Lockdown blog

Why hello,

If you’ve read my blog before or visited the site then you will see I’ve had a little bit of a clear out. I started this blog during a bizarre time in my life where I felt a bit lost in my career and myself. Therefore I associated a lot of my writing with that negative headspace and outlook, making it hard to write again.

Im now writing at an even more bizarre time in life, the bloody Coronavirus Pandemic! However, I am no longer in that negative headspace and felt such an urge to get back to writing. If 7 weeks cooped up doesn’t make me write then nothing will!

Like many of us, weekly zoom calls and quizzes have played a huge part in this lockdown and now become the norm. During one of these many forced social events (just kidding, thanks for the effort guys). A friend of mine included a question about the number of blog posts on Marthasmoments, asking just how many posts began with “sorry I haven’t posted in a while” or something along those lines. Therefore I don’t even want to address the lack of recent posts, or give any further ammunition to my delightfully sarcastic friends. Mainly due to the fact that I know nobody really gives a shit… I mean the stats don’t lie, it’s a bit embarrassing. But here I am, the big return!

Recently on my instagram (@marthalouisedrane), I posted a poll asking how many people were using this time off work, uni or school to be productive and pursue something like learning a new language, taking online courses or maybe taking up a new hobby. Or whether this time was being used to fully relax, catch up on sleep and enjoy time with family or household members. The stats were tight at first but ‘chilling’ came out on top.

I asked this as a long walk by myself encouraged me to think more about how I’ve used this time off work and what I have achieved in this time. The short answer is, not a whole lot! But that was exactly my intention. My normal, pre coronavirus lifestyle is a busy and fast paced one. My days are long and exhausting and with only 1 day off a week I’m not left with much time to relax and take time to myself. Between juggling 2 jobs, making time to socialise with various friendship groups, stick to family commitments and exercising, time usually slips away and I usually end up letting someone or myself down for not fitting everything in. Don’t get me wrong, I love my work and my daily routine but it’s non – stop.

So although I haven’t learnt to cross stitch, made homemade coasters or mastered a new language, I’ve finally been able to enjoy more time with my boyfriend and parents, bake and cook more, catch up on sleep and binge a few new series. And I couldn’t have enjoyed it any more!

If however, you have used this time to learn a new instrument or redecorated your entire house then well done you! We are all going to approach this time differently and whatever has helped you to get through this bizarre situation is personal to you and your choice!

The bottom line is, don’t allow yourself to feel guilty for not doing enough or comparing your achievements to the next person on Instagram. I slipped into this slippery slope myself and it’s just not beneficial for anyone. You have to do what makes you happy and is going to get you through this.

It’s only taken me 7 weeks, but it feels so great to be writing again so thank you for reading and hopefully another post will follow soon. Please share and support my little page, it means a lot.

Speak soon, Martha x