Look, I’m not even gonna try and pretend that I was shocked when I got back to London after 5 months to find that my clothes didn’t fit 😆
So many of you would have seen me posting about my endless sugary snacks, daily gin-infused concoctions and, above all, the fact that I became Chef-Sherilyn cooking ginormous feasts DAILY. (Who even am I? 😆)
I cooked as if I was feeding the entire nation, then I’d “realise" (again) that I’d made too much food.
Somehow we’d always find a way to not let it go to waste... 🤔
I spent weeks rotating the same 12 outfits that I’d dragged along to my boyfriends house. Each outfit was (purposely) made from stretchy fabric that was kind to me and hugged my hips a little tighter as the weeks went on.
We all knew it wasn’t going to be easy, so we found our own ways to deal with it;
Some people decided to get in the best shape of their LIFE.
Others used their extra time to study a new course.
Some launched brand new online businesses.
And others explored passions that they didn’t have the time to do before.
Some people broke up.
Some people made unexpected connections.
Others were grateful for the quality time they spent with their children....
Whilst others were not so keen on their toddlers running the show day in day out.
The point is, even though we were in the same pandemic, we all experienced it differently.
I had just left my office job and started working freelance full time (literally the week we went into lockdown) So I completely threw myself into mastering this new role and worked my arse off to keep busy and keep the money coming in.
While I was working, Daniel would work on his house renovations, then at the end of the day we’d both “clock out” exhausted and ready to chill.
I’m gonna sound crazy when I say this, but Netflix was new to me!
I don’t have a TV, I just stream a couple of my favourite trashy shows every now and then on my laptop. Suddenly having access to hundreds of binge-worthy series and shows on an actual TV screen was SUCH a treat!
I’ve mentioned before that it was early days dating for me and Daniel, we’d only become “official-official” in November and with me living in London and having a busy lifestyle, we only met up every other weekend.
So 5 months of confinement was a bit of a jump 😆
That being said, I feel a bit guilty saying this, but I had an incredible lockdown.
I decided that no matter what, I’m going to do what makes me happy. So we did silly TikTok videos, regularly chased down the ice cream van, danced around the living room to bashment music, drank WHENEVER we wanted, refused to watch the news, cooked endless “fakeaway” recipes, played games, watched entire series in one sitting, waved to the horses on our walks, had picnics in the garden and did way too many BBQs.
In all honesty, life was getting a bit overwhelming before lockdown. I’d overpromised my time to everybody, made plans months and months in advance. It didn’t leave room for spontaneous plans and definitely didn’t give me a chance to save any money.
Lockdown allowed me to live completely and utterly in the moment.
And I loved that.
I feel like I’m dipping my toe back into the world now, and although my diary is starting to fill up again, it’s at a much slower pace and I’ll say no if I want to say no.
For me, a little extra junk in the trunk is a small price to pay for the lockdown that I've had.
If any of you are feeling like you didn’t smash your quarantine goals, or like you’ve wasted the opportunity to start something new, just take into account that you are the only person putting that pressure on yourself.
You’ve got to give yourself some credit.
Oh, and any of you “Quarantine Shamers” out there, I don’t want to hear it. Keep your “You should have done this” attitude to yourself 😉