Kindness might just beat this lockdown fatigue

There is a lot of fatigue going around this lockdown, and any novelty of being at home has definitely worn off.

This is why it is is so important to try to lean on hope, kindness, and relationships to navigate our way through this period. We are not all in the same boat, but we are all in this same storm, and its navigation is far easier with positive relationships, with kindness, and with a sense of hope.

Take our Year 7 students for example, they ended Term 2 with Zoom downloaded but thankfully never used. The start of term meant that Ms. Chapman, Year 7 mentor, Mr. Kelly, ICT integrator, and Mr. El Hadi in ICT worked together to ensure our Year 7s were ready to learn. The Year 7s have become Zoom experts, and are enjoying their daily check ins with their wellbeing mentor in roll call. They have shown us how resilient and adaptable they are in these crazy times. We are so proud of you.

For parents, for teachers, and for students – we need to admit that this is harder than last time, and our resilience toolkit isn’t working as well as it did last year. We need to focus on what we know really matters- the people we love.

Now this is far harder, I’ll admit, when you can only see the people you live with. It can be very easy to let rip at the people closest to us, especially when we are all stressed and stuck at home.

For parents, this can look like shorter tempers and higher stress levels trying to manage work, remote learning, and their own mental health. For teachers it is managing new ways to teach, and missing that connection with classes, while also navigating the stresses of lockdown and potentially home schooling their own children too (my son has crashed every single Zoom lesson i’ve had). For students it is missing their friends, their routines, and their experiences.

But at the heart of it is the need to recognise that this is a time when what worked in the past as ‘lockdown hacks’, may not this time.

Instead, what is going to work is a focus on kindness, a focus on being generous with those around us, and recognising that it is a difficult time for everyone, and that we are all tyring our best.

Focus on what we can control, whether it is your routine, or getting outside each day for exercising, or limiting how much time you spend reading or watching the news (or doom scrolling).

And finally, it is hard to be grateful for this situation, but that does not mean there aren’t things we can be grateful for – so practise gratitude by thanking the people who are making a difficult time easier.

It is ok if you don’t want to bake bread, or do puzzles, or Zoom trivia nights. But remember, last year we were in lockdown while COVID ripped through the rest of the world. Now vaccinations mean that the rest of the world is opening up, and we can see hope in that.

Be kind to everyone, but especially yourself.