COVID LESSONS

Sometimes you have to get ill before you can be well

RACHEL MUSSON the Director of Education at ThoughtBox takes a look at some of the lessons that Coronavirus is teaching us. “ CORONACOASTER” is how Rachel Musson describes what we are currently experiencing. Rachel is Founding Director of ThoughtBox Education CIC, which works with schools to offer a range of triple “Lockdown gave many of us the time and space to step back from our daily wellbeing programmes supporting whole-child, whole-system wellness. lives and look at some of She says: “Covid19 has a lot of lessons to teach us. The sudden arrival of the the behaviours and habits pandemic invited the entire world to pull on the handbrake. Whilst an illness that are making us all like Covid may appear random, such illnesses often arrive as the result of ill (such as our work-life something malignant lingering that is making us sick. This virus is inviting us to balance, commuting live a lot more care-fully (sic) because let’s face it, we’re really not feeling very habits, diets etc.) We need well and haven’t been for some time.” to start thinking about long-term wellness.” Rachel believes our collective illness is a consequence of what many leading Rachel believes that lockdown also helped us to see ways to put ourselves back thinkers call the three disconnections - a slow-growing fragmentation over time that has transformed the basis of society and the relationships within it, seen in the following ways: 1. We are not well together again in three crucial ways: l 1. It offered an unspoken invitation towards social responsibility. Values of kindness, care and compassion abounded in our communities, with people helping those around them in need and rising up for the common good. We Many illnesses have been exacerbated by the virus, from obesity and diabetes to cancer. Added to this, a mental health pandemic threatens, with stress, anxiety, overwhelm and depression levels soaring. 2. Society is not well We’re seeing mass protests across the world - from Black Lives Matter to socialinequality to climate justice. These highlight the ever-growing problems in our societies and how ill some of our social systems have become. 3. Our planet is not well We are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction, filled with changing climates, rising sea levels, species depletion and eco-system collapse. The natural world is showing so many symptoms of illness, we should be dialling 999. Three stages of illness – in ourselves, in our societies and across the natural world – whose symptoms have been growing more malignant for years, caused through the slow-growing separation from ourselves, from people around us and from the natural world. So, how do we heal? Rachel explains: “When Covid arrived, we yearned for a cure and lamented the good old days when we could wander freely, hang out in the crowd, hug. recognised the revitalising effect of this in creating healthy communities. l 2. Wildlife tiptoed tentatively back into the spaces we’d so noisily inhabited. We welcomed the taste of clean air, how quiet the days were, how amazing it was to hear the birdsong again. And we all appreciated how good this felt – even if just for a moment. l 3. Many of us were given the opportunity to slow down a little and look at our lives more objectively and reflect on where we were finding meaning in our life. Whether it was the feeling of peace that emerged from those quieter days, the appreciation of more time with loved ones each day, the joy of having more autonomy over our working lives, many of us found neglected parts of ourselves that we’d love to nourish. Rachel concludes: “This virus is inviting us all – the whole world - to slow down, take stock, stop running from (or into) what will keep making us ill, and instead focus on wellness. And whilst waiting around for vaccines and antidotes is one way to defeat this current illness, a daily dose of triple wellbeing sounds like a pretty good medicine to me.” l You can explore ThoughtBox’s new online teacher training and Yet, we could all do with looking a bit deeper at some of the real causes of our programmes helping bring wellbeing into the heart of learning at www. symptoms. thoughtboxeducation.com.

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RAMM’s lockdown legends

OUR communities’ own ‘Lockdown Legends’ are being honoured in a new photographic exhibition celebrating our communities’ responses to the coronavirus. Exeter’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery (RAMM), alongside Liveable Exeter and Exeter City Council, have announced the dates of their photographic exhibition, Lockdown Legends - a celebration of local people who have shown particular kindness, courage, humanity or ingenuity during the coronavirus pandemic. Over the summer, members of the public were invited to nominate their coronavirus champions, submitting both their stories and photographs to illustrate inspirational accounts of hard work, compassion and selflessness. Those nominated ranged from refuse collectors to face mask creators, fundraising heroes to taxi drivers-turned-delivery men, parents, grandparents, young people and many more. Lockdown Legends celebrates the resilience of the people of Devon, showcasing those who have given so much during the coronavirus crisis, helping some of Devon’s most vulnerable populations. It brings their stories together to be shared with everyone. l The exhibition is hosted on RAMM’s digital exhibition venue Showcase online at: showcase.rammuseum.org.uk/lockdown-legends and open to visitors at venues including Exeter Guildhall, Exeter Library, and Exeter Princesshay (window display).