by Helen James
As COVID-19 continues to spread around the world things aren’t certain and that can cause such fear and negativity amongst us all. Everybody is impacted by this virus in one way or another. News is spread around via social media, messages from family and friends are sent with the latest updates, and online news publications are providing statistics and showing images of empty supermarkets and creating worry and panic in doing so.
It’s so important right now especially, that we aren’t believing everything we read. We rarely take the time to properly check our sources accurately, often in a rush we take things as face value. Our minds can play tricks on us and encourage us to take on everything we read. With more time spent at home and more time to scroll through social media, we are spending this time consuming everything online and this can be damaging to both ourselves and the wider community. We are reading and processing ‘facts’, passing them onto others, and they may not even be completely true or true at all.
It’s a really good time for us to think before passing on information or articles. Asking ourselves if the source of the information is legit or unknown. The best resources for information is https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus, https://111.nhs.uk/covid-19 and https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/.
During this time, its equally, if not more important, to look for the good news. Here’s a few pieces of good news/great things happening I’ve found that have made me feel positive recently:
- Britain’s loneliest dog has been adopted:
A dog titled ‘Britain’s loneliest dog’ finally found a home just before the pandemic, having been at ‘Last Chance Animal Rescue’ in Kent for more than 10 years. Bess found her forever home after the staff launched a viral campaign focussing on her, which soon led to offers from as far as America. See the picture of her below in her new home. Look at that face!
- Music has bought the world together:
There have been videos circulating the internet of people around the world in quarantine, singing and playing instruments on their balconies together. See the video below if you haven’t heard about it:
Some music venues, theatres and festivals around the UK are providing live streamed services, most of them being free, and it’s a really great time to be making use of these. If the arts interest you maybe set some time out of your day to immerse yourself in these and have some time away from social media in doing so. Some of the West End theatres are showing some productions from their back catalogue. See here for those (free). The Royal Opera House has been sharing some of its best ballet and opera performances from their archive here (free). A platform named ‘Stay at Home Fest’ has launched as a central hub for events and online streaming. The website has a calendar and allows creatives to submit shows and events they’re running from home. Some of these are ticketed and some are free but it’s very clear and very easy to navigate. See here for this.
- Acts of kindness
Across twitter people are sharing the hashtags #RandomActsOfKindness, #KindnessIsContagious and #SpreadKindness, with people sharing how others have shown acts of kindness during these times. These vary from shopping for neighbours, leaving toilet rolls outside people’s houses, posting notes of encouragements through doors, taking homemade food round to friends houses and leaving them outside and so many other thoughtful and generous acts. Of course when carrying out these we need to ensure it’s done safely and hygienically, washing our hands before and after going outside, but there’s things we can all do to show kindness.
Some ideas are: calling a friend you’ve not spoken to in a while, telling someone how much you love and appreciate them, making a cup of tea for someone you live with, sending cards to friends, posting encouraging quotes on your facebook timeline or sending dog/cat/pet photos to someone to cheer them up.
We want to encourage you to try and see the good news in a world right now that’s full of bad news and sadness. Take each day as it comes. Much about the future of the pandemic remains unknown, and it’s easy to feel a sense of impending doom but things are getting better.
The Clare Project is here for you if and when you feel ready to reach out. For 1-1 emotional support you can call our helpline. Keep an eye out on our Facebook and Instagram pages for other ways to stay connected with us, and each other, during this time too.
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