While it's been a privilege to be able to stay home and have a home to live in during the coronavirus outbreak, it's hard to deny that lockdown has been a challenge. It removes us from the comforts of everyday life – the joy of sharing a pint with friends or celebrating a birthday with family. Yet for many of us, the experience has also given us a chance to pause, reflect, and evaluate what matters most. In What I Learned During Lockdown, the authors share what this period has meant to them and what lessons they will take away as we all begin to emerge from the cocoon of COVID-19.
When the UK first went into lockdown in March 2020, I had been a few years into a new relationship with my body. After nearly a decade of fad diets, I've finally learned to embrace my body shape, and I'm excited to see what the future holds. But as anyone who struggles with body image can tell you, practicing self-love is a daily routine that can easily get sidetracked by life-changing events, like a global pandemic.
The first lockdown kept me in my apartment day after day. My mental health began to deteriorate, as did my relationship with my body. Feeling isolated and without a normal routine to stabilize my mood, coupled with the endless discussions surrounding "lockdown weight", my mindset changed without even realizing it. I started trying on clothes and became obsessed with how they fit my body. Are they getting smaller or am I getting bigger? I started using exercise as punishment and restricting my diet. Before I knew it, I was back to my old ways. I knew something had to change or I could lose everything I had worked so hard to achieve.
Can I use this enforced “me” time to find new ways to love and appreciate myself?
So I asked myself, would lockdown have the opposite effect? Can I use this enforced “me” time to find new ways to love and appreciate myself? It starts with a simple routine: wake up early and get dressed, eat intuitively again, and act for pleasure rather than results. Not leaving the house means not being judged unsolicited by strangers – something I used to deal with almost every day. I could wear whatever I wanted without prying eyes and begin to understand how I saw myself, rather than how I saw myself reflected in others.
Before lockdown, I hadn't worn a bikini since 2014. But when summer 2020 arrived, the feeling of being at home, in my own space, gave me the courage to put on a two-piece bikini and sit on the balcony. This may not sound like a big deal, but to me, it was groundbreaking. Now, when life finally returns to normal, I might even be ready to brave a bikini at the beach - which is huge.
Not leaving the house means not being judged unsolicited by strangers – something I used to deal with almost every day.
Like everyone else in lockdown, I've come to realize how important social media is to my life, especially as I continue my physical journey. In many ways, it became my lifeline, my only outlet to express myself and connect with other like-minded people. I started promoting positive body image on social media, taking pictures of myself in a bikini and posting them. The results were overwhelming. I get messages every day from strangers telling me how I’m helping them – when in fact, they’re helping me. Without the lockdown, I’m sure none of this would have happened.
I am now in the best shape I have ever been in loving my body. Of course, I still find it difficult at times, but this time of self-reflection has done wonders for how I see myself, and that's something I can always be grateful for.
