For some it’s been a pause button, for some an opportunity
to discover nature or art or cooking or community. For some it’s been a
frustrating waste of precious months of their lives. Some creatives are churning
out the pages and some are creatively paralysed. Some people are enjoying home
schooling time with the kids, some are campaigning to give all teachers a knighthood.
Some people are convinced it’s going to change the way we live for ever (surely
we can never go back to normal!) and others are trying desperately to recreate normal
via Zoom and online shopping.
I did think I was in the minority when it came to enjoying
Lockdown. I even felt bad about it, when so many people are finding it tough.
But then I was chatting (in a socially distant way) to a friend who said she
was loving it too and didn’t want to go back to normal. Now, this is someone who
I’d have put firmly in the ‘climbing the walls’ category. She’s very sociable,
very busy, loves shopping and, due to health issues, has been stuck
at home for the duration, complete with working via Zoom and home-schooling two
kids. But she said that it’s taken this situation to make her realise just how
ridiculously busy and stressed she was. Now there’s no social stuff or
afterschool activities or birthday parties or playdates or supermarkets or
pressure to do anything and she says she’s enjoying it so much she now has to
be persuaded to go out even for a walk.
So that surprised me and I did a couple of highly unscientific
polls on Twitter to see what people thought. Here are the results:
Aside from the health/economic/anxiety elements, how are
you finding lockdown?
I have a better quality of life and I don’t want to go back
to normal - 71%
If this goes on one more day I’m going to jump out a window
- 29%
In the future, what would you keep from Lockdown living
if you could?
Having more free time - 33%
Working from home - 18%
Home schooling - 4%
Shopping/spending less - 45%
Now that we’re 3 months in, how would you say Lockdown
has affected the volume of work you’re doing/producing?
More (cos more free time) - 19.4%
More (cos less stressed) - 8.3%
Less (cos too stressed) - 41.7%
Less (cos less free time) - 30.6%
If you’ve stopped wearing makeup for the duration, will
you go back to it when things return to normal?
Yes, can’t wait - 27%
Yes, reluctantly - 43%
Hell no - 30%
I have no scientific conclusions to draw from this, I just
thought it was interesting that:
- More people than I’d expected are finding positive things to say about Lockdown living.
- Shopping/spending less came out on top of things you’d keep from Lockdown. For me this is more about shopping because I hate shopping, but it’s been nice to save money too. Though given the economic nightmare we’re apparently heading for, that could be short lived.
- Not as many people as I’d thought are enjoying working from home. I quite like working from home but my husband doesn’t and this is an ongoing issue for him as he works for a foreign company who would like their employees to work from home instead of providing office space for them. Working from home used to be seen as a big luxury, but the more we do it, I think the more we realise it’s not good for us. Not having the choice either way is probably the worst scenario.
- Despite 71% of people saying their quality of life is better, 72% of creatives say they’re getting less work done due to lack of time or more stress. Hmm. Don’t know what to make of that one. Could it be that my tiny poll sample is NOT definitive?
- Everyone hates makeup! Well, 73% of makeup wearers hate makeup apparently. So why are we all wearing it? We’re propping up a billion dollar industry whose sole intention is to make us feel bad about ourselves and WE DON’T EVEN LIKE THE STUFF! (And don’t @ me about female empowerment, I have dry skin around my eyes that has completely cleared up for the first time in years and I don’t wanna hear it. If it’s so empowering, why aren’t men wearing it?) Anyway, I’m not throwing my makeup out, and when winter comes and I look like the living dead again I’ll probably cave, but maybe only for special events from now on.
In terms of productivity, I am much less stressed and
distracted when I don’t have to talk to people so I’m probably getting more
done because of that. But I’ve also just finished a draft of something and my
brain’s gone, OK holiday time! and I’ve done very little the past few weeks. I
think long term, Lockdown would make me more creative but I guess we’ll never know.
So how's your work going and what would you keep, if anything, from Lockdown?
She is the Children's Writing Fellow for Northern Ireland #CWFNI
She also blogs at The Blank Page
@KMcCaughrain
12 comments:
all I want to do is garden!... I don't know how anyone can answer the question 'apart from health/economic concerns' because to dismiss those is assuming you have money to protect/ insulate yourself from a certain reality. If I'd lost my job and had to contact the local food bank because I couldn't afford to buy my usual weekly shop, then my attitude to lockdown and life in general would be stressed and negative. So, if you can approach the question then you are already kind of predicting an answer, if you see what I mean. Personally, lockdown is not much different from my life before as I'm disabled and fairly housebound. I've already done the mental adjustment and my finances have not altered.
