Well! Here we are! We made it to summer ‘21 albeit not quite the summer we longed for. I can remember when the seriousness of the virus began to dawn, many of my patients were postponing travel holidays initially to October ‘20 & then subsequently to March ‘21 .‘It will definitely be over by then’ was the fairly logical rhetoric at the time, but it wasn’t over by October last year and it still isn’t now. Travel is heavily restricted which- whilst limiting the spread of the virus, is cited by the government as the official reason, I can’t help but think that there is also an element of keeping us spending within the UK this summer and honestly these are both valid reasons. Many now accept that travel will be a ‘2022 thing.’ It’s one of the big casualties of the pandemic and I sometimes wonder if it will ever go back to what it used to be? I have to admit that whilst I loved it – there was something not quite right about being able to fly to Spain for £20 or Ireland for a fiver……perhaps this will be a thing of the past…But then a new dilemma, is air travel now only for the affluent like it was when it first started?
With or without travel, we as Nurses understand better than most that risks of further restrictions are real for the autumn and winter ahead.
So back to the here and now -summer time- How will you spend it? A staycation or day trips, or maybe just a ‘wait and see what comes up’ approach.
I’ve found myself over the past few years getting more & more focused on my once / year Christmas holiday. Whilst this is an expensive time to travel (pre covid era) it fitted well with running my business and so, for my husband and I it became ‘a thing’. I found that throughout the year I would think about it, daydream on it and generally anticipate it long before it was time. It began to occur to me that I was making it the pinnacle of the year. Perhaps you do this too with holidays -and I’m not saying that it is wrong, but I have begun to wonder whether through our ability to travel we have created a rod for our own backs. Instead of looking for the joy in the day, the week, the month we save it for that holiday or getaway as though that is the only time we we can breathe. In the same way that at the start of the pandemic, we were putting everything on hold until it was over and now we are understanding that with this approach, life is still moving on, this has lasted a long time now and each day that passes is a valuable day in our lives.
With all of this in mind, I am determined to make this summer different. COVID -19 with all its terrible influences has created a shift & exaggerated an idea that was already starting to take form in my subconscious and conscious mind.
I love London in the summer, and I plan to have some serious fun. So, for me a ‘see what happens’ approach blended with an awareness that we are not yet through this and that more restrictions may well lie ahead. I am going to damn well enjoy myself whilst I can and try to avoid putting things off.
What about you – what are you saying?