January blues or lockdown fatigue?
Around the 3rd week in January, I began to notice that my mood had taken a nose dive. Some of it was just normal January blues (dark nights, cold weather, less time outdoors) and, let’s face it, much of it was down to lockdown fatigue. Here in West Yorkshire, we’ve spent most of the last 10 months in some sort of lockdown. We had a brief period of summer freedom (I remember July fondly) before local lockdowns started in August and our connection with family and friends became restricted once more.
I had no expectations that the turn of the year from 2020 to 2021 would miraculously mean that the pandemic would be over and I’d even figured that we’d be in some form of lockdown throughout January. I’m lucky that my freelance work is home based and that we have some fabulous countryside on our doorstep, so I was mentally ready to continue with local outdoor activities and business as usual.
What I’d not factored in was an accident on the 2nd day of the month. We were on the mountain bikes and got caught out in a sudden and heavy snowstorm. It was initially good fun, cycling out of the woods which had become a winter wonderland in the space of half an hour. But then, an icy road downhill led to my bike skidding and I landed on a hard tarmac road. The result was a trip to A&E in the height of the pandemic and a cast on my left arm for a still unspecified period of time.
I always find that January is the most depressing month of the year and my two coping mechanisms are:
As much exercise, fresh air and daylight as possible
Daily yoga via the fabulous 30 day Yoga with Adriene (an annual free of charge event)
So, with my left hand out of action, I found myself pretty restricted in what I could do.
The 30 day programme had lots of weight bearing moves on the hands (which I’d normally love), so I ended up abandoning it in favour of some shorter, gentle, hands free yoga which has been ok but not really what I needed.
My regular HITT workouts were halted after the nurses in the fracture clinic recommended I avoid intense exercise while in a cast.
Walking became an ordeal - from dressing myself in suitable warm or waterproof clothing with only one hand, through to the seemingly endless cold snaps which meant it felt sketchy underfoot with snow and ice.
Mountain biking was obviously out of the question!
My normal antidotes to stress were absent, and at a time when I had heightened anxiety from being injured, coping with only 1 hand, attending several hospital appointments during a pandemic, not being able to visit my elderly Dad living alone, struggling to keep up with work because it was that much harder to type, worry about the new more virulent strains of the virus, and more….
One of the hands free yoga sessions I found online was for Yoga for loneliness and it was really interesting to hear that “when we feel anxiety from loneliness or maybe a deep sadness or depression, it’s often because there’s stagnant energy in the body that’s getting caught”. THAT was exactly how I felt! I normally exercise and generate energy pretty much every day, so I guess it was no wonder that my mood had begun to suffer.
Another interesting thing which helped was during an EFT tapping meditation. Hearing that low mood can be attributed to hopelessness and helplessness really resonated with me! I was feeling hopelessness about the ongoing never ending pandemic, rising deaths and new strains leading to more cases. And I was feeling helplessness about my wrist, about my inability to do the most basic things, about being at the mercy of hospital appointments, and about a lack of diagnosis meaning that I still had no idea how long the situation would be going on for.
Until I managed to unpick some of the reasons behind my mood diving, I’d been at a loss to understand why I coped pretty well throughout the restrictions and worries of 2020 (which had come right on the back of my Mum dying suddenly), yet 2021 was already a fight to stay positive.
I shared how I was feeling with those around me and found that I wasn’t alone. This article in the New Statesman “It’s not just you: Why the current lockdown is having an extreme effect on mental health” explains some of the reasons behind this. Despite the vaccination programme being rolled out as quickly as possible, the UK as a whole is struggling right now and mental health issues are increasing.
So you may wonder whether we can do anything about it?
The mental health charity, MIND, has some really good information on their “Tips for every day living” page. I also put together a blog post last year “How to reduce stress” which has an overview of the things I generally do to reduce stress.
From my own personal experience, I find things easier to deal with once I recognise and accept how I’m feeling. It helps me to go easier on myself and share how I feel with family and friends. It also means that I can have more awareness of the food I eat and how often I’m exercising or getting fresh air.
What works best, will be different for all of us but I hope that, if nothing else, anyone suffering with low mood right now will feel just a little less alone.
Take care, and stay safe x
You may also be interested in my previous blog post about supporting your immune system.
Outdoor-Girl is run by Jacquie Budd, a freelance writer providing content writing, copywriting and digital marketing services for businesses and charities.
Visit www.jacquiebudd.com for more information.
