A challenging year for all – but hope grows that an end is in sight
IF there is one word that sums up the past few months, for many it will be that used by executive headteacher Sian Lane on page five of today’s paper. “Exhausting”.
She was applying the term to the toll taken on teachers during the pandemic, with the situation constantly changing and schooling endlessly fragmented as term time has been lost and numerous staff and pupils have to stay at home and isolate.
But it is a word that applies across the board to all those who have endured the disruption of coronavirus restrictions, uncertainty over the future and the need for flexibility to cope through the lockdowns and turmoil resulting from the battle to beat Covid-19.
From NHS staff and key workers to people simply trying to keep their businesses afloat amid the shifting seas of rules and regulations, it has been an undeniably exhausting year.
Sian Lane, executive headteacher of the Cedar Tree Foundation, says teachers are rising to the challenge and still providing outstanding quality education. But the strain of their efforts is a heavy burden.
“Staff are going over and above in school, having to respond to change on a daily basis with limited staffing and also whilst managing their own well-being, safety and the well-being of their families,” she says.
“They are physically and mentally exhausted. This has gone on for a long time now and schools have nowhere near returned to normal.”
Keeping pace with changing demands and staying on the right side of the rolling agenda of restrictions has been demanding for all, whether employed or not, young or old. New working arrangements for many in already-stretched sectors are undoubtedly having an impact on mental health. The salvation of the internet in enabling firms to introduce home-working arrangements has come at a cost as social interaction is reduced and some isolated staff are having to work in unsuitable domestic environments.
Enterprises that have adapted to survive, perhaps offering home deliveries or social distancing at their premises, have constantly had to readjust as rules are tightened or relaxed. Tourism and hospitality, vital sectors in the Westcountry, have been particularly hard hit, and many jobs have been lost and businesses have become unviable.
Shops selling non-essential items have been forced to temporarily close and takings have plummeted among those ventures that rely on city centres being filled with shoppers and workers. And numerous basic services have been disrupted, adding to demands on staff and the frustrations of customers.
The pandemic has posed real challenges for mental wellbeing. Keeping going throughout as best as we can has become, for many, quite simply exhausting.
We all need a light at the end of the tunnel, which is why the possibility of a family Christmas and the promise of a vaccine just around the corner is so welcome. The end, it seems, could finally be in sight. And we owe a debt of gratitude to all those who have gone the extra mile in such trying circumstances.