Anyone else's social media feeds chock-full of posts demonstrating how productive people have managed to be during lockdown - think languages learned, baking skills acquired, freshly styled houses and/or gardens, multiple spring cleans leaving abodes totally immaculate and single-handed push-ups carried out with ease? Cool, me too.
I even came across one Instagram meme that read: 'If you don't come out of this quarantine with a new skill, more knowledge, better health and fitness, you never lacked time, you lacked discipline'. I'm not sure about you, but for me, these posts make me feel like my value of lockdown is measured by this arbitrary productivity tool: have I done enough? Have I made the most of it? Have I wasted this time completely?
Read: Why 2020 is the year we stop comparing ourselves to others on social media
But we are dealing with a global situation that is totally unprecedented for any of us - it's a pandemic, and the world has been turned upside down. We've been stripped of our daily routines, confined to indoors (mostly) and been forced to face lots of really sad news that is likely to cause most who are reading emotional distress.
We don't need to turn adversity into art - I mean, literally… How many of your friends have bought canvases and a paint set and turned into artists recently?! I count four.
While doing all of the above is a wonderful way to spend your time and absolutely should be encouraged, it's also perfectly ok to take some time out and enjoy this pause from everyday chaos. To protect ourselves and our families (huge shoutout, by the way, to those of you with children - I am forever in awe) and to get our heads around the situation and the upsetting news.
Read: Struggling with the idea of gaining weight during self-isolation? Well, you need to read this advice
Take the pressure off, let go of expectations, unfollow anyone who's making you feel bad on social media and cut yourself some slack.
