Living In Lockdown
42 Experiences I Once Would Not Have Shared
I am a privileged white heterosexual female writer living with my husband of 60 years in suburbia. This list was created in response to a writing prompt with a time limit of 20 minutes. I’m sharing it here because my friends, also privileged white heterosexual females, responded to it so enthusiastically.
We are all living with contradictions in this world of Covid that none of us expected to inhabit. Acknowledging those contradictions seems to help all of us feel a little bit saner.
I invite you to stop reading here and respond to the prompt, “being in lockdown is…” Write your responses for the next 20 minutes — or just go ahead and read mine and see whether they resonate with you.
Being in lockdown is
· a chance to take time and figure out what is important.
· being in prison.
· becoming self-reliant.
· being lonely for the casual touch her friends.
· struggling to be physically active.
· wanting to go into hibernation.
· grasping for something that isn’t there.
· mourning for a vanished illusion of safety.
· learning to see the world from a different perspective.
· having a teddy bear hanging in the window.
· discovering a garden of painted rocks on a street corner.
· cowering from an invisible threat.
· weighing decisions I didn’t even know were decisions.
· learning about different styles of masks.
· wishing for the swimming pool to open.
· hair scratching the back of my neck.
· surprising new connections.
· attending meetings with people who lived in several different countries and juggling time zones.
· sitting in a workshop all day without ever leaving my home.
· dressing well from the waist up.
· learning to make videos all by myself.
· being startled by pictures of people touching each other.
· living in a virtual world.
· abandoning much of the physical world.
· learning the byways in hidden treasures my own neighborhood.
· being startled and uncomfortable when a car I am in goes over 40 miles an hour.
· appreciating senior hours at Trader Joe’s.
· being terrified of contact with unmasked strangers.
· deciding what risks are really acceptable.
· carrying hand sanitizer everywhere.
· not finding what I expect at the grocery store.
· missing wearing my pretty clothes.
· figuring out what earrings go with a mask.
· feeling stiff from too much sitting.
· eating my own cooking way too often.
· learning new ways of connecting.
· assuming unusual administrative tasks.
· missing hugs from my grandchildren.
· sending zoom invitations.
· being trapped in a maze.
· living in an alternative reality.
· not being able to wake up from a bad dream.
More than half of surveyed US residents report experiencing symptoms of anxiety. Everything in this list is a reaction to the stress we are all experiencing. None is unusual. I would not have shared them before the lockdown because they sound so contradictory.
Perhaps by reading this list and constructing your own, you can relieve some of your own stress. If you need additional help, explore Logosynthesis, the process I use and teach for rapid stress and anxiety relief.
My book, Letting It Go: Relieve Anxiety and Toxic Stress in Just a Few Minutes Using Only Words (Rapid Relief with Logosynthesis®) is a user-friendly introduction to the process.
For a copy of the 3 Logosynthesis sentences you can download a free copy of Quick Start Guide: Using Logosynthesis to Release Anxiety, Stress and Worry at http://www.BooksbyLaurie.com/guide
Find me at LaurieWeiss.com, Facebook.com/laurieweiss, www.Linkedin/in/laurieweiss, Twitter.com/@LaurieWeiss, Instagram.com/drlaurieweiss, Goodreads.com/Laurie_Weiss, BooksByLaurie.com
email: LaurieWeiss@EmpowermentSystems.com
Dr. Laurie Weiss has been changing the lives of women and men for over 50 years. She is an internationally known psychotherapist and author of 13 books. Otherwise she is a wife (60 years), mother of 2, grandmother of 5, and enjoys reading, aquacize, cooking, and many other things that will eventually be allowed again.
