Melbourne is once again back into lockdown. This would be our 5th lockdown. I feel like living in a loop, going around and round unable to get out of the cycle. Melburnians have already spent around 205 days (i.e. ~29 weeks) in this kind of loop, with no more than 5km from home, only allowed to leave home for essentials like getting food/medicine, only 2 hours of outdoor exercise is allowed, work from home, no visitors at home and many other restrictions. One would think that it would get easier after already spending more than half a year collectively living like this but it is not, it is getting harder and harder to bear.
I was having a very hard time during lockdown 4.0. I went into a very dark place. I was extremely upset and frustrated when the lockdown was announced then I became hopeless. Lockdown 4.0 affected me deeply because of:
1. Fatigue from year 2 of this virus.
2. Frustration and disappointment from yet another lockdown, border closures and hence had to cancel a cycling tour from Darwin to Broome.
All these added up and my mental health was badly affected.
I was slowly picking myself up 2-3 weeks after lockdown 4.0 ended and started to spend more time outdoors. It is hard to argue with the restorative and nourishing effects of outdoor cycling, something that is very hard to obtain from indoor cycling, no matter how great virtual indoor cycling have become.
Maybe it’s the warm sun and wind on my face.
Maybe it’s the colour green.
Maybe it’s the stillness of the trees.
Maybe it’s the birdsongs.
Or maybe it’s all of the above.
Whatever it is, being in the outdoor and in the nature helps alot to soothe, restore and nourish this weary mind 🙏🏼
It was also my very first time cycling outdoor in the winter period. Unfortunately, we went back into lockdown 1.5 weeks after I did this ride. DAMN IT! (Sorry for my language). Mental health recovery has to be put on hold again. Thankfully though I am dealing and managing better with lockdown 5.0. Hopefully I do not go crazy before lockdown ends.
Excuse me?! What is going on with this pity party? Are those 2 points the only reasons for all these complaining?
1. You didn’t lose your job like many others, right?
2. From your previous posts, you don’t seem to be poor or in any financial hardships at all…. In fact, it seems like you often take extended trips. Does this mean you don’t have a full time job to begin with? If not, then you certainly don’t have to deal with job-related stresses.
3. You are definitely still healthy and very much alive, aren’t you? So what’s the problem again?? Do you have any close relatives that have recently died or really sick from COVID?? Anyway, you didn’t mention anything about this in this post, so either they are relatively fine, or it’s just less important to you than your cycling trip.
4. What’s so difficult with your lock-down? A lot of people are struggling with WFH while home-schooling their young kids. You definitely don’t have this problem, do you?
5. And you still have the 5 km radius, you can still eat well. You are not confined in your apartment building like some other Tier 1 sites in Melbourne or Sydney
If you have “mental health issues” just because your cycling trip is cancelled and you are unable to go out freely, that’s ridiculous. Learn to count your blessings.
You do not have the right to judge anyone’s struggles just because those struggles do not fit your requirements of what a struggle should be. Just because I do not write in this post does not mean that I am not having other hardships. I only write what I am comfortable to write and show it to the world. There is a whole lot of problems that you can’t even imagine. So please do not go into anyone’s post and complained about their struggles. You do not know the first thing about me.
COVID-related death, severe illnesses, job losses, business problems or complete apartment/house lock-downs are not just my own idea/requirement of struggle.
Pretty sure these are very high on both the definition of struggle and the actual struggles for the vast majority of people over the past 2 years. Are you experiencing any of those? Instead, you chose to emphasize cancelled bike trips. Of course you are going to be judged based on what you posted.
Everyone has their own struggles and fatigues, but it’s your choice to indulge in self-pity or to focus on the many other positives.
If you both bother to read the whole post, the focus wasn’t even on my struggles. It is on the importance of outdoors & nature and the healing effects and how repetitive lockdowns have such detrimental effects on the mental health.
Only bitter and ignorant people would just read the first paragraph and go on full attacks without understanding the whole story.
There are many reasons for a person to struggle. And believe me, i’ve had my share.. my extended family overseas have died due to covid, had a share of work stressors and financial insecurity through this time, all that while having to have mortgage and a baby to raise.
However, i can empathise w the writer of this blog. It is difficult times, people struggle differently and that is okay. I think what the world needs now is compassion and empathy. Although we may not fully understand what a person is going through, we can choose to be kind. If it doesn’t agree with us, then move on.. mental health is real. If the author says it is affecting their mental health, then it probably is… and there may be some other distrssing content that a person refrains from sharing on the blog, and cycling is actually one of her outlets which she cant do during these times
Anyway, just my two cents. stay safe everyone. Take care