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As we near the end of the first Lockdown (my science-y friends assure me there is likely to be at least one more, especially if you are London dwelling), what have we learnt from being cooped up with our loved ones for 74 days? I know this number for sure because I follow @nick_knight<\/a> on insta and he\u2019s counted, rather beautifully, with photos every day (above is day 57) he\u2019s been in lockdown. <\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to concentrate on anything <\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve been trying to write a blog post here for weeks, and found it hard to both concentrate and find anything worth saying. There\u2019s been a lot to process in the last week or so, from Dominic Cummings trying to take us for idiots with his ludicrous explanation of his rule breaking to the recent tragic and disgraceful murder of George Floyd in the US. <\/p>\n Add on to that the too-early deaths of many of our friends and family due to Covid-19 and the quiet hum of fear in our everyday lives from the virus, it\u2019s hard to get your head around the context in which to write something. Even reading is tough, I\u2019ve been trying to get through Hilary Mantel\u2019s The Mirror And The Light and it\u2019s hard to keep my train of thought, possibly because\u2026.<\/p>\n The virtual world is NOISEY: it\u2019s the new Going Out<\/strong> <\/p>\n It took about three days in a state of shocked, quiet panic at the beginning of Lockdown before Zoom and Houseparty rocked up and everything went VERY VIRTUALLY NOISEY. Jeez, how many InstaLIVE\u2019s can a girl listen too at once? I have friends who did back-to-back zoom meetings in the first few weeks from 8.00 to 8.00 and were more exhausted than any normal office-based working day. <\/p>\n Of course some of this is fabulous, I\u2019ve listened to Fergus Garrett talk about Great Dixter <\/a>at a lecture I\u2019d\u2019ve never have gotten to IRL, I\u2019ve attended the Digital Scent Festival (@Scent_festival<\/a>) in Los Angeles, listening to young perfumers and distillers talk about the importance of scent in wellbeing and attended daily fashion history lessons with @amberbutchart<\/a>. I now have my daily morning coffee break with Sandi Toksvig (We Will Get Passed This <\/a>podcast) who increasingly feels like my new BF and I\u2019ve loved eavesdropping on a chummy chats between florists such as @RobbieHoney<\/a> and @ShaneConnollyandco. <\/p>\n There\u2019s definitely an Access All Areas feeling about digital communication that\u2019s going on at the mo. If it carries on at this pitch, we really will be questioning why we need to leave the house ever again. <\/p>\n I quite like the slower pace of life<\/strong><\/p>\n Anyone else half disappointed that we have to go back to normal? I am aware (SO aware) of how lucky I\u2019ve been to have a bit of living space and a garden during lockdown, and I\u2019ve kinda loved being in my bubble. All that concern about who I need to see, places I need to go, jobs I have to do all just stopped. <\/p>\n As a freelancer, work has been the same (almost, I miss the IRL perfume world), we\u2019ve been healthy and we\u2019ve not troubled ourselves with the stress of making sour dough or banana bread. I like it here. Yes I miss my friends and fam, but not a lot else. Going forward, how many of you will be jumping back onto the frenetic bandwagon and how many will be looking for a gentler pace of life? <\/p>\n You can never have too many face masks <\/strong>: weird new beauty rituals<\/p>\n No, not THAT type of mask\u2026.Sales of skincare have gone through the roof during lockdown, it seems we are all soothing and calming ourselves via our beauty rituals. We\u2019re swapping burying our heads in the sand with covering our faces with gloop. <\/p>\n I used the time to use up the large stash of face mask I never had time to use before. Most masks require you to leave them on for a bit for them to work, and I never seemed to be in the right place to use them. Now I stick one on before virtual yoga, or while binge watching anything on Netflix. How many is too many, do you think?<\/p>\n FYI, I\u2019ve tried a lot and my favourite by a long shot is the bee yu, Manuka honey and bee venom regenerating and firming face mask for my older skin. Find it here<\/a>, it\u2019s spendy but good and currently on sale. <\/p>\n ASMR is the hot Lockdown therapy<\/p>\n If you are feeling stressed and unbalanced by lockdown can I refer you to a wonderful instagram account at @cnliziqi<\/a>, which was pointed out to me by my lovely friends over at The Perfume Society<\/a> <\/a>. The writer Suzy Nightingale<\/a> has linked the calming feeling you get watching one of Li Ziqi\u2019s exquisite little films about her idyllic life in the countryside around Pingwu in Mianyang, Sichuan, to the growing popularity of ASMR (Auto Sensory Meridian Response) during lockdown. <\/p>\n They are a total joy to watch, but I\u2019m warning you, you can lose an hour or two just scrolling through them. Although I guess, since time is not so scarce at the moment, who cares?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.thewomensroomblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/thewomensroom-06.jpg\")
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