The Sunnyside of lockdown

So let’s face it, 2020 has been one pretty horrific year! Each month has just given us a new reason to be angry/sad/annoyed on top of actually being locked down and confined to our homes away from friends and family.

We’re now in September, a month where lockdown, at least in the UK, was eased slightly to the point of life seeming normal again only to be swiftly taken away from us again. Before this happened, I managed to get away from the confines of my never-ending life at home to travel to Plymouth with my boyfriend. It was super relaxing and just what I needed to shut off from the horrors of the real world.

But why am I telling you about a lockdown we all know happened? Well, after months of reading and hearing depressing news day in and day out, I had an epiphany on my brief holiday. The weather in this country isn’t as grey as we make out, we’re just stuck at work most of the time!

A British Person Discusses the Weather...

The weather in the United Kingdom is renowned for being dramatically dreary; romanticised by other countries, loathed immensely by its residents - myself included. We rarely experience extreme weather conditions, floating constantly between all the conditions a country could have (“indecisive weather” as I like to call it).

Why is a British Person Discussing the Weather Again?

If you had properly read the first section, you’d know I’m discussing the British weather as I’ve realised it’s not as grey and gloomy as we like to moan about.

Having spent all of lock-down working, just from home, it gave the never seen opportunity to work outside. I had made this decision early on, wanting to embrace this rare chance to actually experience the couple days of nice weather we’d get. What I soon found was these couple of days turned into a couple of weeks. I was outside on my garden chair working away while also basking in the beautiful sunshine. For someone as pale as I am, there was even a tan that came through eventually.

Since then I have been embracing the beautiful weather that has been popping up from time to time each of the passing months. It managed to bring a smile to my face, having spent many months down in the dumps from all the awful news.

Was I the Only One?

Having spent all this time in the sunshine, I could feel myself getting more energetic when I'm outside, even if its for a brief walk. Then I want to be more productive when I'm actually working. It was the prospect of going back to work that made me excited to see my friends again, all of whom must have experienced the beautiful weather that I did. It didn't take long to realise that this was not the case.

For the first week back I was hearing from people how the stress of lock-down has really got to them. My colleagues were stuck in the depression that being confined to their homes had inflicted upon them. I even started to question if we even had good weather to be cheerful about. Instead, I took a deep breath and reminded myself that as bad as it could be, I was able to use the time at home to see more of the sunshine.

I didn't want to keep this feeling of peace and clarity to myself. For the next few weeks, I found myself reminding people of all the nice weather we had been experiencing. Soon the conversations were turned away from the downsides of being stuck indoors, to laughing about all the times we worked outside. Jokes were made about the set-ups that some people had created for themselves. Some of the paler members of our team even joined in, laughing about their ability to find shade so they too could enjoy the weather.

Embracing the New Normal...

I promise this will be the final chapter of my amazingly long schpeel about how much better the British weather is that originally perceived. I'd just like to finish off by asking anyone who happens to read this to embrace the same mentality as I've mentioned above. Take a moment to think about the one good thing that has come from lock-down; maybe you got to spend more time with someone who you normally wouldn't have, some may have discovered a new hobby, or like me, you may have realised that the weather isn't as bad as you thought.

Giving yourself that one thought of positivity can help keep you in a more positive mindset throughout the day. With everything going on it is very easy to get caught in the flurry of horrible news stories, so instead, give yourself a break with that one piece of good news!