‘Don’ t forget the lessons lock-down taught us and how it helped us grow’

AS THE GREEN SHOOTS OF NORMALITY RESUME, SINEAD KELLEHER FINDS HERSELF CRAVING SIMPLER – QUIETER – TIMES

IN the last few week s our country has largely reopened. Shops and restaurants are now open, we can return to Penny’s, have coffee in a coffee shop, go for dinner and meet friends and family. We can even begin to plan this year’s holiday, though we may have to stay closer to home.

However, as traffic resumes on our roads and town centres become bustling hives of business again, I find myself lamenting the loss of the quieter life of the pandemic.

Yes, I’ve said the words, and I fear many may be aghast at such utterings, but now that lock-down is almost completely at an end, I find that I want to return to the days of baking banana bread, lying on the couch watching Netflix or sitting in the garden contemplating life. I want to return to listening to the birds, taking time out from the hustle and bustle. The COVID-19 pandemic gave us all permission to opt out of the ‘rat race’, and was that really such a bad thing?

Before March 12, I for one was rushing to work, rushing to meetings, rushing to get home, rushing to exercise classes, to meet friends, attend parties, more meetings, more night outs, weekends away. Then it was gone, and I missed it. I’m glad that some semblance of normality has returned. I don’t want to be locked in forever but, deep down, there is a part of me – a rather large part – that wishes we didn’t have do dive head-first back into the old life.

I am not saying lock-down was easy, I know it was often sad, lonely and difficult, particularly for those who lost their jobs. Without that structure, the days were more difficult. I was one of the lucky ones still employed during the pandemic, writing to you all which, of course, helped the time pass by.

However, despite many different experiences, I think lock-down helped everyone contemplate life.

All of a sudden we had time to do things we had never done before – bake bread (a first for me); clean out cupboards, presses and that space under the kitchen sink; plant lettuce (also a first) and tidy up our gardens. Never have our homes looked so spick and span, and there really is a wonderful sense of achievement in walking around a newly organised house.

Maybe you didn’t do that, maybe you spent time with your children, walking and cycling, or maybe you did none of above – you just read books and watched Netflix on a loop – and why not?

I wrote a few months back about moving my social life to the online party world of Zoom. At the time I was bored, missing my friends, and wishing COVID-19 would disappear. Zoom helped without doubt, though it is no replacement, and seeing friends and family is simply the greatest joy.

We need to remember this and appreciate that families and friends are there for us and just how important they are in our lives.

That is what the pandemic taught us – enjoy life and be grateful for what we have, and I for one don’t want to forget that life lesson.

We can take time out to smell the roses and, as the sounds of every-day life return, don’t you wish that the quiet could still be there, just even sometimes?

My diary is fast-filling up again with meetings and events, but we all know that COVID-19 is not gone away – the pandemic is still here and is very real. We can’t forget that, but we should always remember the life lessons this unique time taught us and let the new pace of life grow in tandem.

A S TRAFFIC RESUMES AND TOWN CENTRES BECOME BUSTLING HIV ES OF BUSINESS, I FIND MYSELF LAMENTING THE LOSS OF THE QUIETER LIFE OF THE COVID-19 LOCK-DOWN

Kerryman reporter Sinead Kelleher