It’s Friday 14th March and we are all busy at the Volunteer Centre preparing for remote working. A long staff meeting in the morning followed by packing away computers, setting up online presence and making sure that the office pets, the sea monkeys, are taken to a safe house. A couple of staff members bring in yummy pastries to share, which we munch on and contemplate what is in store. It is a weird atmosphere when we say our good byes – when will we see each other again – in person?
The next Monday I wake up, roll out of bed and make my porridge before sitting down with the office laptop at my kitchen table. My fiancé, who is also working from home sits down with his computer. We have a very small kitchen table and soon start fighting for a bit of space – Gee I think this is going to be fun! I open up all my usual softwares. 220 New Registrations, instead of the usual 30-40. 140 emails. 85 applications. 299 people have indicated on our online platform that they are willing to volunteer during this crisis. Each and every registration and application needs a response to. Here we go!
A couple of days later we get a call from the HSE. They need help in recruiting and training volunteers for one of their drive through Covid 19 Screening Centres in Lucan– starting from tomorrow. All hands are on deck and for the next couple of weeks we get together an incredible group of volunteers who work hard to make patients coming to get tested, feel welcome and supported throughout the on-site testing process.
Two weeks in. My body is in bits. Shoulders, Neck and lower back in knots. I’m tired, oh so tired! And stressed. Helping out in Lucan during the day, trying to stay on top of emails, calls and plans in the evenings. It feels like the only upside at the moment is that we have managed to get an office table and a chair delivered and set up in the spare bedroom. Hello space! I discover that the phone reception at my flat is almost non-existent so I hang out of the window or run out to the car park to answer the phone and make my calls.
I realise that life has shrunk down to work and sleep. All in the same space. Even though I have been trying to keep to my usual exercise routine of running and yoga, my thoughts are governed by worry. Worry about work, worry about family, worry about the world – worrying about worrying. See, I am an active person. My life is a fast paced one! Always up and about, doing this, doing that. And if not doing, planning this and planning that. All of a sudden there is a very limited chance to be up and about – and planning! – did I just hear god having a little chuckle?
I need something else to focus on – something to reflect ‘normal’. Thankfully I have been a part of a choir since last year and the incredibly imaginative and creative choir conductor has come up with a plan to do virtual choir practice and a bi-weekly recording project of famous TV Tunes. I have been too busy to attend the first couple of practices, but I promise myself to make an effort now – my body and mind needs this!
I was also due to start a Yoga Teacher Training course in the end of March. The main teacher has been in touch and is offering her would-be students to practice with her virtually once a week until the studio can set up the first online-weekend schedule in the end of April. This turns out to be heaven sent!
My mind starts to relax – and my body follows. The Lucan Screening Centre is closed down temporally and I’m back at the computer most days – making sure that I am filling my current life circumstances with positive, life affirming things. I drop a note through my neighbours’ letterboxes with my phone number in case they need help, pick up rubbish on my runs around the neighbourhood and do yoga in the sun on a freshly cut lawn in the park (all within 2km!) I even learn how to make sourdough bread – and how to keep my sourdough starter alive! My life has slowed down to a slow, almost leisurely pace – and I have started to like it – dare I say – prefer it!
Still we are seeing 30 new registrations per day at a minimum. We have 2.379 people who have registered with us and indicated that during this weird and threatening time, they are eagerly waiting to lend a help to a stranger in need. This amount of interest really keeps me motivated and grateful for being constantly reminded of how great people are. In the last couple of weeks me and my colleagues often talk about these people. They have got in touch with us online, called us and emailed, sharing their stories and circumstances, united in the effort to find a way to turn this difficult time into something positive.
In times like this it can be so hard to find the positives. People are suffering incredible loss all around us, whether that is loved ones falling at the hand of the virus, jobs and income disappearing or the feeling that life might just never be the same again. It is my strong belief that the only way through this is coming together – uniting – connecting in kindness. Now, I work at a Volunteer Centre, this is coming to you via a volunteering platform and I have been a volunteer myself in emergency situations – so I can safely say that volunteering is certainly one of those things that brings people together and connects them in kindness. But volunteering is not the only thing. A friend of mine posted on Facebook a picture of painted stones with positive messages about staying safe that had been left around his neighbourhood. My neighbour and her children have been arranging teddy bear displays in their windowsill under a sign that says ‘Everyone, stay safe!’. I make conscious effort to offer everyone a smile on my walks/runs.
It might not feel like it right now, but this crisis will end. What will we have learnt? What will stay with us? The choice is yours! Focus on the worry, be worried. Focus on the stress, be stressed! Focus on the good and the bright around you, feel good and bright! Do kindness, feel kindness – can it be as simple as that?
