Additional Needs

Are We Nearly There Yet?!?

Posted by Carolyn Voisey on 15th July 2020 Additional Needs, Advice & Support, Disabilities

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Anyone else very bored of shielding now?! Oh, good. Not just us then.

Folks, I am going to be brutally honest here… while I love seeing friends and family, I am very much a homebird at heart; happiest when in my own space with my close family with me. As such shielding really hasn’t been as difficult as it could have been. But now, after so many months of not seeing other people and remaining at home, I can safely say I’m ready for a change of scenery…

When the Government suddenly announced a few weeks ago that ‘shielders’ could now go outside for exercise, my first thought was to grab the dog and go for the longest walk I could manage. Then the reality of having been isolated for many weeks hit – the prospect of leaving the safety of our home/garden triggered a wave of anxiety that was intense even by my standards.

Since then, we have slowly increased our adventures out of the house, even managing to take the Dude to town one (rainy) afternoon before all the shops were allowed to reopen.

We’re still here, and still shielding. At the end of July this will end, apparently, except it really won’t will it? Those of us who have been isolated like this need to rebuild our confidence – I will have to somehow manage the anxiety of Sam returning to school, alongside the fear that either his Dad or I may come into contact with the virus and pass it on to him.

That is my greatest fear.

We need to build up our support network again; my Mum who we usually see every weekend or at worst once a fortnight hasn’t now been able to stay since February. We have managed a couple of socially-distanced garden visits, but not being able to hug her is awful. Trying to work out a way of managing/mitigating the risks to Sam while opening our doors to carers again, including Mum, is currently consuming most of my night time hours.

Mum lives with my brother, sister-in-law and their three children; I’m going mad trying to work out how to manage the risks and am certain that they are far bigger in my mind than in reality. Unfortunately, that does not make them any easier to confront.

At the same time, all of us are growing increasingly restless and are itching to get back out into the world and start visiting some of our favourite places again. As the rest of the country slowly starts to relax and get back to some semblance of life-precovid, we will have to take things rather more slowly. While we’re moving closer to the finish line, we have a little way to go yet. Chin up folks, must be time to put the kettle on (again).