My time during lockdown

During lockdown from March to the end of April, I was at first working from home. That time was filled with work, so I did not have to think of much to occupy my time. However, I was then furloughed at the end of April. From then until September I had 5 months to occupy myself whilst living at home with my family.

Obviously, a lot of my time included watching Netflix, Disney+ and endless social media scrolling, like many of us! However, I did make some of my time as productive as possible. Working out from home with online work outs and going on long walk. It was probably the most time I have spent outside on my own away from a screen also taking in the countryside I am fortunate to have around me back at my home in York. I also took up yoga, doing a session every morning. This was great for my mindfulness and centring myself at the beginning of everyday, especially with all the news of coronavirus, it was nice to have a relaxing escape.

I also, like many, had zoom calls and quizzes with family and friend to keep in touch. This was probably the longest time I spent away from some of my closest friends and relatives face-to-face my whole life. Having zoom calls weekly to keep in touch and make me and my family feel not so isolated and alone during this strange time is something I was extremely fortunate to have the internet for.

Me and my home family (mum, step dad and brother) with all of us furloughed at home and living all under the same roof in close proximity needed something to entertain us… and stop us from ripping each other’s heads off! So, we started a TikTok channel (@TheSteeleFamilyx), I know this is something a lot of individuals did to pass time. We spent hours learning dance routines and finding funny new content to film and upload. Many of our videos in this time got thousands of views (making my mum think we had become internet famous). It was a great pastime and something we will all look back on fondly during our time together in lockdown.

It was also mine and my brother’s birthday during the peak of lockdown (May). Missing out on celebrating two of our biggest birthdays (my 21st and Noah’s 18th) was pretty rubbish to say the least. With our big party plans cancelled we had to make do with at home parties. Mum did an amazing job with balloons, drinks, and food to make the day as special as possible. With many of our friends and families doing social-distanced door drop off’s with gifts and cakes they really were special days. They are birthdays we will not forget.

A huge thing in my family is food. We love going out to eat and try new foods and going all over the world to try them. Therefore, we decided to do our very own at home come dine with me. 4 nights of us each taking turns to cook a two-course dinner. Check out the video I filmed and edited (roughly!!) to see who won!

I was fortunate during lockdown to have a close loving family to spend this time with. Despite the pandemic it was great to make so many memories and have the amount of free time to fill with family and my own personal time.