It’s been 4 months since lockdown officially began in the UK, and during those 4 months we have gone through a whole rollercoaster of emotions; anxiety, grief, feeling lost, finding calm, happy, sad, learning new things, the list is endless. However, the latest on my long list is frustration.
Don’t get me wrong, teaching online has been a life saver, it’s helped remind me that we are still connected even when we are apart. But I am itching to get back to the studio, teaching in-person and get back to being BUSY. I know lockdown is easing, meaning we can return to our beloved studio spaces soon, but at what cost? With the anxiety of Covid still lurking I can’t help but wish things were back to normal.
But our normal has changed hasn’t it? There’s this ‘new’normal that seems to be trending. This ‘new’ normal where we obsess over hygiene (not necessarily a bad thing) or where we are afraid to hug one another (because you know #socialdistancing) or where we wear masks hiding our smiles (again for the right reasons). I don’t resent these changes we have to make I just want to be able to proactively go about life without the fear of Covid holding me back.
Are you feeling this frustration? It catches me off guard sometimes. One day I’ll be happily spending another day at home, recording for YouTube, chatting to clients, doing what work I can. And then another day I find myself wishing to be busier. I miss dashing from studio to studio, class planning my life away and seeing a mixture of new and old faces smiling back at me from your mats. I’m usually a very proactive person, I like making plans as it helps me feel like I have a handle on things…. recently I feel that grip loosening.
After a couple of hours of wallowing in this frustration, I realised something. I think I’ve been focusing on what I can’t do rather than what I can do… Yeah that old chestnut! It’s that age-old thing where we focus on the negative and forget about the positives.
WHY DO WE DO THIS TO OURSELVES?
Why is it our automatic response to drown ourselves in negativity rather than drink in the positivity? It’s annoying but the more I think about it, the more I think the negatives are there to in fact highlight the positives, to remind us that they are still there. Am I waffling here? I suppose what I’m getting at here is if you are feeling that frustration, maybe it’s there because its purposely trying to get you to shift your focus and change your perspective (I know I’m throwing out all the clichés here but bear with me.) Feel that frustration and use that energy drive you somewhere else.
I listened to the Yogipreneur podcast by Kelly McHugh and she reminded me of ways we can continue to thrive in uncertain times. She said to find something that inspires you, find something that empowers you and enables you to use this time to grow. And instantly my mood changed, it really is that simple! We can’t control what happens in life, but we can control how we respond.
For me that meant writing this blog post. Writing down as these thoughts, hoping they make some sense and sharing them to see whether I’m not alone in this. I may not be able to return back to what my work previously looked like, but I am able to channel my energy elsewhere and look forward to what my way of working looks like now.
And it turns out I do have a plan! I have teacher training coming up, a website to re-design and flows to create, I had just briefly lost sight of them.
I think that’s enough waffling for today. Hope to see you somewhere in this online world! x