This blog is for those of you who know this is a good time for learning....and can’t.

Someone once said to me, "I don’t know how people with time can be bored. There’s so much I would do". I was trying to find work at the time, had no money and therefore had an urge to tell her to take a hike. I understood what she meant but it's almost inevitable that when you have time you don’t have much money, and when you have some money you don’t have Time. Stating that “now” is a great time to learn new skills is obvious but can add a lot of stress and pressure to a situation whilst eroding the very self-esteem you are trying to preserve.

So this is about giving yourself a break and not what else you should/ could be doing. There's enough to worry about. So, if you have time, money, motivation, found free stuff and are doing a crash course in whatever interests you, then that’s fab. I salute you.

If you can’t then don’t let this be something to beat yourself up about. Thoughts about what you ‘should be’ doing are destructive. Learning might bring images of new skills, greater knowledge and personal development, but the fact is that it’s nine weeks into a pandemic and you are up today getting through it. You have coped with all these days in isolation  and learnt how to manage with the admin, tasks, new pressures, and the loss of your tribe which in itself is a type of bereavement even if short lived.

It might not always feel as if you were getting through in the best way, but who cares. This is about you: give yourself a huge hug for having learnt all that you have to get to today. So, as opposed to looking at your phone and all the things other people are doing, worrying about all those enticing apps that promise to impart all the answers, go and put the phone away, lie down, close your eyes and go think about yesterday’s blog: breathe, smell, taste, feel, breathe, be. Breathe.  You are special. Learn to let yourself be you, and know that is already enough.