Inspired by the lovely Lottie Map who wrote a blog post on her lockdown habits experience from a positive perspective, I thought I’d share a few positives I’ve found in this season too.

There have been so many real and difficult moments for myself and friends, family, and pretty much the entire globe. My friend, Debbie, described this so eloquently when she said that whilst we are all in the same storm, we are all in different boats. Isn’t that so true! 

I say that mindful of the challenges and pain many are feeling right now, and I don’t want to be insensitive to that. In the midst of it all, I wanted to share a few of the positives and lessons I’ve gathered as a good reflective exercise to help me remember those moments and if by sharing that helps inspire you to look for those nuggets in your world then hey presto, let’s go! 

YOU WILL FIND WHAT YOU LOOK FOR

I’ve noticed in the moments where anxiety has ranged for me that it started with a thought. One thought leads to another and the pattern continues until the penny drops and I find a new perspective. 

BUSY DOES NOT EQUAL SUCCESS

Being in lockdown for me in some ways felt busier than before. Whilst I treasure the easier mornings with Oxford traffic resembling London traffic more than ever. It still offers up a few challenges when navigating your work, home, and social life from one square space. 

It wasn’t long before my calendar would stack up with zoom chats and lots of activities that were great to have but overwhelming as I struggled to keep up with the sheer amount. That being said, being able to work from home has given me time and space to think and sow into both this website and my eCommerce business Frame Your World. For that, I am so grateful. In the first few weeks, I spent some time redesigning my website and dusting off some art skills of mine as I began to broaden my inspirational prints to include my hand-drawn illustrations and grew my product offerings to stationery, stickers (more on that later), postcards, smaller prints, and bookmarks. 

TAKE TIME TO CELEBRATE THE WINS… EVEN THE LITTLE ONES

This has been a very recent lesson that I’ve had to revisit as I write this. I planned to create and play about with my new Cricut machine to create some new die cut and planner stickers for my Etsy shop and print some orders that have come through, but my printer has run out of ink and so I have to wait another day before I can print again. This lesson is still in progress, but I’m getting better at making time to stop and reflect.

JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN DO SOMETHING, DOESN’T MEAN YOU SHOULD

This is a big one too and I’ve not mastered this one yet either, to be honest. Being entrepreneurial there are times where opportunities will present to me and I get so excited about the idea in the moment I have said yes to it, but in the end, the work that that one yes requires can lead me to feel drained and potentially feeling anxious which is no good so needless to say I’ll be moving forward saying no more so that I keep saying yes to those things in my heart.

What are some of the lessons or takeaways for you in lockdown?