Yes people, another mention of the dreaded COVID 19!! A couple of weeks ago I was having the time of my life on tour doing a job I loved and was ready to release some new music that I was so very happy with. None of this is the case now due to corona. But letting go of the way things should have happened and giving in (not up) to what is, has proven to be really interesting. Can an external catastrophic event stop a creative mind? Can self -isolation be teaching us something? Read on and see!!

1. I was sort of self- isolating before it was a thing.

 Apart from work (that admittedly takes up most of my life) I did not realise how much I love being at home. You see, I do have an active social life, but in all honesty if my friends didn’t ask me to go out and do things I would probably be in my home. As a singer-songwriter a lot of what we do is in isolation anyway.

2. It’s ok to do nothing

 I used to be a workaholic, but last year after working myself to the point of exhaustion and illness, I started the journey of learning how important rest is. Because of this I’m much more in tune with my body now and can feel when I need to slow down, (which is more often than I thought). I see a lot of talk about being productive while on lock down, but I’ve taken the last two weeks to fight my compulsion to always be doing something and have reminded myself it’s ok to do nothing. Rest is important to my well-being.

3. You kind of have to spend time with yourself to know yourself

 Tom Bilyeu said it best “But the reality is, the only thing that matters in this life is what you think about yourself, when you’re by yourself and it’s you and your thoughts”. By choosing not to fill every second of every day with something, I have really met with myself and really learned a lot about me; the good, the not so good and the areas where I still need to grow. I’m learning that all the answers I need and the parts of me I am getting to know now, can only be found once all the noise has stopped.

4. Self -care is a full time job

 Between taking care of myself, nurturing my creativity and trying to evolve, I actually have no time left by the end of the locked down day. I have come to realise that the lifestyle that we consider normal really doesn’t allow time to truly take care of ourselves or for any healing. It’s something we squeeze in. Because of this lockdown I’m being urged to find ways to integrate proper rest into my busy schedule once the world returns to its new normal.  Research has shown that two of the top five regrets from people coming towards the end of their life is, “I wish I hadn’t worked that hard” and “I wish I had stayed in touch with my loved ones more”.  Lock down is the perfect time to make sure we don’t have these regrets.

5. It’s ok to be ok

 The reality is, due to Covid-19 I have lost my job, have no prospects of earning anytime soon, had to holt my plans of buying my first home, my dream holiday was cancelled, my birthday was last week during lockdown, I’ve had to move back in with my mum, claim benefits and have been indoors for the past two weeks…but I feel completely at peace with this. All I can do is go with the flow and choose to remind myself instead that; I got to do a tour I loved for 10 weeks, met some incredible people, had a virtual house party for my birthday, I’m grateful to have a mum that I can run to no matter how old I get and I now have time to take care of myself and reconnect with loved ones.

 I know it will get better, work will come in eventually and this is an opportunity to do all the things I claim I’m too busy to do when I am working. I’m finding blessings in the smaller things in life and my dream holiday & plans can resume once this is all over…or maybe some new wonderful plan will unfold.

 Everyone has been effected so differently by this virus. I have heard some truly horrible stories and it’s not over yet. However, while still being aware of what’s going on around us we can make choices everyday that either bring us closer to fear & chaos or closer to harmony and peace. While our own lives can seem so out of our control now, let’s still be responsible for our choices and how they affect our well being and the others around us.

With Love,

 Ione