Tips on what you can do after Victoria’s lockdown restrictions due to the Covied – 19 Pandemic are being eased. Whilst remaining covid safe and thinking about the rest of the world Iout of lockdown means:
- Out to celebrate
- Out to connect
- Out to rediscover
- Out to reflect
- Out to remember
Out to celebrate
Time to celebrate. Time to cheer up. Time to sing and laugh and be happy. Perhaps you are worn out and tired. Or you are angry, grumpy and afraid. Maybe you are worried because someone, here or oversees got sick during this time. Perhaps you lost a significant portion of what you had. You lost your job. Your business suffered. Whatever your circumstances are celebrate even a little bit. Maybe you think that there is nothing to celebrate and that this should never have happened. Think again. These are events of a lifetime. Unprecedented. And for now, there is reason to rejoice. Only if we can celebrate will our achievements have a lasting impact on our heart and minds. For now, we won! Let’s celebrate!
Out to connect
So much is lost. How do we build up again our connections and relationships? How can we do that in an ongoing and Covid Safe way? In an already individualistic and isolating world, the Pandemic has a significant impact on our relationships. After this extended lockdown, you might not feel the need or any motivation or reason to get out again. To connect with friends and your community in church or your club etc. seems unnecessary. But that is just what loneliness does to us. And we are blind to it.
You can do something about it.
Out to rediscover
Just as connecting with people is high up the list we should do again rediscovering things after we had to spear them for a while is so important for now. Visit places you missed to see. Do also activities you could not do, like hiking your favourite path etc. What is something you want to rediscover? Perhaps after having to spear those things for a while, we see them now from a new perspective and experience them in a new way. Maybe now we rediscover something as being valuable and important to us, and we did not know it until now.
Out to reflect
It might be over at last and for now. But it is only a chapter. The Pandemic is not over yet. All over the world countries go through all kinds of situations and scenarios, and we are concerned not only because of the news but because of our connections through families, friends or general interest. For us here in Melbourne, the current situation is a relieve for now. So its time to reflect. Perhaps these next weeks and month will be such a time of reflection on what happened and what it did to us. Here are some questions that might help. Questions I ask myself.
- How did this time change me?
- What did it make me better or worse at?
- What should I keep?
- What did I learn?
- What am I afraid of?
Out to remember
When life gets back a little bit more to a normal rhythm, you have to remember all those things you thought and planned and hope for. Things like:
- remember all your new good habits
- remember experience
- remember you plans
- remember lessons learned
- remember its not over yet
- remember promises made
Out to celebrate
And of course, I have to repeat this. Celebrate. It’s like celebrating outstanding achievement and do not be mistaken; it is one. In Victoria, we had more than 800 death, and we prevented many more, not only because of Covid but other preventable death. Our healthcare workers are not at their limits, and our hospitals are not overcrowded. There is enough support for everyone who struggles financially and for businesses to get through this. We have a healthy democracy, and we are in a great place, not perfect, but great. And we should celebrate first before we get back to work and before we get worried again about what’s going on in our world. Cheers.
Peter Demuth 