My grandson, Arthur Lee made his debut on Sunday, March 15th, 2020. Nothing unusual about that you may say, babies are born every minute and of course they are. It did, however, make me think – long and hard. How amazing that we have this ability to procreate, that Arthur was able to make it here safe and sound.
This great news was of course, in a timely fashion, posted on social media. A time to celebrate. There were many comments of congratulations as you would expect, however one stood out. “New life amongst all this chaos.”
“New life amongst all this chaos.”
Chaos indeed. The Coronavirus had arrived just ahead of Arthur, rushing in like a wave, pushing through, finding more and more and more ways to cause this chaos or at least throw us, humans, into creating chaos by the ways we currently live and trade. We have had chaos before and will again, but what is this chaos and how can we move back towards calm?
I heard yesterday of a man being attacked for his supply of toilet rolls. Badly beaten to leave him critically ill. I haven’t been able to corroborate this story, I have however found stories of a man being mugged for his supply and a person being tasered after attacking staff at a store over toilet rolls. Times like these bring panic behaviour.
What about the flip side? Chaos can be a time for diversity and creativity. Everything is usually always to hand and so we can be forgiven for not having to think about simple things like toiletries, however right now, thinking outside the box is exactly what’s needed and yes, there will be those that profit and that’s okay too, it happens every time we find ourselves in this situation.
“Necessity is the mother of invention.”
Most of us are too young to remember the Second World War, the rationing, the bombing, the hardships, the camaraderie, communities pulling together, make do and mend. With our throw-away ‘plastic’ society, this new chaos we are in has got some of us looking at alternatives.
Back to toilet rolls (who would have thought they would be top of the list for scarcity and topic of conversation), a quick look on the internet gives plenty of ideas for dealing with this. To me it was already quite simple, what have we already got at home that we can use as a cheap alternative? I’ve been washing and reusing wet wipes all over the home for years, so now here’s another use for them – simple. Need a bidet? Use the shower. There is even the novel suggestion of using a water pistol as a portable bidet. Who would have thought! There will always be humour too thankfully. My husband saw this written in the dust of a van, “No toilet rolls kept in this van overnight.
“No toilet rolls kept in this van overnight.”
Back to communities and the social aspect. When my mum was young it was commonplace to chat with your neighbour over the wall. Row upon row of houses in places like Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. Financially poor and community rich. Relatives would live nearby, extended families abounded. It’s different today.
Self-isolation, especially coming in the warmer season, needs to mean more people connecting verbally and socially while being able to maintain that safe ‘over the wall from your neighbour’ distance. Keeping away from people generally is terrible for good emotional wellbeing. Socialising at a safe distance is perfectly possible and absolutely vital. If we don’t, the mental health pandemic we already have (pandemic in my opinion), is only going to get worse.
Facebook groups are emerging to bring communities together to support those who are less able or may find themselves in self-isolation. Make the effort to find yours locally.
Business support groups are popping up to remind us to help each other where we can. Some of us, especially small or sole traders will go out of business if we can’t trade, some will diversify, some will profit. I am fortunate that I can still offer my services online, others cannot.
Food supplies next. At home, we’re already pretty good at not wasting food and we do cook from scratch, but what else can we do? Are there things in the cupboard we might previously have left to go out of date? How inventive can we be with store cupboard items? Time to put my O’ Level cookery grade B to more use. What small culinary changes can we make to create relevant and money-saving outcomes?
“Research shows that a minimum of two hours a week (in nature) is necessary to support our emotional wellbeing.”
As Plato said, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” As an Emotional and Physical Wellbeing Practitioner, I hope this chaos will move people to look after themselves more. Is this the time when so many people who don’t cook, feel they don’t have the time to cook or feel they simply don’t know how to cook, will seek out advice online, try out recipes, share this learning and new skills with their children, save money? Will people take more walks and connect with nature (research shows that a minimum of two hours a week is necessary to help our emotional wellbeing) as part of getting out and yet not being in crowds?
With food choices I always say to patients and clients if it has more than five ingredients or you can’t pronounce all of the ingredients, perhaps the item is best left on the supermarket shelf. This is a great opportunity to move away from processed food and eat more naturally.
Since the rise of low-fat products and artificial sweeteners, obesity has risen alongside. Back to basics is a phrase we are well placed to remember. The more natural the food, the less processed, evening juicing, the better for your body.
With exercise, what can you do for free? ‘Green Gyms’ in our parks, using your home as a gym, chair exercise, using the stairs more (remember the steps box craze of the ’80s?). Yes, this one of my many ‘Soapboxes’ and I make no apologies.
“If it has more than five ingredients or you can’t pronounce all the ingredients, perhaps the item is best left on the supermarket shelf.”
This article isn’t about finding the silver lining, it isn’t about always looking on the bright side, it’s about riding the wave of chaos as a community until once again we find that calm and maybe this time we’ll learn how to be more prepared in the future. Think not what I can’t do, what am I being prevented from doing but what can I do?
Arthur Lee, you came into this world oblivious of this global mess, you may never know anything like the angst and panic that is happening right now, I hope you don’t. What I hope you do find is that communities connect more, people live more in each other’s lives than they currently do, that society slows down, that the wisdom of ancient tribal cultures has its place in whatever current society you inhabit.
Arthur, you are our new life in this chaos. Thank you for joining us, for continuing our tribe. I hope the society that succeeds this one, the one that you will be part of as an adult, far exceeds the expectations any of us may have.
Kate Guest is an Emotional and Physical Wellbeing Practitioner. She specialises in working with children and young adults with anxiety-related issues and with adults with long term health conditions such as Diabetes, Arthritis, Asthma and lesser known conditions such as P.O.T.S. (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome).
