My Eleventh Week In Lockdown - Coronavirus Crisis
I am sure that this week in 2020 will go down in history. It has been a week of reflection, education, support and empowerment. When we eventually come out of lockdown, I want to be living in a racially equal world, and this fight for equality will be won.
Reflecting on the event of George Floyd’s death in America, it actually hurts my heart. I find it hard to even watch the video because it makes me realise that this is the reality for black people in America at this time, and it is just NOT ok. I have spent a lot of this week educating myself on BlackLivesMatter whilst also signing lots of petitions and having lots of open discussions with my friends and family, sharing petitions and educating each other as well as ourselves. It’s mad to even think that this fight has even got to be fought; the world would be so boring if everyone was the same. This is not a battle of black vs white, this is a battle of everyone vs racists, and we will win, and there will be justice for George and every other innocent person killed by a racist. It is horrible to hear the pain in the voices of black people who have been affected by racial abuse, but I think we are all feeling the pain that this is a battle that should not have to be fought. I will never fully understand what it must be like to be racially abused, but I understand as much as I possibly can and I am fully supportive of this movement to equality. I have linked the BlackLivesMatter site down below if you would like to educate yourself on the matter just like I have been doing this week.
This week I completed the Chloe Ting two-week shred challenge, finally! It was definitely hard, but I have seen such an improvement both in my strength and my appearance, so I would hugely recommend it as a beginner to working out. It was pretty difficult to start with but over the two weeks the exercises got gradually easier and I could do more exercises without taking breaks in-between. I genuinely think I have the weakest core and upper body known to man, and to be honest I still think I do, BUT, it is getting better and that is all I can ask for. To continue working out this lockdown, I have looked at a lot of Chloe Ting’s other workouts and made myself a weekly routine which I can stick to, but I can also add variety and choose the exact videos I want to use each day and this makes it a lot more exciting. I’m looking forward to seeing more progress in strength, body shape and weight loss over the next few weeks and will keep you updated!
Recently, I have been finding social media an overwhelming and quite toxic place to be. Before the tragedy of George’s death, I was finding social media a very negative place to be at the moment because I think people are starting to get bored this lockdown and are now getting agitated, which is now coming through on social media with lots of negativity. I have also found it really difficult seeing people breaking the lockdown rules and then flaunting it online. I have not been affected directly by the virus at all, but I know people who have and it is really hard to see them going through such pain, whilst others are ignoring what is happening in the world. With everything taken into consideration, I have had a break from social media and deleted Instagram and Twitter for the time being, and this week it has had a positive effect on my mental wellbeing, productivity levels in my last week of assignments, and also reduced my screen time by A LOT, which is also a good thing. Don’t get me wrong, I am such a big fan of social media overall, but right now I am finding it the best way to keep positive in myself and use my time wisely and for my own good at the moment. If anyone feels like they are overwhelmed in the world at the moment, taking a break and a step back and reflecting is definitely a great first step to building yourself back up again.
I had a lovely, busy weekend this weekend which started off with a buffet tea. This is usually a tradition when we have guests over, but I requested it for this weekend as a treat. We also finished off painting the woodwork, door and windowsill in my room (which is now complete as much as possible) and my Dad’s office which is also completely done. Two rooms down, two to go. We might have our upstairs pretty much done by the end of the summer! I also spent some time on Sunday baking an Apple and Raspberry Crumble. It tasted great, but the ratio of fruit to crumble was probably 70:30 whereas ideally it would have been 50:50, because who doesn’t love the crumble part of a crimble crumble. I am going to find another recipe and give it another go in the next couple of weeks and see how it turns out another time. I did however, make a TikTok of my baking skills so please check me out if you fancy - https://vm.tiktok.com/oAFoVu/
Things are looking more and more positive with the decreasing of the virus cases as the weeks go by. I hope soon we can fight all of what is unfair and disheartening in society at the moment and that the new normal we achieve will be even better than the last.
Keep smiling and have a great day! Liv xxx
