Old School Memories

Old School Memories

Yesterday, before the sweeping stage 4 changes were announced by the Premier for Melbourne, my niece Facebook messaged me a postcard I sent her from my travels in 1993.  This was one was from Israel.  It described how to float properly in the Dead Sea.  I wrote; “One doesn’t have much that much control unless one lies like a cross in the water”.  She was a primary school aged child.  I was a 20 something the world is my oyster young woman.  She labelled her Facebook message to me - Old School Memories.

By night, when I was free to respond to her -   I was able to reflect; how that simple gesture of her sending me the postcard, I had sent her 2 decades ago, had brought me so much.  There were the memories of my travels (a time when we were free to travel without thought) and then a bunch of things about my relationship with my niece.  About the bond and the love and the connection we share. 

We had a bit of an exchange via FB message about the memories and what caring for others means. I wrote to her reflecting that the 13th of March, 1993, when I had dated the postcard, was a much simpler time.  Yes, it was a time when we were thrown back much more onto on own inner resources and internal devices, than until quite recently we were used to.  It seems that 2020 and COVID has changed much of that.  Yet we can learn from this time and some of us from our younger selves. 

Second time around for the restrictions is exhausting and many of us report feeling frustrated, angry, and overwhelmed.  My simple premise is that we all have done this once, and we can do it again.  Self-care and care for others is the key. We all need to press our daily refresh button and be purposeful about each and everyday during the Lockdown.  Thankfully for those on Mental Health Plan, the government has announced 10 extra sessions of counselling.

 Some Tips for Living Lockdown Style:

ü  Put the reflective brakes on and literally take a breather;

ü  Create the me time in the we time of family or working from home

ü  Have a project to focus, this might be as simple as getting through day by day or it might be developing a fully blown side hustle;

ü  Find ways to have daily positive social interactions outside your immediate living circumstances

ü  Shift the focus and choose something each day that you are grateful for and something that might have made you smile if you were in a different mood;

ü  Take the opportunity to do the exercise we are allowed

ü  Journal

ü  Do something each day that makes you feel accomplished.

This is Day one of one day – a time we when are creating our own old School memories.

                                                                                                     3rd of August, 2020

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Renate Hoffmann is a Mental Health Social Worker and Family Therapist with over 20 years experience. She helps children, adults and couples navigate a path through life’s challenges and is highly skilled in a range of techniques to bring out client’s strengths. Renate works at Port Phillip Psychology, Chelsea.