For me, lockdown hasn’t been all too dissimilar form my everyday life. A large bulk of my work involves writing, usually done from home, so in that respect some of my work has just kept ticking on. However, the social side (or lack of it) was a bit shocking. I love to hang out with my friends (who doesn’t) – they’re scattered all over the country so socialising usually involves a bit of a drive, or a train journey, and a couple of overnight stays. All that stopped in 2020, weekends away were replaced by drinks over zoom, as they were for pretty much everyone. It’s something I got used to quite quickly, and to be honest there are positives to it, such as staggering straight upstairs to bed when the night is done!
Chasing Clouds
At the very beginning of lockdown, I got quite poorly, I was diagnosed with shingles, which I’d barely heard of before I got it. It was so strange, I felt fine one minute then absolutely exhausted the next, I got a blotchy rash down one side of my body and was absolutely floored for a few weeks. Essentially my life consisted living on the sofa, sleeping a lot, and eating junk food as if it were going out of fashion. When I got better, I decided that I needed to work on my physical health and that there really was no excuse not to spend some time on myself, for myself. My husband turned our garage into a workout space and I began falling in love with fitness. I really enjoyed ‘levelling up,’ this is where you move up a weight set as you get stronger. I’m pleased to say the habit has stuck and I now exercise two or three times a week, as opposed to two or three times a month!
The best part about lockdown so far has, hands down, been the extra time I’ve been able to spend with my husband. He works in the film industry, so he’s usually away for weeks at a time across the globe, filming in great locations. But, with Covid in play a lot of productions have shut down, meaning he’s back at home. Not so great for the film industry, but fabulous for me, it really has been great, a sort of an extended honeymoon break for us both!
I’ve also been afforded the luxury of having more time to spend with myself. This might sound silly to some people but when you spend a large part of your day inhabiting the fictional world of a novel that you’re working on, there is little else left at the end of the day for you. Most of my other work stalled, so I had far more time for myself, I also re discovered my love of reading as well, although I still don’t manage to read anywhere near as much as I’d like!
All in all, lockdown has been a challenge, don’t get me wrong… but I try to keep on the sunnier side of things if I can.
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Annabelle Knight is a sex and relationship expert. She has appeared on many TV programmes such as This Morning, The O'Brien Show and Big Brother's Bit on the Side. She has featured regularly in magazines and newspapers. Upon the release of her new book The Endless Autumn- we caught up with her to talk about her inspiration for the story and if we can expect any more books from her in the future... to read more click HERE
