Once Upon A Time In Lockdown Download Zip File ^NEW^
Lekisha Gruenewald
Once upon a time all I painted were palm trees and we will move onto that in a moment. During lockdown initially it felt quite difficult to focus on making art. I started off painting a few large canvases that were quite emotional in their content, large doves with expressive words integrated such as hope, trust and gratitude.
Over a period of around two weeks I painted all ten canvases with imagery to cheer me up. A holiday to Portugal had been cancelled and I wanted to be transported into a holiday mode so worked on a series of palm tree paintings. Each palm is painted from my imagination but I have made countless drawings from real palms many times in my concertina sketchbooks when I travel so the muscle memory of the shapes is ingrained into my being.
Of course some people have found themselves busier than ever during lockdown, juggling the technological challenges of working from home with the new job of home-schooling their children. Despite their busyness, their new life is spent almost entirely in one location, leading them to make far fewer new memories than usual and the sensation that time has whizzed by. Dozens of Zoom calls from the same surroundings can start to merge into one compared with memories of real life where we see people in different places.
I wonder whether our time perception in lockdown is also altered by the necessity to live more in the present. When the mind is left to wander, in normal times we often daydream about the future, but with less to anticipate or arrange, our time horizon has shortened. Now we might only look ahead by a few days or alternatively into the far distant future when we imagine this might all be over.
As the main aim of the study was to explore differences in physical, mental and psychosocial behaviours during COVID-19 lockdown restrictions and the post-lockdown period, participants were asked to respond to the questions reflecting on both time periods. As a reminder, a list of the lockdown restrictions was provided at the start of the survey and then throughout the survey in the form of a pop-up window to assist recollection.
Lockdown was associated with a significant increase in self-reported mental disorders with 40% of respondents reporting mild to severe mental disorders (Kessler-10) compared to 28% in the post-lockdown period. This effect was observed in both males and females (Table 7). A significant increase in the levels of depression and stress were identified using the DASS-21 instrument, but not for anxiety. At the sex level, only females showed a statistically significant increase in the level of depression across the two time periods (Table 8).
Despite the overall reduction in community physical activity levels, many respondents maintained similar levels of physical activity through the lockdown period, with about a third reducing their levels, while 15% increased them relative to the post-lockdown period. Some understanding of this diverse response comes from a small Canadian qualitative study that identified four themes on how the participants perceived COVID-19 lockdown impacted them: (1) Disruption to Daily Routines, (2) Changes in Physical Activity, (3) Balancing Health, and (4) Family Life [48]. Each of these themes encapsulated both positive and negative effects of the pandemic on physical activity with, as an example, some participants modifying their physical activity routines during the pandemic to maintain levels, while others had difficulty adapting and hence decreased their levels of activity. In the current study, similar differences were identified in the way the respondents perceived the impact of the lockdown in their physical activity with many of those who reduced their activity citing they had limited options, fear of becoming infected and loss of motivation over time. On the other hand, those that increased their activity levels reported they had more time to exercise, managed to adapt their routines and believed it would aid their mental health. In addition, our survey respondents noted that many gyms adapted classes to an online platform to retain members and to meet member needs. Interestingly, a Saudi Arabian study showed there was a significant increase in health-related quality of life and reduced psychological distress in adults who were physically active compared with inactive participants regardless of the level of impact of COVID-19 on their lives [49]. This study corroborates the mental health benefits of physical activity during such a pandemic [50] and suggests that finding the right health promotional message to encourage members of the community to maintain or increase their level of physical activity could have positive outcomes on their mental well-being during periods of great challenge.
