The life before - reflections one year from lockdown

So one year on from lockdown, and it's time to reflect. I often describe this year as one long resilience-building and reflection exercise. We've made it through and many of us are feeling battle-worn, weary, perhaps hopeful.

Everyone's year has been different, and for some, it has been truly terrible. For most of us, it was a reset in one way or another.

I was talking to a good friend of mine who described her feelings about life now and life before. "It isn't that my lockdown life is great," she said, "but that it threw into sharp focus what wasn't working in before".

This struck me as absolutely how I felt. For so many of us, the life before was frenzied, grueling, exhausting, and was more like an endurance test than living in a way that worked for us and for our families. But what we were about to endure wasn't a walk in the park either.

For me, the first lockdown was scary, at times it felt like the end of days. With empty shelves in supermarkets, large numbers of people dying and seriously ill, I clung tighter to those closest to me.

When we look back, I wonder if what we will see is that our relationships got us through lockdown? My family, friends, wonderful colleagues and clients gave me purpose, a reason to keep moving and get through, (mostly) in one piece. Not to mention the tenacity and commitment that our essential workers have shown, a true lesson in resilience.

Now we need to work out what stays in this new life, and what we leave behind in the old.

Finally, I want to say thank you. Thank you to everyone who got me through. Here's hoping for sunshine, hugs, and freedom.

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