Clinging onto the small pleasures

I guess like most of you, I heard the news about the second lockdown with an awful sinking feeling. And now that we are a couple of days into it, the feelings of sadness, worry and dread are all still there. 

Even though it was somewhat inevitable and right to do, I am sure a lot of us have heavy hearts at the moment thinking about the next few months.

It reminded me of those slogan T-shirts which say ‘Eat, Sleep, Repeat’.

It’s less about the curtailing of personal freedoms, because we can take four weeks; we can even take twelve weeks as we have shown before. It’s the ever increasing impact on lives and livelihoods, in terms of people’s health, loss of life and the economic destruction. Every day we hear about more job losses and the effect on people’s wellbeing, alongside increasing pressure on already frazzled and tired NHS staff.

And, I know I’ve said it before, but we don’t even have the warm sun to lift our spirits as we did the first time round. At least then, we could finish work and still get outside in daylight for a walk, jog or socially-distanced catch-up in the park. 

I know many suffer from a bit of seasonal affective disorder at the best of times and there’s no sugar coating this time round as we’re no longer wide eyed at the newness of the situation. There seems to be a lot less enthusiasm for Joe Wicks squats, zoom quizzes, Netflix binges and baking bread.

However, it is a double edged sword and, although a lot of our emotions are because we know what to expect, knowing what to expect also puts us in a better position to deal with it. It is not new, or uncharted. We better understand what we are facing now - and the first wave proved that we can cope.

As I said in my email on Wednesday, I wish I had a “magic wand” to make this all go away or at least make it easier for us all to deal with, as I know how exhausted and fed up you are. But I think getting through the next few months is as much about being open and honest about how we are feeling and not approaching it with a false sense of gung-ho when this isn’t how we are feeling.

Our world as we know it is delayed, not derailed.

And as the Persian adage ‘et haec abibunt’ says “This too will pass”.

I was listening to the radio a few days ago and heard a psychologist talking about the importance of hope and trying to retain a sense of optimism and positivity in the face of adversity. This is difficult at the moment when we can’t plan things to look forward to; holidays, time with family and friends or even shopping trips. So we have to find different ways of finding joy in the things around us.

I groaned when the psychologist was followed on the radio by the song “Reasons to be Cheerful” by Ian Dury and the Blockheads, not just because it seemed a cheesy link, but also I’ve never been a fan. However, I found myself listening to the lyrics and starting to smile.

Although the song starts off with the refrain, ‘Why don’t you get back into bed’ (which I am sure is a very normal feeling at the moment!). It is then followed by verses all about the small and sometimes silly things that we can take pleasure from.

He sings about, “The juice of a carrot, the smile of the parrot, a little drop of claret, anything that rocks” and I really smiled at the line, “Something nice to study, phoning up a buddy, being in the nuddy”.

In the absence of the things that normally help get us through the mundane and the stressful, how do we find some smaller things in our everyday life to be happy about?

There’s a few things that have happened over the last week which have given me ‘reasons to be cheerful’.

We had a great board session with our care hubs and I found it really uplifting to hear the progress they have made. They have been working so positively with partners during the pandemic and are really moving service developments forwards.

I loved looking at all your tweets which shared Halloween decorations, costumes and activities in service areas.

And reading all the fabulous stories for Black History Month, and also occupational therapy week which is running this week, have perked up the days.

In terms of the small pleasures at home, these include reading in the bath, watching something good on telly in my pyjamas, feeling the fresh air on my face stomping up a hill with my ‘outdoors smile’ on, clean sheets and my lovely fluffy pillows. And every Thursday my heart almost bursts when my two year old granddaughter goes to her dressing up box in my house to put on her pirate outfit, and then goes in search of a chocolate coin in the bag of treasure (which we hide every week).

I shouldn’t get political, but there might also be a much bigger reason for cheer when Donald Trump finally leaves the White House! (apologies to anyone who likes his style, but I have been baffled and terrified in equal measures during his term of office and will be find it hard not to cheer if he goes).

So let’s cling onto the small pleasures. Let’s keep on finding the small things to appreciate, to celebrate, to be optimistic about. Let’s savour those little moments of joy. As small as they may be, they will hopefully make life better.

Best wishes,

Claire

You can follow me on Twitter @ClaireMolloy2