I suspect I’m going to regret saying this, but right now I’m loving the lockdown.
I do, of course, acknowledge I’m one of the lucky ones (with the caveat that we often make our own luck – see previous post Lucky or unlucky?). I still have a well-paid white-collar job, a job that I can perform reasonably well from the comfort of a spacious house, without any screaming young children running around.
The local Tesco stocks everything needed to sustain life. (It did run out of fresh raspberries and strawberries for a couple of weeks, but the grapes were still arriving from places like South Africa and Chile... phew!)
I live in a suburban area with wide streets, so going for a Sunday walk is better than it’s ever been, with barely any traffic either on the roads or overhead, great air quality, and the lovely scene of contented parents and children sharing family time together. Even the weather has been pretty good since social distancing measures were introduced back in March.
The main reason I love the lockdown is because it makes getting through the work day so much easier with Parkinson’s. Back in February and March, every day was a desperate battle with fatigue. The morning commute was exhausting in itself and by the time I was making the journey home often I could barely stand up. Many times I felt close to blacking out on the train platform in the evening.
Working from home, having virtual meetings through a screen all day, is also pretty tiring but I avoid two hours of travelling and, best of all, I can sneak off to the bedroom for a five-minute power nap whenever I feel the need, and nobody needs to know. I do this once or twice (occasionally three times) per day and it makes all the difference.
Obviously, there are disadvantages to living like this. Eating or drinking with friends has to be via video link, there are no holidays to look forward to, no shops to browse in, and I can’t visit my mum to give her a big hug. Home haircuts were a bit scary at first but are actually quite fun now.
And then there’s the strange phenomenon that the weeks really fly by when the daily routine is the same. To understand why, see previous post: The perception of time.
But I can live with all these things for a while. Perversely, my biggest concern is that this must, somehow, eventually come to an end. At which point I’ll need to return to the office, at least for two or three days a week. Now that I’m used the routine of working from home, the prospect of the struggle to get through days in the office is not one I’m looking forward to.
So, I resolve to make the most of the lockdown while it lasts. I appreciate many people are having a tough time right now. But, three years and counting since my diagnosis, for me personally, it was just the tonic I needed.
Oh, and it also helps avoid dying from covid-19.
