Surviving and thriving in lockdown

So not only is it January, but here in England we’ve recently been asked to enter into our third national lockdown in the past 12 months. It seems fair to say that the general mood is not a positive one.

So while our blog articles normally focus on topics related to decluttering and home staging, this one is a little bit different, we’re going to be talking about wellbeing, and staying sane and healthy throughout lockdown.

The reality of lockdown is hard – we totally get it. For many people the anxiety caused by the pandemic itself is exacerbated by money worries, having to homeschool, social isolation, caring for elderly or vulnerable relatives, being separated from loved ones. It’s hard, it really is.

During the first lockdown, things didn’t seem quite so bad – the weather was good for one thing, and for a great deal of people it allowed them to spend time at home, exercising, doing DIY, getting into cooking or baking (remember the sourdough craze?) or growing vegetables. We had Joe Wicks, Clapping for the NHS, Zoom calls galore - so although it was stressful there was a kind of blitz spirit which kept everyones’ spirits up for a while. This time around it definitely feels harder to summon up the enthusiasm.

Anyone remember Maslow’s hierarchy of needs? It’s a model of