Monday 14 September 2020

Where on Earth Have you Been?!

 So, how’s it going? I really mean it and I really want to know. 


Saying it’s been a long time since my last blog post is a bit of an understatement! It’s been over a year since I last rambled to you good people. I’ve wanted to write again for a long time, but it’s been difficult. What should I write about? Does it even matter? As we all know, the world is going through a lot right now. We’re all adjusting to a new normal (whatever that means) and I’d like my new normal to include writing again.  


That brings us to my first question: where have I been? Right here to be honest! I wish I had something more interesting to say on that. Obviously we’ve had no holidays, not visited any new or interesting places. My husband, cat and I have just been living in our space, trying not to go crazy. And I think that’s the case for a lot of the world right now. If you have any good quarantine coping mechanisms I’d really love to hear it.


People have been asking me how I've been doing during the pandemic. The honest answer is I've been fine, for the most part. As I've found myself saying quite a lot: my world is quite small anyway, so to me being home more doesn't make much difference. We have the massive benefit of a garden, and I don't even take full advantage of that! I'm very comfy in my own space. It's not that I don't like to leave, but I'm OK if I don't. This may seem a bit mad to some, but it's definitely helped during this pandemic! 


I'd like to give advice on how to come out of quarantine in one piece. However, I wasn't one piece when the quarantine started! Don't take this in the wrong way. Of course it's hard, but it is what it is. Or rather MS is what it is (at least to Alex and myself). What I CAN suggest is to reach out to people you care about. They're going through similar things to you, I'm sure. Skype, Zoom, Teams, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, email or even picking up a phone! There are so many ways to contact loved ones. But I know for a fact I never pick up the phone enough. This is definitely something I need to work on.


Obviously this isn't all just about me! Alex has kindly written how he feels about all this too:


It was a bit of a shock to the system - especially no longer driving to work and working from home everyday. Driving, especially, became such a rarity that the car literally broke down on the driveway due to lack of use (that was a fun AA Homestart upgrade).


In some ways, for how we’ve lived recently, I felt we’ve been lucky and able to cope fairly well. The house has remained our sanctuary and it continued to be even more as lockdown came in.


If anything this whole situation has made me appreciate what I have. I’ve been fortunate to keep my job and work from home, and I’ve been fortunate to have a local, quiet area around where we live to explore and find some hidden gems.


Short, sweet and to the point. I wish I was like that...


See you all soon,

Steph.

X