07 February 2021
Lockdown Drinking
I was reading this article recently, link included, about how lockdown is pushing women to drink. It’s interesting to read as I wondered if I just saw a problem that might not be there due to my past. Reading this, it seems it is a real possibility. I’ve seen family members laugh and joke about drinking over the first lockdown, not so much now, because to be honest, I had to unfollow a couple of social media accounts as it really bothered me. Comments like ‘Forget weight watchers, I’ll be needing AA after lockdown’, might be funny to some, but in honesty, they just make me feel uncomfortable.
It’s said that in the first lockdown, we all had to deal with how our lives were changing, not only due to the lockdown itself, but also down to the anxiety and stress from the unknown and the pandemic. Now, and as I write this we’re in our third lockdown here in the UK, it’s more common. We know we can’t go out, and everything is sort of normal. Some of us are still working, some of us are used to working at home. Some of us have our kids at home more than we used to, and of course, shopping in the high streets is a thing of the past. The thing is we’re used to it, we may not like it, but for the most part, we know there is little we can do about it, until lockdown is eased and so we get on with it.
For many of us, we find we have more time, whether that’s because we aren’t working, or because we aren’t commuting, it has affected all of our lives. For some of us self-medicating with alcohol seems like it’s becoming the go to choice. It seems to relieve stress and worry, gives us a way out of the monotony of life. Without our normal daily structure, it can feel like every night is a Friday or Saturday night, which can lead us to feel like it’s okay to have a extra drink or two. Of course, this isn’t a short time, like Christmas for example, it’s weeks if not months, and it’s very easy to form a habit over this sort of time period.
The problem is, at least as I see it, that we aren’t going to see the back of Covid-19 for a long time. It’s already been with us for a year, and there isn’t really an end in sight yet. We can choose to stay indoors, or form habits that in the long run aren’t really helpful to us, or we can choose to try to live in the best way we can, to do the best we can, because at some point, hopefully things will go back to something we recognise as normal.
Take care of yourselves and stay safe,
Claire xx
https://metro.co.uk/2021/01/30/in-focus-how-lockdown-is-pushing-women-towards-an-alcohol-crisis-13960279/amp/?__twitter_impression=true&fbclid=IwAR0CJCJGkF5nO8Y-ueK02dXxFEjB13G7sos-1Tl59hPuXyI-bEJG85kTioI
