Are we being wusses?
Another lockdown – are we being wusses about this; or is it one long battle?
Last weekends’ news from Boris Johnson and Michael Gove has been pretty shocking for all; the effect and impact it has on us in Wales is not to be taken glibly. Our lockdown overlaps England’s lockdown. The curbing of pour freedom means we need to keep mindful. It is a perfect time to do a mosaic, a nice mindful activity that can also be a present.
I know, first-hand what an impact it has having on three generations of my family. My niece who has just delivered a baby girl on Halloween in the North-west of England, no-one can see the baby and support the mother; my partner who is an introvert is actually missing people! and my daughter who is in lockdown studying in Liverpool. Where is this all going, I hear you ask?
It’s about focussing on being logical, keeping off the news streams, understanding the reasoning behind the lockdown; setting goals that are achievable to keep us busy whilst we endure another forced hibernation – making sure we look after ourselves so we can look after and be strong for others.
I have been reading diaries from the people in lockdown during the Spanish Flu epidemic in 1918 – The Smithsonian Museum has released some letters and diaries, if you are interested. My thoughts were initially; are we being a bit of a wuss about all this? Surely those of the population that lived through the First World War coped better with a the isolation of the pandemic? – well not really and reading others’ lives puts our issues in to context. Where am I going with this? Many people made diaries during the 1918 pandemic as a way of keeping mindful, reflecting upon a situation they had no control over – and yes, even then they doubted the government’s decisions.
Obviously in 1918, they hadn’t the freedom we have today, which is what makes us feel trapped, but even the dark thoughts we mull over like, ‘will I have forgotten to socialise after all this?’- is a perfectly rational thought.
Christmas is looming, many of us have had our wages clipped, how do we cope with the festive expense? Making do; I will be making my own home-made gifts and special sauces bottled up in ribbons, salad dressings, mustards, flavoured gins, and biscuits for cheese. I can enjoy looking for old tins online or Etsy etc to make the gifts special or creating small mosaiced boxes for keepsakes. The activity of making and mosaicing is mindful as well as knowing that your gift is made with thought, love and time, and of course less costly on the pocket.
Keep up that diary and set of tasks, however small. The activity of crossing off those tasks allows you to be in control. Weekly, monthly or daily is all appropriate. To maintain safety, mountain climbers look for the next step and not the top of the mountain. If you are thinking about learning a mosaic in the next lockdown, my course is still available to enrol through Lifelong learning https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/lifelong-learning/online-learning/ and is £45, not including materials. It is self-paced, lots of feedback, lots of demonstrations and advice on design, what to make, what tiles to choose etc, The course finishes in March 2021, so lots of time to really get to grips with it.
I have now started my new ‘ in conversation with..’ series of chats with fellow mosaicists. They will appear on this blog from time to time.
aberdabbadoo 