Dear LPG,

It is a fact that 2020 has a lot to answer for.  So many of us older people have been affected quite negatively but I think that after a year of so much less of a routine, life is getting a lot more of us down.  It is not that there is nothing to do every day but perhaps the minimised sense of achievement that so many of us have experienced is the problem.

Apart from always feeling really lonely if we have spent most of our lockdown with only ourselves for company, I think we humans really appreciate sharing our achievements with the people around us, and there is something really special about being complemented by those around you when you create something no matter how insignificant it might be.    It is interesting when you think about how the product of one person’s life-long ambition is often of relatively little importance to another person, but the odd initial visual reaction is something that often makes the difference. 

Perhaps one of the things that is getting us down is the fact that it is so much more difficult to show off our achievements while we are all separated, and perhaps the visual aspect of sharing our pride in our work is the missing component.  The reaction you receive after telling someone about a cake that you have managed to make perfectly this time, a room you have completely sorted out and decluttered or a DIY project that you have finally completed will never be quite the same as letting them see it for themselves. 

I am finding that all this has resulted in one of the biggest challenges that lockdown has given us older members of society.  We are the ones who have all the time in the world and with even more time than usual on our hands it gets easier and easier to not bother to get up in the mornings.

I think that we need to put the structure back into our lives so that we are ready for when it is safe to go back to being the social animals that we need to be to make each day really worth living again.  Though so much information is geared towards the young, I have found some internet evidence that supports my theory that meeting each morning in a more structured way might be where to start, and I have asked LPG to share a few links.

I know that one size does not fit all but many of us elders need to remember that we have the added advantage that without the constraints that working for eight hours a day puts on us, we can choose our projects, but getting up in the mornings with a sense of positive anticipation and a project in mind, is perhaps one of the most important aspects of any life.

AO Bellingham.

AO offers a few varied internet takes on ways to greet the day running while LPG would like to remind readers that we all have to work within our limitations…

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