Resuming little coping

While we wind down from the Christmas period, twelfth night having passed so decorations, cards and the nativity scene being taken down and tidied away following the muted New Year celebrations things here have changed.

Specifically as of Wednesday England is in full national lockdown aka Lockdown v3.0 with us being pretty close to but a little different when it comes to the rules set out in law which allows for fines to be issued.

I'm not going to get into any and all of the politics around it not least as a career in the same really messed me up bigtime and the majority of us at this point are bystanders in this event no one would of chosen.

The question arises though to what personal response in terms of daily living this makes and for me it is to use what I learned from last March to ensure I am in the best possible place mentally and physically to survive this latest wave of the pandemic.

The first is to follow the rules to the best of my ability, considering carefully why the rule is there and the risks involved as all rules and guidance is based on most situations and was framed with inner city areas in mind as much anywhere else.

There is little denying I have issues with anxiety which of itself this pandemic is not helping one iota with so while the wording is that people "should" only go out once a day for exercise for reasons connected with immediate mental health I may need to go out briefly for more than once if I'm having an anxiety attack.

In that event I would go the least distance from the front door, keep within areas of very low footfall in the immediate area avoiding where the shops are until such time as I am more stable and okay to be back indoors.

Given parts of the immediate area back on to open countryside and have woodland it's easier for me to do this safely than others reliant on just the park.

Unlike last time playgrounds are open which should help.

The second just staying in the whole headspace of that boy and not focussing beyond any important announcements you need to observe.

It is way too easy to become a news junkie watching 24 hour rolling news with website refreshing on a computer and your phone following tweets and yet actually we have no direct impact upon it save following the rules and keeping everyone safe.

It only ups the anti when it comes to fears and generally feeling anxious about the situation where switching off and doing something active helps more.

For me that decision to have comic subscriptions set up means I have at hand and at no risk of infection by going into town things that will lift my spirits up which given my more boy-like mind makes more sense that I can look forward to.

The other is with care I can continue to play, explore and learn will outdoors replacing screen staring anxiety with activity, creating good feelings and emotions and learn things while being the adult boy I am about and always looking the part.

That for me is likely to be the best way of dealing with this until such time as restrictions may be relaxed or lifted entirely which is expect to run to late spring at least.

Awards and inspiration edition

This weeks theme is awards and inspiration which is something that helps keep ourselves motivated through these difficult times.

Hot off the press and due to be launched yesterday (Thursday) is Mwaka Mudenda aged twenty-five Blue Peter presenter number 39 in that inspiration children's magazine shows Sixty-one and bit years history.

Found in the BBC's sports department, she makes her debut from home like the current duo Lindsey and Richie with her first challenge which will be a first in these changed times, restoring the presenter numbers back to three which to was prior to the 2010's.

As I still love watching the show, not least for being LB, for many years I'm looking forward to that.

This leads us to the following:

One inspiration by common consent has been Captain Tom Moore now aged 100, a WW2 veteran who raised over Thirty-three million pounds by doing 100 laps before he reached that centenary for the NHS.

Some indication of his impact is he inspired young children, some with disabilities to raise funds too and others overseas and also for his calming philosophical approach  to dealing with the Covid-19 crisis.

Recently he was the recipient of a Blue Peter Gold Badge award put forward by Georgia and Benji, his grand children seen pictured and presented due to current restrictions remotely by presenter Lindsey Russell who described him as "a beacon of light".

Street artist "Banksy", an anonymous character whose art just appears on walls was also in the news this last week. 

He left if that was the right word a peace of work in Southampton general hospital  saying he hoped it would brighten up the lives of the staff and patients there and after the Covid-19 infection it could be auctioned off with the funds going to NHS charities.

Entitled "Game Changer", it features a boy playing with a basket of superhero dolls, but instead of grabbing Spiderman or Batman, he is playing with the doll of a nurse with a superhero cloak.

Many have been inspired by the dedication of our Nurses and other clinical staff dealing with Covid-19 patients seeing them as real life heroes rather those in our comics, tv or cinema screens.

It is a both a touching act of generosity on his part and also a touching depiction of a boy at play.

There we have it on the as ever looking backwards and going forward LB blog, the inspiring, the inspirational and the enduring source for all we truly need.