Life After Lockdown | How I'm Feeling

 

Hey my lovelies, hope you are all well and keeping safe! It has now been a month since I started my blog so I thought now would be the perfect time to check-in and have a catch-up with you all on what I've been up to and how I'm feeling.

I'm writing this blogpost on Thursday 10th September 2020, a day after the UK Government released new COVID-19 guidelines where gatherings of over 6 people will be banned from Monday 14th September 2020 onwards. This is after a recent rise in Coronavirus cases, with the biggest rise in positive tests since May. Over the last few weeks pubs and restaurants have reopened in full swing, public transport is allowed (with masks), people are holidaying abroad, social gatherings have been allowed to take place, pupils have returned to school, and universities are set to return towards the end of the month. Now I don't want this to be a Coronavirus heavy blogpost as, like most people, all of this gives me anxiety and can become too much when you are surrounded by it on the news, on social media, and pretty much everywhere you turn 24/7. However, I do feel like this recent rise in cases and new information from the "powers that be" has played a big part on how I have been feeling recently. 

If you follow me on my social media accounts (linked in the sidebar) then you will know I have had a busy couple of weeks seeing friends and family, as long as COVID permits it, before they start their new chapters, jobs, or return to university in the upcoming weeks. If you read my first blogpost you will know I have myself just finished my degree and currently taking 12 months out of studying to save money before I plan to move out again and start a master's degree. If you were to ask my family and friends, I'm sure they would tell you I'm quite a confident and outgoing person, I love to socialise and be surrounded by my loved ones, so a national lockdown was pretty much my worst nightmare. Luckily I had my university work to keep me occupied and as, I think many of you will agree, the time seemed to go by really quickly. But now we've come out of lockdown, and don't get me wrong we still have a long way to go before we return to pre-COVID life and are having to adapt to the "new normal", but I find myself wishing we were still safe inside our homes and only allowed outside for our one hour of exercise a day? I'm finding I am becoming more and more anxious to leave the house and socialise and being scared of catching the virus and passing it onto my grandparents. But then I think to myself, the Government have encouraged us to "eat out to help out", encouraged shops to reopen and people to return to work, and are now asking pupils and students to return to learning environments which, let's be honest, are a breeding pool for viruses and illnesses. So I keep thinking to myself, am I just being paranoid? Am I overreacting? I guess I'm sharing these thoughts and feelings with you today to ask, are any of you feeling the same way? Or, if you're not, what is your outlook on it all now? What is your approach to post-lockdown life? If you have any tips or would like to share how you're feeling then please feel free to leave a comment down below (just sign into your google account first), or you can send me an email by clicking the mail icon in the sidebar. You can also reach out to me on social media, @faithtrustandlotsofbooks on Instagram and @TrustLots on Twitter, to let me know how you are feeling about the "new normal".

Hope you are all well and safe, wherever you may be. Lots of love xoxo