Acting blog, B.A.B.E. blog, Front Page
Stuck indoors for an indefinite period of time (a look at this time)
This lockdown has been life-changing.
For so many of us, we never expected we would ever see this in our lifetimes. For a select few, they’ve been saying this is coming for a very long time (just catch a few TED talks and they’ll tell you – references at the bottom).
Sadly it is happening. We are smack bang in the middle of it.
It’s economically and politically devastating on top of the 400,000+ lives that have been lost (many due to poor political actions). I posted a few months back about Covid-19 and what it all feels like over on Medium. Specifically I posted there because this wasn’t quite an acting post but more about life in general.
As we continue on for what feels like an eternity, know that this will end one day and ‘normal’ life will resume.
On a day-to-day basis, I struggle between feeling grand and being absolutely shattered. On a week-to-week basis, I have to force myself to have nights off drinking, to go to bed early, and to try and meditate more. The reality is, this reality we are in is anything but normal. I’m in a daze of confusion and frustration, longing for a time when I can sit in a cafe again and sip an espresso with nothing to do but people watch.
I do however also make a point of sharing 3 things I’m grateful for every single day. And I put one image into my 1-second app. They are small gestures, token gestures if you will, of the good bits of lockdown. A reminder that I am more than the four walls I am trapped behind. I garden so I can create life, create oxygen to breathe, grow flowers to touch and vegetables to eat. I sip coffee, I ponder, I write, and I play.
My message is simple. Don’t leave this time period feeling broken by the torment of it all. Try and consider the good things you’ve found. What have you learned that you can live without? What do you want to keep in your life as a result of lockdown? What new skills have you picked up? Who have you connected with, truly connected with?
Today as I reflect on a nation (I only speak for the country I currently live in) lead by a bunch of muppets, and countries revolting, my only hope is that our new normal involves us being kinder to our Earth, and most especially to one another.
And on that note, here’s something I penned recently while enjoying my first chunk of time alone. My brain immediately went to a creative space where poetry just flowed out of me. It felt so good to write. But the message feels most important to me.
A virus against a race
by Angela Peters
When I look back on this period
I’ll see the glimmers of hope
Moments of happiness
Not the madness of the restlessness
The friendships maintained on Zoom
A community of lovers
That love shared on what’s app
The countless NHS claps
The revolutions and revolts
A chance for a better tomorrow
The Black Lives Matter wins
Police can’t kick us in the shins
A desolate flightless sky
An earth that finally breathes
Hands not touching hands
Masks covering fears
Countless losses for humanity
A political playing field of rage
The stupidity of few
A world ready to turn a new page
A race against a virus
A virus against a race
The world a completely different place
To where I met it face to face
Back on new years day
Before this killer virus came
Before a lockdown kept me housed
Like a baby tiger caged
My new normal isn’t Covid
It’s the kisses and the hugs
It’s the smiles shared between two meter strangers
It’s the thoughtful street thugs
No, the stupidity of few
Won’t rain on my parade
Black Lives will always matter
And humans can always shine
Covid won’t kill our spirits
And humans will always reign
Lockdown won’t break us
And humans will be free again
My only hope as we exit
Is that we find less meaning in colour
In gender, sex or politics
In race, or any other
We weren’t born her to fight and squabble
We were made to love and last
This is our chance to change
Our chance to right the past
A virus against a race
A race against a virus
Humans against race
Or is it a race against humans
For some Covid19 talks, check out:
Why COVID-19 is hitting us now
