Talk of “silver linings” at a time like this can sometimes sound like a bit of a platitude, and an irritating one at that. After all, having more time to yourself and your hobbies can wear a little thin when that is quite literally all you seem to have to do for days on end.
For the same reason, holidays are only special because they end. Too much “you time” can make you long for the busy days of old. To quote a classic: “Isn’t it ironic, don’t you think?”
This being said, I can honestly say that this weird, once-in-a-lifetime situation has gone a long way in teaching me a truly valuable lesson in something I’ve struggled with for the best part of my academic career: switching off, taking a break and not feeling guilty for it.
No off switch
To some it may sound ridiculous, but I do believe a lot of people in the medical field will empathise with me when I say that, for the longest time, I’ve been guilty of nearly working myself into the ground because I considered taking even a few hours off from studying, a project, whatever it may be, was completely unjustified and a luxury I did not deserve.
This is, of course, a horrible way to go about one’s life. If you never give yourself a chance to stop, smell the roses, and enjoy yourself for a little while, then working productively and effectively just is not achievable long term.
Under the hood
The human brain – and, indeed, the human body itself – is not a machine. It is not programmed for optimum efficiency 100% of the time. We’re more like a dodgy old car that needs a good amount of fuel and a lot of TLC every few miles to keep on chugging.
Not the most attractive analogy, I grant you, but I’m sure you get my meaning.
Before lockdown I would feel guilty for taking a short break from revision, let alone a whole day. This certainly made the first few weeks of self-isolation a challenge as there simply was not the same amount of work to do.
New normal
It took a while to convince myself the lack of productivity wasn’t laziness, but a product of a new and changing world – that everyone else in the world was in the same boat, riding the same crazy currents, doing the best they could.
With this slow epiphany it’s become easier to take time off and to divide my time up into periods of work and play; I think I’ve read more books in the past two months than in the past two years – not textbooks, either, but fiction (I’d forgotten there was such a thing).
Stronger
The staggering of work and downtime has also helped me to find that feeling of a scheduled, regular day that I’ve been searching for since this all began – and I’ve noticed I’m much more engaged with my studies as a result.
I hope that when normality returns (in whatever form that may be), I can remember the lessons this time has taught me and be stronger for them.
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