COVID related mental health issues and more with Aware, Or maybe you don't really know how you feel, you can't put them into words?
listening to a podcast may help, "Life after Lockdown" by Heidi Lipson, Listen to peoples stories from around the world and their experience during lockdown and after.
Also 'Lets talk about mental health', Jeremy Godwin, talks about a new mental health topic each week, how to cope and is very relaxing to listening to.
So on a lighter note I wanted to document and share with you what I've been up too during lockdown. At first when thinking back, I didn't think I did much at all? But, actually I did quite a bit! Mostly I kept myself busy, creative and focused on things I'm interested in, just to pass the time. Even though I had plenty of days glued to the sofa losing hours to Netflix, youtube and Tik Tok. I've finally learnt the balance of work and play, so lets hope I can keep doing that after lockdown.
Learning in Lockdown
To keep my mind active, and distracted from the outside world, I dived into online learning. The best part was most of the courses I did were free! We probably won't be getting that opportunity again. So I did some skincare based workshops with the Advanced Nutreint Program, Dermalogica and Jane Iredale with a big thanks to my boss Denise, as these courses were available with her as a professional salon. Which was so good and interesting, and I know so much more than I did pre lockdown. I have still alot more learning to do with skincare, but its a start. With that I did all the COVID19 salon hygiene, and disinfecting courses that were available also so I'm ready and prepared for reopening day. I also did a Udemy course as they had upskilling courses on discount at the time, which I really enjoyed, I did the Social Media Management course, this was a 8 hour course but I did it in a week. The most eye opening course, were the 'Behind the Mask' and 'Mental health Awareness' courses from The beauty industry approved. The 'behind the mask' teaches about domestic abuse, how to spot the signs, how to help and also what to do as a therapist when you come across a situation of domestic abuse. The mental health awareness course, teaches you about depression & anxiety, the different types, the signs and also how to help. Both courses were very helpful and informative and its just great to now know what to do and how to help. I suffer from anxiety myself, and from doing this course I understand my triggers more and now know what to do to help calm myself.
If your interested here are the Online links:
Lockdown Projects
If you were following along with my Instagram you would of seen I did a few little creative projects at home to keep me entertained. From painting a feature wall in my bedroom, bleach dieing a t-shirt (or three), making a at home Hand balm from kitchen ingredients, customizing a iPhone case with gel polish, recycling a broken mirror and getting more creative with Nail Art and videos. I also learnt how to repot my Aloe Vera plant, which gave birth to many more baby aloe's, which I could gift to friends. Even helping out in the garden, I've learned to love it, watching the flowers bloom and grow. So naturally now I'm obsessed plants, I download Planta, a plant App, that recommends plants for indoors aswell as outdoors. Its reminds me when to water the plants, and what plants are best for each room in the house. Its great! If any of you are getting into house plants or gardening and still learning? the app is great to get you started. I've definitely become a plant mammy over lockdown.
Miss Styler in Lockdown
Most of the productivity has been towards creating new content for the blog. I wanted to bring back more consistence, bring more Nail related content, like Nail care, Tips and inspiration. Which I have done and very proud of. Miss Styler Blog celebrated its 5th birthday too, I organized a massive giveaway to one lucky frontline worker. As a small token of thanks for all the hard work they did. The response was amazing, six business got involved and donated prizes. So the winner, Luaren, who is a health care worker in a local nursing home got a very big surprise and a well deserved treat. Which I hoping to see her soon to get her set of nails with me! You can read more about that on a previous blog post 'Your a Hero'. You can also see more Lockdown related blog posts, the '10 Nail Top Tips' blog series and the 'Nail Art inspired by' blog series.
There were plenty of garden lunch dates, Garden drinks and I'm sure there will be more social distancing gathering with friends and family to come. Which is exciting but weird at the same time, but like I said at the start of this blog we have to 'Accept change and we will adapt to the New Normal.'
Talk to soon
Steff
P.S I'm currently signing off at 20.20, seeing double digit times like this throughout lockdown!
So I googled what it means:
Angel Number meaning for 2020 - "Angel number 2020 is telling you to be prepared for what is coming your way. Your guardian angels are telling you that changes are about to enter your life and you need to be prepared both mentally and physically. The changes coming your way could be emotional or even physical."
This is mad!! OK, Bye :)
