I like being in lockdown
I’m sure a lot of people are the same as I am: I’m amazed at how often I’ve caught myself cooking and baking over the past few weeks. To be honest, I don’t remember ever making a cake before the coronavirus lockdown. Now I do it every few days. And I like it!
Do you know what my everyday life was like before? So packed that on some evenings I couldn't remember what I had for breakfast. I worked full-time as a physiotherapist, gave lectures, gave input presentations and did sport. I rushed from here to there, and ate on the train, while driving, or on the tram. I was fine, but actually it was too much.
In that sense, the lockdown came at just the right time for me. Like everyone else, I was forced to power down. But I soon realised that I wasn’t reluctant to change. On the contrary, I liked it. I enjoy simply being at home, getting to know the resources of my own home: reading a book, putting together a jigsaw puzzle (sounds more boring than it is!) - or doing copious amounts of cooking.
I hope I’ll be able to retain some of this inner calm beyond the lockdown. However, I’m worried that I, too, will be one of those people who want to make up for what they’ve missed.
Recently, when I asked myself how I could prevent this, I thought for a long time without coming up with a satisfactory answer. Then I realised that just being aware that I had that wish was worth a lot in itself. Knowing that the world won't collapse if you wait three days to send an e-mail is quite something. Knowing that you want to transfer something of the slowness you’ve now become familiar with to the new normal is the first step towards actually achieving it.
I want to hold onto this confidence.
