The merits of taking annual leave in the time of the Covid-19 crisis
SITTING at home alone on a Saturday night listening to the Manic Street Preacher’s album The Holy Bible is not my norm, but so it was last weekend, week six of this interminable period of in-home self isolation.
I was off most of last week, well as much as you can be in this job, and I am here as living proof to proclaim the merits of taking your annual leave, in spite of the fears, pressures and uncertainty of this current health crisis. After a whirlwind start to 2020 I had been looking forward to a break, but wasn’t sure until a few day’s beforehand whether or not I would take it.
On Sunday night, coinciding with peak return-to-work dread, I received the latest ClassDojo emails detailing the mountains of homework the Little Fella and the Whirlwind Wonder have to do this week. Needless to say I was immediately grateful for the previous three work days off.
Along with anxiety, not knowing how to relax must rank as one of the biggest drawbacks of being a Gen X (and everything in between) progeny.
Two days into my break I managed just that. Sitting out in the sun in my garden reading a tome of a book called The Greek Plays, I rediscovered a love of reading. A few hours beforehand I had been out on the bike, enjoying the sights, sounds and smells of nature. ‘I’ve everything I need,’ I mused.
At first the restrictions seemed beyond me. I followed them without grasping their importance, spoke about them as abstracts, temporary things.
As their reality dawned on me when I left my father in Kerry in early March after a short visit – knowing it would be several weeks before I would see him again – the virus and its hold on my life began to constrict; its shadow coagulating around me.
Windows and doors seemed to shut in my face. Holidays planned. Family reunions. My daughter’s Communion. All the things I was certain of – all the emotional investment amounted to nought as life became telescoped to the here and now.
In short, the restrictions, and the inevitable loneliness that accompanies them, compelled me to examine my life.
But first my cupboard.
Some people’s lives revolve around their next meal and I’m definitely one of those. The Spring clear out of the kitchen is under way! Music is another constant and funnily enough I’ve reverted to the classics - not Nirvana, not even the Beatles or The Band, but Handel, Bach, Vivaldi anon. Am I the only one seeking solace in the masters of the timeless art mediums? I doubt it.
Reading the great Greek plays, the goings on in House of Atreus have been a great distraction – in their wickedly inventive pain and misery – from the mind bending horror of the Covid news cycle.
Our obsessions are funny things; for some its that new car, for others a house to show off, underneath it all many just want to be loved and to love. That is harder than ever these days as we are often cut off from those we love most for various reasons.
With our movement restricted and the world ground to a halt we can listen to our intuition, that little voice that we so often ignore, defy, rail against at moments of weakness, and in doing do become stronger, better people. For some this crisis will cause them to confront themselves for the first time. With no sports on the telly, no barstool to warm, no prospect of returning to work any time soon, set in the environment of off the cuff major declarations from ministers, we all need to be easier on ourselves.