My new normal

*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*

My alarm goes off a 7am but I’ll press snooze until 7:30am. I usually have to get up an hour earlier so a little extra sleep is always welcome. 

I then write in my gratitude diary and send it off to Marc. I wonder if he still reads my pages? He gifted me with this journal when I started to spiral down into some deeply negative thoughts. It does help. 

I leap into the shower and the hot water tells me it’s time to start another day at the SCA. I race downstairs, only to beat no one but myself, I make a cup green tea and some lightly buttered toast. Dad is waiting by the radio, he silences any noise for the 8am news.

Back upstairs I go, into our spare room, which has been turned into a makeshift office. I won’t be able to stay there for long; my brother has come back from university and we’ve been getting into some heated discussions about who gets the room. This has been a daily occurrence. 

I open my laptop and send a zoom invitation to Lawrence; my current partner. We’ll begin with some updates on our lives and then sink into some SMPs. I find that this helps me to focus on the day and start it with a healthy dose of productivity. Sometimes we SCAMP to a newfound SMP. Around 9:15 we stop for a break before Town Hall. 

I’ll organise my schedule for the day, making sure all my tasks are in 30 minutes chunks. The variety of this method aids me to feel less pressure on the task at hand. Spending too long on anything can make me go crazy. 

Just like that, it’s Town Hall and I’m back on my laptop. My favourite is when we use ZOOM, this lets me see everyone’s beautiful faces and I feel a sense of community with my cohort. Marc will tell us any updates and the plan for the day. A link to Remo is shared on Slack. 

This programme is our virtual studio, there are two floors and each one consists of tables. This is where we can see our mentors and each other during the day. I do enjoy peering into other people’s houses. The other day Mike’s wife came into the camera, she asked if he wanted fish for lunch – he said yes. The monotony of this scenario brought back a little normality to all this craziness. 

Midday arrives and I usually take my lunch. My house backs onto a park that backs onto a farm. I’ll take Zelda (my dog) and we’ll go for a relaxing wander around the fields. I’m grateful that I’m dedicating more time to my breaks. These are vital for my sanity. 

The rest of my day will consist of more ZOOM meetings and Remo discussions. I’ll try and clock off by 6pm, I believe you need to keep a rigid boundary between your work/life balance. It’s very easy to slip into the hole but burnout would be the outcome. 

Change is scary and sometimes difficult. I would love to be in the studio surrounded by everybody bouncing ideas off each other. Working-from-home can be demotivating and my distractions are plenty. I just need to laser my focus and push forward with my life. 

Stay safe.