Blog

An introduction from Jacqueline - I first met Paul at an The Art of Work Ltd event a few months back and we instantly connected and then realised we had quite a few things in common.  Paul's passion is in delivering mental health awareness to individuals and companies from a heartfelt desire to make a difference.  I am so glad Paul agreed to write a guest blog.  Thank you, Paul!

My pandemic journey…

I was recently asked to share my pandemic story and preparing for this was a very interesting exercise. 

When I reflected on the last 12 months, I realised there were some events that I’d almost forgotten about; the empty shelves in the supermarkets, the deserted streets during the first lockdown, and the conversations that “it’ll be over in a few weeks”. There are other events that are much more front of mind, the biggest one for me being redundancy at the end of last year.

So, what are my reflections on my journey through this unprecedented year? A year that started with me employed by a global pharmaceutical company, in my eighth year with them, and currently sees me starting a new adventure as a self-employed mental health and well-being consultant.

Let’s start with three of the main challenges:

• Remote working – Let’s face it, most of us weren’t prepared for working from home full time, or as I’ve thought of it at times, ‘living at work’. This in itself brought other challenges for me and my family (and many others I’m sure); three people in the house competing for working space and wi-fi and the physical problems triggered by ill-suited tables and chairs rather than specialist office equipment for starters.

• Lack of social interaction – Human beings are social animals, we generally love the interaction with others, and thrive on the relationships we build with family, friends and colleagues. All of a sudden that was taken away from us. Gone were the opportunities to catch up with colleagues over a coffee, or lunch. No bumping into people you’d not seen for a while. We had to make do with two dimensional representations of people via unfamiliar tools; be honest, who had heard of Zoom prior to March last year?!

• ‘Groundhog Day’ – One of the most difficult things to deal with for me (and plenty of others I’ve spoken to) to deal with was differentiating between the working day/week and personal time/weekends. Pre-pandemic, we would have had a full social calendar. Gigs, eating out, drinks with mates, football matches, trips to Cornwall for weekends or longer, travelling to Europe to ski, or watch the Tour de France, all of these and more were the events that punctuated my year. Always something to look forward to. Then suddenly, with no warning, nothing. Just day after day in the same four walls and lots of events moved back 12 months and, in some cases, longer than that.
   

  
   

Now I realise that I’m fortunate in many ways, and that the challenges listed above pale into insignificance compared to those faced by others. Factor in the uncertainty and fear of the global pandemic though, as well as some family stuff that was going on, and at times I have to admit I wasn’t in a good place mentally.

What did I do to improve how I was feeling? Well, I started to focus on the positives I was experiencing, and I’d like to share three of them:

• Quality family time – I have had some fantastic times with my family during this period. Exercising together, experimenting with hair styles and colour, working our way through cookbooks, making music, doing live DJ sets on social media, paddle boarding and camping in the back garden; just some of the things that would not have happened had we not been in this situation.

• Old friends and new – It’s absolutely not the same as meeting people in person, but those apps and platforms we’d never heard of a year ago (Zoom, Teams, House Party, etc) have allowed us to stay connected. In some cases, they’ve allowed us to reconnect with friends and family we never saw that often, particularly true for me with a bunch of old school mates who I now meet via Zoom on a regular basis. We’ve been there for each other through this, and it’s been brilliant. I’ve also got to know a whole new group that I now consider good friends, and I’ve never met half of them! Such is the power of music and, in particular, Album Club. Started last year as a way of allowing people at work to have some much-needed social time, we have listened to and reviewed around 35 albums and have had some great conversations that go so much deeper than the music.

• Walking – I’ve walked more in the past year than I have for a very long time, and I’ve discovered parts of my local area that I didn’t know were there in the previous 20+ years. I’ve seen the seasons change, spotted animals and birds I’ve never noticed before, and have started to really appreciate the power of walking through woodland or across fields. It really does make a difference to energy levels. My commute to the office on a busy M4 has been replaced by a ‘fake’ commute of taking the dog out for a walk while listening to a podcast or audio book. I’ve spent time with friends walking and talking about all sorts of things; I just wouldn’t have done this pre-pandemic.

It’s not all been positive. Like many people we have had some real low points with one or more of the family feeling fed up with the situation and wishing things were ‘normal’. While I can’t control the circumstances we are in, I can control how I react to them and I can hopefully influence those close to me to focus on the positives; on what we do have rather than what we don’t.

Final thoughts from me. 

1. I’ll continue to get outside as much as I can, and to enjoy the simple pleasures that brings. 

2. I’ll treasure the time spent with family and friends and vow not to take it for granted.

3. I’ll do all I can to enable that all-important human connection; for me, and for others.