Surviving and Appreciating Victoria’s Lockdown

Claudette Dubois (below) is a Home Care Support Worker who works in BallyCara’s Melbourne Region. Here, she reflects on her personal experience with Victoria’s prolonged lockdown.

To be completely honest, I didn’t mind the lockdown. I felt this was an opportunity for the world to slow down, take stock, reset, and go back to basics. It was a time to reflect and appreciate the simple things in life (case and point – toilet paper).You see, I’m an optimist and I strive to always see the upside of things. My mum used to say, “There’s always somebody worse off than you.” I apply this motto to my everyday life, especially during those tough times when I think life’s too hard or not fair.

During the lockdown I learnt to appreciate a lot of things. One of them was walking. It was the one activity we were allowed to do. Even though it was the middle of winter and we could only walk within five kilometres of our home, for a maximum 2 hours a day and wearing a mask, it was freedom!

I made the most of it and discovered some new walking tracks and even managed to shed some of those dreaded “COVID-kilos”. On my walks I would see families out in droves, walking too or riding their bikes, discovering their neighbourhood. They all looked so happy and content.

As a Support Worker I was lucky enough to be out and about everyday, visiting clients and connecting with them. They were always happy to see me and share their stories. Little did they know how much it meant to me…

I appreciated that the roads were quiet during lockdown. Although eerie, almost like a ghost town, it smoothed out my client-to-client commute.

I only wore two outfits during the lockdown period. My work uniform and my activewear. I came to appreciate the beautiful clothes hanging in my wardrobe and longed to wear them again. Occasionally I would try something on and parade around, making sure it still fit.

I also started to take more notice of the food I had in my cupboard and refrigerator. To avoid frequenting the supermarket, I would make do with what was there and learnt to compromise and be creative with my cooking. A lot of lessons have been learnt during lockdown. I consider myself one of the lucky ones because I’ve come out of it unscathed and I realise, now more than ever, how much I have to be grateful for.

If I take anything out of this lockdown, and I would encourage others too as well, rather than reflecting on what I don’t have I will continue to appreciate what I have.

Categorised in: BallyCara Blog

This post was written by Lachlan Green