How to survive lockdown

Hey everyone, I'm Ethan and I'm just gonna tell you a bit about my lockdown journey in regards to mental health.

So, my lockdown journey started on the same day as everyone else, but for me the key bit of information about lockdown that really affected me was that my A-level exams got cancelled.

For me this led to a real sense of a lack of purpose in the first, almost two months particularly the first two weeks where I just felt like I was stuck 'cause I really wanted it to be working 'cause I'd been working really hard for my exams for two years. But I was also really ill at the time for about again, for about the first two months of lockdown. So I just felt really stuck. I was like, I had no purpose. There's nothing I can do.

And so what I had to try and do is find new projects, find something new to do each day. So instead of... routine can be very helpful and I highly recommend you have a routine but mix it up very slightly each day. So you don't start having that feeling of being stuck. And also I started working on creative projects. So I wrote a short story for someone. I wrote some poetry 'cause I really liked writing as you can quite clearly tell, by those two examples. So I encourage you to do that also.

Another example from my lockdown journey was I can't remember exactly when but it was at the start of one week. Something triggered me and the mental health problems I have to go into a spiral of a really low and dark place for about a week. And something triggered me at the start of that week. And I was really struggling that week, It was one of those times where I was just hiding under my duvet covers for the whole whole week.

And then the very end of the week, God bless them, the people I'm living with and my family came into this prayer room that we have in our house. And they all laid hands on me and prayed for me and prayed those, that spirit of darkness out of me and prayed God's victory into me. And the next day I woke up a new person and it was like the darkness had been shed from me.

So what I also encourage is do not underestimate the power of prayer. I know that might sound simple and a bit of a Sunday school answer, but don't underestimate it. Don't underestimate the power of prayer that you possess and the power of prayer that people can pray for you.

So to take away from all of this, I encourage you - Don't get stuck in routine, although finding one is also helpful. Work on creative projects. Make sure people are praying for you and make sure you yourself are praying. I hope that helps, God bless you all, have a good time.