Lockdown Madness
I sit here contemplating the last few months of lockdown madness, for what has been a crazy part of not just my life but the whole world. Never once did I envisage what has unfolded in such a short space of time.
I would firstly like to start off with a heartfelt message to everyone who has lost someone close to them during this time. It truly saddens me to think of all those who have suffered and gone through a whole host of roller coaster emotions, the worry, the torment of not being able to see their loved ones or be at their funeral. Things I guess we take for granted under “normal” circumstances.
Thank you
I would like to thank all key workers who have continued selflessly to go about their jobs in these difficult and uncertain times. It doesn’t just stop there though, everyone has had a part to play. Parents and carers staying home with their children, ensuring they are safe and happy.
Our children
This lockdown can’t be easy on the children also, missing their friends and normal routines. I applaud them also. Volunteers making sure people stay connected, bringing them essential supplies and support when needed. I could go on, the list is endless. For all the bad that this virus has caused, I have seen so many positives that have come out of it also.
The beginning
I wanted to do some posts on my own personal account and view during lockdown and corona virus in general. So I think a good place to start would be my first memory of when it began. I remember it coming up on my news feed that somebody had died of it in China, thinking not much of it at the time.
It quickly escalated into something more serious, even though I never in a million years expected what was about to unfold.
In March there was becoming more and more talk of Corona virus and it was becoming quite apparent that it was going to have some kind of impact on all our lives. To what extent was still unclear at the time.
Closing Kickstarterz
I decided to close all my classes at Kickstarterz from the sports halls to the ones in schools and nurseries a week prior to lockdown being announced. Also ending the training with my local grassroots football club.
As a newly formed business this Hurt me, as I created Kickstarterz Sports to get young children and their families active and having fun. So to not to be able to do these classes deeply upset me.
When lockdown was finally announced, it really hit home how serious it was and the fact we wouldn’t be able to do our classes for a while.
All these negative thoughts were racing through my mind “how long will it be?” , “will we be able to start again?” , “will everyone be ok?”. I worry about everything, as well documented in my mental health posts.
From public teaching to Facebook Live
I was voicing my concern to a lot of people and some of those mentioned online videos. Now this was well out of my comfort zone and something I had never given thought about.
I went home that day and gave serious thought about it. The more I thought, the more excited i got about the idea. Never have I done anything like this before, so to create content for an online audience was daunting but one that i fully took on.
I came up with so many different ideas and wanted to be a little different than the other online classes. The task was to come up with a variety of classes that would appeal to all ages, mostly children and families but a bit of something for everyone.
I started practicing by recording myself and watching it back to see how it would look, building up to what I had decided to do, live video. It had to be live as I wanted people to see it in real time and see the mistakes and everything associated with live. I felt it was a better way to connect with people if it was raw.
First ever live video, sh!tt!ng it
The day of my first live online video arrived, i was so nervous, swaying from side to side and reading from an autocue I had written out prior. This still makes me laugh, safe to say the autocue never made a return.
The feeling once I had finished was a mixed batch, there was this feeling of achievement and pride and also one of “was it good enough”, I’ve become accustomed to just rolling with the punches these days, but I think because it was so different to anything I had done before, that little bit of negativity crept in.
Helping others is more important
On reflection, it didn’t matter if it was a success or not, for me it was just a case of doing what I thought was right thing to do. I wanted to help people and families, giving them alternatives and things to do to beat the boredom and stay active. The feedback I received was brilliant. So I decided to do more.
I learned a lot from that first video. I had only planned on doing a couple of videos but after the euphoria I felt after that first live session, I felt I needed to do more. Never did I think I would do one every Monday to Friday. The swaying from side to side vanished, I got more confident and I loved every minute of it. Even getting a mention in some of the newspapers, including being called a lockdown hero in the Manchester Evening News.
I am going to be sharing more of my memoirs of lockdown with you in my next post. If you are enjoying reading my posts and would love to be updated new ones are available then please sign up to our mailing list. Thankyou and talk soon.
Please leave us a lockdown madness comment below letting us know what you’re doing to stay sane during these times.