The Little Things That Keep Me Sane!

It's been another debilitating week if I am honest. Living in the new COVID-19 World, has really taken its toll over the last week and there have been many occasions, I've just wanted to run away and hide. The constant anxiety triggering situations, are getting me down more and more, as each day passes. However, I am one of the lucky ones, who is active and able to carry on living as normal a life as possible. Work, in whatever capacity, is the real saving grace for me. Being around people is so important right now and on the day the Government announced Portsmouth is moving into the higher Tier 3, of Coronavirus restrictions, I am able to at least appreciate the little things that make me happy.

Entertainment venues, pubs and restaurants will be shutting down from Saturday and for those not working, on furlough, it is yet another blow to their sense of well-being, in this crazy time we are living in. Luckily, I am surrounded by people every day, it is rare for me to spend anytime on my own, so yet another draconian lockdown won't change my life that much. In reality, I haven't eaten out in a while, or even been able to spend quality time with friends, for an even longer period of time, but that doesn't seem to be bothering me too much.

At Cancer Research I am surrounded by friends and colleagues and each of us have done our best, to make each other smile. I have always had a great sense of fun anyway and my few hours a week volunteering just brings out the best, or some would say, worst in me. Monday morning is a time to relax and unwind from the previous week and I do make the most of my shift; this is a day I look forward to, suffering mentally when the shop was closed during the first wave of the pandemic. It is easy to see how people lose hope when they live alone, can not leave their homes or have to shield from the worst of the pandemic.

I am fortunate to be one of those rare breeds of people, who can always keep myself occupied, no matter how long I spend on my own, so this has become a time for reflection, writing and reassessing one's life. My days volunteering, working for a cause I truly believe in, gives me an escape from the worst of 2020. Taking photographs, gossiping and just having people to talk to, is really the icing on the cake, the glue that holds all of us together as a team

With the Newcome Arms closed indefinitely, until it becomes safe to work behind the bar again, I feel one of the lucky ones to still be furloughed. The Newcome is a popular local pub and there will always be a place in the hearts of all the patrons, for this venue; when we do open again, the bar will be as busy as it ever was. Unlike other businesses, the Newcome will bounce back stronger than ever, of that I am assured, and I do look forward to the day I can return safely. I still see many of the customers daily in my 9 to 5 job, less than half a mile away. This local supermarket is the place that has kept me going and stopped me from becoming so depressed, that I find it impossible to function.

Getting up every day, going to a job you love, conversing with colleagues and enjoying the banter with customers has been the biggest lifeline of all. I have worked particularly hard this year, during the pandemic, and it has kept my mind focused on the goals I set for myself. I have had very little time to think about my position and even less time to Wellow in my own self-pity. Listening to the concerns of shoppers and those I work with, have allowed me to forget my own difficulties, for the last nine months, and I am grateful to have had employment at such a challenging time for our country. I never would have believed, just how much my job in a supermarket, would have meant to me this time last year. This job to tide me over, while I stayed in the UK, has been the one thing that has given me a sense of purpose, while so many others lost direction, this has been the chink of light at a time of darkness and the road to freedom, during a year of heartache!

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