An investigation of a 3 month lockdown in 2020 due to COVID-19 on the physical, mental and psychosocial aspects showed significant negative changes in physical activity, nutrition, alcohol and soft drink consumption, mental well-being and psychosocial health in the Western Australian community. While there is obvious need for governments to disseminate information about how individuals can protect themselves from infectious disease such as COVID-19, it is also clear that they need to provide timely and accurate information about the disease in a balanced way to help improve well-being. These programs need to be complimented with effective health promotion strategies directed at adopting or maintaining positive health related behaviours and ongoing evaluation to ensure they are targeted to all sections of the community. Such strategies need to address the challenges of social isolation, lifestyle changes, physical and nutritional habits.
It was lunch hour
And the shop was as empty as concrete.
They were only letting fifty people
In the store at a time
Due to the recent lockdown rules
Amid the coronavirus outbreak.
What worried people most
Was not the virus itself
But the outlook it had on humanity.
lockdown has taught me to appreciate everything big and small
oh but just think of all the family time
cracking up jokes and laughing all the same
karaokeing through the night
dreaming of going back to school and seeing friends
outside clapping for the NHS and all the key workers
walking through the countryside with family
never stopping and going the extra mile to help other people
As the troubled waters stirred, the ticking clock did strike and we drew a deep breath inward as the worried path did spike.
The yearn of yesteryear; of joyous pastime had, was now an echo in the air (once thought of good) had now turned bad.
As waters muddy deeper, the words of wise men sought and the memes upon my Facebook bring laughter where once was nought.
And while the chambers whisper in cunning sly manoeuvres
A belly laugh of outburst; that my friend, was down to You.
It was lunch hour
And the shop was as empty as concrete.
They were only letting fifty people
In the store at a time
Due to the recent lockdown
Amid the coronavirus outbreak.
What worried people most
Was not the virus itself
But the outlook it had on humanity.
In the absence of data, prepare-for-the-worst reasoning leads to extreme measures of social distancing and lockdowns. Unfortunately, we do not know if these measures work. School closures, for example, may reduce transmission rates. But they may also backfire if children socialize anyhow, if school closure leads children to spend more time with susceptible elderly family members, if children at home disrupt their parents ability to work, and more. School closures may also diminish the chances of developing herd immunity in an age group that is spared serious disease.
Krishnamurthy Bhattachar locates a jotting in his diary, where he records with sadness his inability to perform Pavitrotsavam during his life time. His son, 48-year old Gopalan Bhattar, who joined the temple at a monthly salary of just Rs. 45, says that while the shutting down of temples for devotees is saddening, the lockdown is not entirely new to him for he spent his entire childhood at Pullam Bhoothangudi without devotees. He says with pride that in spite of it, his father performed aradhana all alone every day of the year for several decades. The lack of devotees was not a deterrent and his father faithfully performed his duty as per the agamas. Never once did he complain about the poor financial state or the absence of devotees.
A majority (64%) of those who are currently working from home all or most of the time say their workplace is currently closed or unavailable to them; 36% say they are choosing not to go to their workplace.4 When asked how they would feel about returning to their workplace if it were to reopen in the month following the survey, 64% say they would feel uncomfortable returning, with 31% saying they would feel very uncomfortable. For those who are choosing to work from home even though their workplace is available to them, majorities cite a preference for working from home (60%) and concern over being exposed to the coronavirus (57%) as major reasons for this.
Among employed adults who are not working from home all of the time and are interacting in-person at least some with others at their workplace, concerns about coronavirus differ by gender, race and ethnicity. Women (60%) are more likely than men (48%) to be at least somewhat concerned about being exposed to the virus. And Black (70%) and Hispanic (67%) workers are more likely to be concerned than White workers (48%). In addition, Black and Hispanic workers are less likely than White workers to be very satisfied with the measures that their workplace has taken to protect them from being exposed to the coronavirus.
Among teleworkers who are choosing not to work from their workplace, majorities say a preference for working from home (60%) and concerns about being exposed to the coronavirus (57%) are major reasons why they are currently working from home all or most of the time. Smaller shares cite restrictions on when they can have access to their workplace (14%) or relocation (either permanent or temporary) to an area away from where they work (9%) as major reasons why they are currently working from home.
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