As this article goes out, it has been 365 days when the UK declared the nation goes into lockdown and that people needed to work from home and to stay at home as much as possible.
Just wanted to document my time during the past year.
I was fortunate enough to work from home in the first few months. I already had a desk in my flat ready to sit myself down. It’s really weird waking up and knowing I didn’t have to jump out of bed and get ready for work. I did start off just wearing half and half of a smart work shirt but then pj bottoms but that didn’t last long as it didn’t give me the mindset for work, so I would get dressed if as I was still going into work.
A few months later, the company I would for decided to put me onto furlough leave, which was a huge relief as I had started to worry the lack of work coming through could mean the termination of my contract but thankfully that didn’t happen.
But with all this free time during furlough, what could I do? Well, there were two projects which I always wanted to do was to go back and re-edit my older photos and secondly was to start a podcast series relating to cosplay also other things.
The main reason for wanting to re-edit my photos was mainly two reasons. One, after posting the photos and giving the cosplayers their photos, I would think about days or weeks later how I could have improved that photo but because the photos had been released, just didn’t seem worth it to make adjustments again. But now was a perfect chance to make those changes I always wanted to make. Also, it was a way to track to see if I had improved on my post editing skills over the years. It’s been fun to see that my skills have improved but the photos that are closest to today’s date, the difference between the photos are so noticeable.
Running a podcast is such a fun activity I do. It was mainly for me to get some ideas I wanted to chat and discuss certain topics but as a by-product, I got to talk to friends about a subject we all love and was nice to hear other voices and catch up with friends about what has happened with them. I’ve had a blast talking to people over certain subjects such as Star Wars, Covid-19 vs Comic-Con, Movie Trilogies, Sniping in Photography.
I also took up a bit of home exercise which I am still doing to this day, (I ache a lot after each video I do). But it’s been good to have something to focus on and getting my body as much in shape with the lack of outdoor activities. I highly recommend following EmkFit classes which are online and as they are fun, active, you get your sweet on, and the routine are just like dancing on the dancefloor.
It helped that each week, that I set out a set of tasks I wanted to complete each day and week which helped me focus and motivated so that I am doing something each day, even if it’s a small task.
It’s not been all fun and games. I’m sure we have all be struggling with this lockdown and covid-19 pandemic. Being cooped up in one room for a prolonged amount of time just hasn’t been great for me. I really missed being with people, able to talk to friends in the same room. I have had friends reach out and we’ve had video chats, group watch along during these times but it’s not just the same.
I was chatting to a friend who said the phrase, “Covid Fatigue” and I think it best explains how I am feeling right now. I just feel like the year we’ve had, the scientific advice given, seeing footage of how the NHS was overflowing with patients, hearing “next slide”, wearing a mask going outside, bumping elbows with friends, etc, just long for those “normal” days we once had. If I knew that the future still continues with some of these measures, then I can live with that. But with the “promise” that things are getting back to normal, the uptake of the vaccine is going well at the time of writing this, it’s just too teasing to have that promise now. For now, I’ll still do the right thing and continue to wear a mask and keep my distance until we are told the vaccine program is complete or safety measures have changed.
I want to end this on a positive note that I am looking forward to attending comic con where it is possible and is safety measures are there, I am looking forward to seeing friends and cosplayers at events and taking their photos. I really have enjoyed making podcast can’t wait to bring you more episode each week.
I truly believe there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that working together, looking after each other, friend or stranger, we will come out of this well and better for it.
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