OPINION // MICKY MURRAY
COPING A LOT BETTER THAN I THOUGHT I WOULD MICKY MURRAY MY KETTLE HAS NEVER
Every day I’ve been waking up around 6am,
on my own away from my laptop and social
WORKED so hard in its life.
I almost NEVER do this usually, so it’s taken
media, and it does wonders for your physical
quite a bit of self-discipline, it’s so easy to just
and mental health to get out of the house and
I’m assuming that by the
turn over and go back to sleep. I’m not a great
forget about everything going on in the world.
time we go to print we will
sleeper, so I’ve started using the ‘Get Sleepy’
Social media has its share of downsides,
still all be self-isolating and
podcast to get to sleep. It talks you through
especially when it comes to fake news and
on lockdown.
some breathing exercises to do to relax and
people being able to say what they want with
then someone reads a story, keeping track of
zero accountability, but recently the good
I must say, I’m coping a
the story isn’t important, and it’s been such a
side of social media has been coming out,
lot better than I thought I
great help getting me to sleep, which is how
I’ve spent a lot of time getting my “going
would be at this stage, even
I’ve been able to get up early in the mornings.
out” kick from Facebook live videos, Marcus
if we are only four, long,
I understand that this is so much easier to do if
Hunter-Neill, aka Lady Portia Di’Monte, does
weeks in, I expect it would
you’re waking up to work from home.
a great segment every day at 3pm, so I take a tea break and stick it on at 3pm and leave it
be a very different picture if I ran out of tea bags. The
current
situations
makes me thankful that I can work from home, it’s been a bit strange at times, and difficult to adjust, but I’m thankful that I’m in this position. I have one of the best job in politics, as a constituency
officer
the
majority of what I do is essentially to help people, and it’s been comforting to see all the organisations, businesses, and voluntary groups
coming
together
and repurposing what they do, to provide much needed community support. I’m one of those people
“If you’re like me then It’s incredibly easy right now to stay up late, binge on Netflix and comfort food, and generally neglect yourself. So I’ve been making an effort to keep some sort of structure to my day.”
between
guests, shows wee videos he’s been watching, and it’s really down to earth and great to listen in on. ‘The Virtual Lounge’, which is a virtual live lounge on Facebook managed by Alex Jay from The Diva Dolls, have almost daily shows on, from local drag artists, acoustic sets, and even people like Kitty Brucknell from The X Factor, it’s definitely worth checking out to fill the void of not being able to go out, and I’ve been watching, virtually, with friends with has been fun. Of course it’s been an incredibly difficult time for society, and especially for all those people who are self-isolating alone, but there is something really uplifting about the outpour of support across communities, the people volunteering with the Health and Social Care sector, and all the people who are going the extra mile to make sure that everyone has
who get lost during the week
on it the background while I’m working, he has
what they need.
Christmas
Every morning, well most mornings – this
and New Year’s, I forget
morning I stayed in bed and watched Ellen
what
all
DeGeneres for an hour and a half, I’ve been
Stay safe, be nice, take advantage of a terrible
understanding of time goes
going for my daily allowance of exercise.
situation and learn something about yourself,
out the window and if you’re
I’m using a ‘map my walk’ app, there’s quite
read something you normally wouldn’t read,
like me then It’s incredibly
a few available, to map out a 4-5km walk,
watch some documentaries so you’re not frying
easy right now to stay up
taking different routes as much as possible.
your brain with fiction, pick up the phone and
late, binge on Netflix and
It’s such a great start to the day, the suns up,
have a chat with a friend, this is a great time
comfort food, and generally
the temperatures fair, and there’s no one else
for those “yeah, we should hang out sometime
neglect yourself. So I’ve
around. As I usually work behind a desk my
soon” friends to properly reconnect.
been making an effort to
walk to and from work and my lunch time walk
keep some sort of structure
are sometimes the only daily exercise I get, so
to my day.
it’s been really important for me to have a walk
day
it
is
and
This is an opinion piece from the columnist/ contributor and not the opinion of GNI MAG / Romeo & Julian Publications Ltd.
SEVENTEEN // GNIMAG.COM
