Hi, my name is Ben. I live in London, England, and we are in weekthree of lockdown due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
I want to talk about how we're all feeling at this moment in history.
Weird!
Everybody is feeling a little weird. Most stores are closed. Grocery stores have a new limit on how many customers they can have.
So, every grocery store has a line outside. Some people don't listen to these rules and it can cause a lot of confusion.
We don't have the freedom we used to have and people don't know how to feel. All this confusion and uncertainty makes us very uncomfortable.That discomfort can be scary.
However, when you are confronted with a big change, emotions are okay. It's okay to feel sad, scared or angry. It's a natural thing.
I feel really sad at the moment. Instead of denying that feeling, I let myself be sad. After that, I ask myself, why am I sad?
Once you have felt an emotion, you can then reflect on that emotion. So I thought about it and I learned that I am not happy in London. I want to move back to my home city when this is all over.
A friend of mine was feeling frusstrated, and now she has realised that she wants to quit her job and find a new one.
These are not bad things. These are very exciting things. These are things to look forward to. Having something to look forward to will make this a lot easier.
Lockdown and isolation is an opportunity to learn something about yourself. If your emotion is loneliness, maybe you're missing a friend. Maybe, you should call your friend and tell them you miss them. You might get closer in this time.
I've been using this opportunity to get closer to some of my friends and it's made my life a lot better.
This situation is weird right now, but if we use this opportunity to reflect we can make sure that we come out of this lockdown as better people.
In the meantime, stay safe, make sure you get some fresh air in whatever way you can, take care of yourself and others around you.
Emotions are okay.