Small things to keep us together when we’re far apart
GB athlete gives her lockdown tips ahead of Olympic prep
IWAS just sitting down to write this week’s column when the Red Arrows flew right over my head. I got goosebumps and felt the butterflies in my stomach as the whole of the UK marked the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Then, at 11am, a two-minute silence to remember and bring us all together.
I felt a sense of being a part of something greater than oneself. There is an important lesson there for the times we are living in now.
War pulled us together as a nation. Will Covid-19 have the same impact?
In some ways I feel it already has, then in other ways I feel it has distanced us as a society.
When you hear from some people what the fear of Covid-19 has done to them, it has almost made them prisoners in their own homes.
I saw with my own eyes this week the effect the virus is having on people when I went to my local fishmongers.
As I approached the shop, this elderly lady started to go into a panic attack.
She shouted “stay back”, but once I had calmed her down saying “don’t worry,
I am also vulnerable” and stopped a few metres away from her, she started to speak with me.
The fear she was living in was real. She was shaken and in high-survival mode just to go to the shops to collect fish for her husband.
He, in turn, was too scared to leave his home. And as she waited for her fish, the poor lady had another panic attack where I ended up having to tell another woman to stay away from her.
It was a very surreal situation to be in but it did highlight to me that the mental scars of Covid-19 could be with us for a long time.
As I cycled home, I wondered if this lady and her husband would ever go back to the life they had before. How many people are living like this around the world? And what can we do to help them?
Unlike wartime, where we could come together as a community to rebuild and support each other, we are now told to stay away from each other, not to get closer than two metres to another human.
What will be the lasting effect of this on us as a society? It is well known how important a community is when it comes to people’s mental health and I often ask myself how we can build this sense of community to help those who feel paralysed from Covid fear.
There are lots of people creating communities online to bring us together and these are playing a crucial role in giving people the feeling of belonging. As I write this, it is nice to listen to the TV and feel part of the VE Day remembrance.
Highlighting such a traumatic time 75 years ago, and the fact we managed to get out the other end, somehow brings hope and positivity to our country at a time when we need it most.
In a time where we are all lacking physical connections, so to feel part of VE Day, especially for
was really worried about how I was going to cope living at this level mentally and physically.”
The sailor shared how she maintains a healthy body and mind while in lockdown, as she continues to train and prepare for Tokyo 2021.
“I spoke to my team-mate Sas, who felt similar, our coach Stevie and to our wider team about everything,” she said.
“By acknowledging this fear, we put a few key things in place to make sure we’d be OK.
“One of those is increased physical gym work, it keeps our minds and bodies busy in lockdown. I wouldn’t usually do five gym sessions in a day, instead I would do two and swap in the extra sessions with sailing practice. What it really is achieving is mental and physical preparation for when we are able to get back to the water and into a routine again.
“At the moment we are trying to replicate a regatta week or what a boat handling training week would be like with various sessions similar to different race day scenarios.”
Taking a video of the sea in front of her home, Dobson expressed her excitement at getting back to her “playground” after lockdown.
Dobson is a ‘Sailing Ambassador’ at the school along with fellow sailing champions and Lomond ex-pupils, Anna Burnet and Lorenzo Chiavarini.
Having first set sail on Loch Lomond, Dobson hopes to encourage aspiring athletes to maintain fitness and a healthy life during lockdown.
Sailing is embedded within the curriculum at Lomond School as part of a focus on adventure, taught on its own fleet of dinghies and in partnership with RNCYC.
Johanna Urquhart, principal at Lomond School, said: “It’s great to hear from former pupils and the children really love hearing from the likes of Charlotte who has gone on to do amazing things.
“Many of our pupils are keen on pursuing their own athletic career so it’s really inspiring for them to hear first-hand what it takes, giving them a boost to keep working hard during lockdown.”