Motivation in a Locked Nation
Disclaimer: This blog is a stripped page from my memoir; a mere account of personal experience when the nation locked itself to battle the pandemic. It is not a preaching made in public service.
23rd March 2020, Monday marked the beginning of lockdown in the United Kingdom and the end of all known normality. Within a matter of days, routines changed, teaching and learning changed, working changed…and perspectives changed. I was no exception to the change either. Being in the final year of my undergraduate degree, the importance of getting everything right was higher than ever! The deadlines were set for the foreseeable future, schedules were made accommodating the prep time for such deadlines, the stress was rightfully stuck in the pre-frontal cortex. Rightfully so, the last thing I needed was a complete shakedown to my plans. Of course, the concept of unpredictability is careless to the meticulous planning of my year.
Sarcasm aside, I think it almost became like an urgent need to control everything that could possibly be controlled when it felt as though I was losing my grip on things. Weirdly enough, all it really took for me to feel calm and composed again was to simply accept the fact of the matter. Yes, that’s right, acceptance! The rebellious questioning that we’ve been conditioned to, begging the question – how can I accept the things that are wrong?! In my experience, I haven’t been able to stay productive without first accepting the status quo and then evaluating the feasible options that could be pursued. Change brings disruption, true, but more so than anything, it harbingers opportunities as well!
The lockdown was and is this opportunity to accept the imposed pause to our daily lives, take a step back and evaluate ourselves. I took it as this opportunity of freedom to choose a new routine. To start with, I made a list of all my academic priorities along with the things that I usually wouldn’t do on a regular basis, like cook and work out (it’s a cliché, granted, but still the truth!). I realised that it was all about the balance given any scenario, in this case, the lockdown. In this, to say that, “work-hard, play-hard” that the Leeds student lifestyle so aptly boasts of can still be sustained! I started my days with a morning work-out – a run in the Hyde Park, followed by a home work-out. This would certainly make my appetite for a nice, healthy breakfast! With such a nice start to the day, I remember I would fantasize about a perpetual holiday until the Google Calendar alerts would bring me back to the reality of deadlines to work for! So I’d work according to the “To-Do List” for the day.
One thing that would push me to keep working without distractions was the concept of “incentives”. I suppose most of the readers of this blog would be familiarised with the general understanding of incentives. I would give myself the incentive of a very fancy dinner in the evening if I worked for so and so hours. This is where I would like to tie in my use of natural curiosity and the love for food! Usually, in a non-lockdown life, my expenses would vastly contain bills of restaurants or cafés, but in the “new normal” life, I decided to try out new recipes every other day. This would be something that I would genuinely look forward to and that naturally became my source of motivation for ticking off my To-Dos. This was precisely the balance that I mentioned above. The balance of sorting out the academic/professional responsibilities and the joy of trying something new…all in one day! Weeks passed and complaints reduced.
I started taking this “balance” more seriously after I realised that I was actually able to be productive. This gave me the impetus of doing a bit more than the usual in a day. So, I pulled out my list of “Things that caught my attention”. I’ll admit I’m rubbish at writing academic essays, but I’m brilliant at making lists! This list is of an ongoing nature, where I keep adding things that catch my fancy either while browsing online, or during a conversation with someone. I started reading more about these things day by day. This gave me that satisfaction that I am devoting time for personal growth other than reading journal articles for my final dissertation. I think it’s this variety that kept my day interesting! And this is the variety that I suppose we all should aim for to achieve in a day to keep our spirits high. It could be reading a new book, (finally) watching that long list of Netflix movies, cooking a new meal or singing the unsung song from an old diary!
Changes are tough. Especially when it disrupts the very hope of going about our days…but it’s essential that we still find the courage in ourselves to pursue the banished thought of doing something new. The pandemic pause has given us that opportunity to embrace all our imaginations and balancing them out in actual execution. I eventually found my peace while balancing my work commitments with personal growth commitments. And I suppose in a weird perspective, I think this lockdown was needed to unlock our deepest desires and imaginations that were locked out cause of our otherwise busy lifestyles! It helped me tap my inner motivation to pursue my list of “Things that caught my fancy”…and I hope you readers did too.