Our operations manager James talks about 'Life in Lockdown'
Along with the rest of the world The effects of lockdown due to Covid-19 have had a massive effect on me and my family over the last couple of weeks.
I started to write this piece last week on my first day working from home. I was sitting in the garden, amidst the chaos of trying to adjust to a massively changed routine, with the world having gone crazy! I was struggling but thought that I just had to adjust. One week on and things are very different.
Before this storm hit, my week was far simpler than it is right now.
Monday and Tuesday are normally spent at home looking after our 7 year old boy (who is mostly at school) and our triplet boys having just turned 2 years old. Boys currently in the throws of full-on toddlerdom.
Wednesday to Friday are spent at work in our humble office managing the day to day operations of our wonderful Printed By Us. A mixture of admin, practical tasks and participation in our built in well-being programme.
This routine, whilst being incredibly exhausting, was (and will be again) structured and rewarding. With separation and variety, throw in a couple of meetings of my 12 step programme in the evenings and things are good.
Overnight, seemingly I am stuck at home, with 6 of us in a 2 bedroom house allowed out once daily with all my meetings online and 3 days a week chained to a laptop. Throw in the added pressure of home schooling and maintaining vital supplies and things are well…… incredibly difficult.
After struggling to cope last week I decided that something had to give. My isolation and trouble in separating my roles and being able to work from you, and the strain on my family left me in a quandary. I can’t do all this!
My nearly 4 years in recovery continues to teach me many things:
It has given me the ability to adapt to massive changes in my life and the tools to manage this life and stay healthy both physically and mentally.
Equally importantly these years have given me the self- awareness to recognise when I have reached my limit and cannot take on any more. For me,a bridge too far. And that’s ok!
So this is my last task before going on furlough leave courtesy of the government. A government who incidentally did not get my vote. Thankfully though they have seen fit to introduce this scheme. Without it myself, and many others like me would be so much worse off in so many ways.
I can now use my time to concentrate on my self care, my relationship with my fiance, our wonderful children and my recovery.
Oh, and planning our wedding in the summer which we are all hoping and praying still goes ahead!
Stay Well! See you on the other side!
Cheers
James and the Printed by Us Team