Very true! I'm aware I'm in a really lucky position myself. It would be interesting to know if negative experiences of lockdown are primarily due to those kinds of disadvantages rather than the experience of social isolation or consuming less or being less busy etc. Because if it is, then it suggests that the way we live is a bit unhealthy, and if we all had the resources to take a break from our hectic lifestyles it would do us good. I think it's been really interesting as a sort of real-life social experiment. Also, I'd be a mess without my garden! I spend most of every day out there. That's the thing I'm most grateful for. I hope you're getting some outdoor time too. Take care! x
I am finding the lack of admin demands & physical attendance a really helful & creative state.
BUT I'm fortunate enough to have plenty of room home here and we
a) have our own spaces and a way of being "private"
b) get on well,
but if we didn't, this lockdown period could be an awful time to manage - and without many escape low-key routes.
I do feel the expected pattern of work might really be changing and maybe for the better.
Working from home can release people from the pressure of a daily commute (eg a couple of hours stuck underground or similar) so the chance of home-working, even for two or three days out of a week, can be a real pleasure and time saver.
Also, as many organisations now expect people to hot-desk wherever there's space, there's no allowance for full physical attendance anyway.
But - at some point - I'd say meeting people IRL is essential if you wnat to continue building working relationships and groups.
Thanks for the post, Kelly.
Doing less work because most of my publishers furloughed and cancelled/postponed projects. Also, I'm finding it harder to concentrate than usual. I like working in the library, where there are people around, and now it's shut until at least October I am feeling a bit isolated. I live alone so there are plenty of days when I don't see another human being at all. Or only the security man and other shoppers in Waitrose. I don't wear make-up, ever, so that's not an issue. I don't like shopping for non-food stuff (except books), so that's OK, too. But I miss meeting up with editors, other writers, friends. I want that back. And I miss going on trains and getting coffee, but htose will have to wait a looooong time
Thanks Penny, glad you're finding it conducive! Yeah, I think the commute is probably a big factor in working from home, but NI is such a small place that it isn't a huge issue for most people here. When they suggested closing my husband's office, absolutely everyone in the office refused. I think the American owners were quite surprised because Americans are used to long commutes and living in bigger houses where they can make a home office. Now they're all working from home during Lockdown and I think it's only made them more convinced that it's not what they want. Some of them are sitting on beanbags in the nursery etc!
Thanks Stroppy Author! I like University Libraries because they're quiet but I find public libraries too noisy to work in. I used to love them when I was a kid and the librarians would shush people but those days are long gone. I also miss one-to-one meetings with friends and meeting my writing group but other than that I'm fairly content. Can't remember the last time I was on a bus or train!
V glad people are finding positives. Sadly, caring duties are sapping my creative energy, and stressed by feelings of guilty about the ruthlessness with which I defend my writing/research time, but without the WIP I'd have climbed that wall big time and fallen face first into crazy.
Really interesting! I really laughed at your comment about make-up - "If it’s so empowering, why aren’t men wearing it?". I am on the side of finding much to love about lockdown, but for all the sense of peace and pleasure … underneath there is always the sense that this comes at the cost of 40,000 dead, well probably more like 60,000 and many of them already disadvantaged in one way or another. Then I feel guilty. And sometimes that drives me to my desk. Sometimes it freezes me.
Hi Rowena, yeah, I think caring responsibilities are really a big roadblock for a lot of people at the moment, whether it's young kids and homeschooling or elderly relatives. I don't think I could work under those conditions. I think you're absolutley right to defend your work time though. Because it's not just about work, it's about your own well being and you're no use to anyone if you're stressed. Hope things get easier soon. Take care of yourself. X
Thanks Michelle! I'm totally off makeup at the moment. Never even think about wearing it and I really don't miss it. I know what you mean about feeling guilty. I feel like one of those women who felt guilty because they enjoyed WWII so much. But it says a lot about how difficult people like me find life the rest of the time so I think we should take whatever we can out of this situation. My work's bit all over the place too but at least I'm not stressed out. Good luck with yours!
Wonderful! I've gone white, and hope to never go backwards :)
Good for you Heather! After saying all that, I had to put foundation on last night because I was so sunburnt I looked like a lobster. Sigh.
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