There’s been a lot of blather about all those things you can achieve during lockdown. A quick google search on ‘how to stay motivated during lockdown’ brought up 15,000,0000 + results. I couldn’t bear to read a single piece but I know how it goes –
Write a book
Learn a language
Become a guru
Start a business
Build your client base by 3000%
Lose weight
Be the best you
My response is simple. Sod Off. Getting through this is not a competition.
If there’s one time that really highlights just how bollocksy the ‘self-help’ ‘motivation’ industry is, it’s now. It’s like coming across random posts about ‘How to read 50 books in a year’. My approach, pick up a book, read it, once finished, pick up another book, read it and so on. The number of books is irrelevant. A radical approach.
If there’s a time to let go of the productivity mantra, it’s now.
I wrote a post in pre-lockdown times about Why motivation sucks and how to get your arse out the door. It was about running and as the title suggests, why motivation sucks, or in other words, why waiting for the motivation genie to strike, is a waste of time. I then put together some suggestions for getting ones arse out the door – by having a plan, having a goal. But this is no longer fit for purpose in these strange times; and indeed just getting out the door is not possible for so many.
And there are lots of article, posts and the like about how much others achieved so much under similar sorts of circumstances, generally white blokes who wrote books or discovered stuff. I’m having a guess here but I suspect they didn’t have to homeschool children while also working a fulltime job at home; and perhaps didn’t have to worry about those pesky details like caring for others, or cooking and getting the laundry done or having enough money to pay rent and bills or pay for food.
I’ve decided my major achievement during lockdown thus far is that I haven’t lost the plot. Getting out of bed every day and going for daily walks, are also high up on that list.
I have my moments – of worry, of stress, of panic, of boredom, all underpinned by a lingering anxiety that sits under my skin. I also have my moments of sadness from thinking about those who are ill or have died, of thinking of friends who have lost people dear to them, of thinking about the extreme level of stress that so many are under. And for once in my life, I’m letting myself sit uncomfortably with this stuff. If I keep doing the stuff I used to do, saying everything’s fine when it’s not, it will eat away. This is how I’m staying sane.
That and writing this stuff. I write because it helps me thinks, helps me process my thoughts. I’ve always been this way. I pretty much never go anywhere without pen and paper. No motivation needed. Others draw or sing or dance or run or talk. Whatever works … except for maybe drinking too much wine.
So that’s it for Day 25. Stay safe, stay well, and stay home!