After two years of lockdowns and health scares, most people were looking forward to a bit of respite when they could try and salvage life and continue it as pre pandemic.
EXPECTATIONS
They were hoping that they could return to moving around freely and planning social lives and holidays, especially foreign ones.
Work would return to normality but with the added choice now of working from home for many.
Schools were hoping to have a clear pathway for their studies and exams and to interact socially with their friends, after two years of disruption.
Many were hoping to have big shopping sprees for clothes and other items, having been denied the opportunities during restrictions.
Businesses were trying to stabilize and industry was trying to boost productivity.
The overloaded NHS was hoping the worst was over and some sort of order could be restored.
The hope was that Covid in its many shapes and forms would be stamped out and no longer a threat.
HOW HAVE THINGS TURNED OUT?
Holidays are certainly back on the agenda but with many twists.
Costs for travel have rocketed due to the increase in fuel, there is uncertainty in the air travel industry, and the general backlogs and disruption at a great many key travel locations, are causing stress and anxiety. Rail strikes are also looming with all the chaos that can entail.
Added to that has been the exceptionally hot weather which has enveloped many countries including popular holiday destinations which has rather removed the holiday feelgood factor.
Social lives are returning although eating out faces many challenges.
The general rise in cost of living, which has been blamed on Brexit, Covid and latterly the war in Ukraine, has made a significant impact on how much disposable income people have to spend which includes eating out.
There has also been such a shortage of staff within the hospitality industry that many establishments are running a much depleted service.
The work place hasn`t escaped change either as although many places have resumed normal working hours, many have offered their staff the opportunity to continue working from home.
This arrangement has prompted many employers to downsize their office space.
Schools have had a very disruptive couple of years.
During the pandemic, pupils of all ages had a crash course in home schooling alongside classroom technology, and many at senior level had their exams and preparation for life after school curtailed.
Life seems to have become more stable although there are still other factors waiting in the wings such as possible financial and staffing restraints.
The cost of living crisis has certainly made most people take stock of their finances. Open ended spending on clothes, luxuries and household goods have had to be restricted or put on hold.
Unfortunately far from Covid having disappeared, it is still very much in evidence. Numbers are still high although the severity of the infection seems to have been diluted. Additionally, vaccines have been very successful at limiting the spread of the virus, and anti viral drugs are being improved all the time.
The NHS now faces an enormous backlog of planned operations and appointments, not helped by a staff shortage particularly in the Social Care sector.
The business and manufacturing worlds are trying to get their contacts and markets fully operational again.
This means both financial and staff investment, both at home and abroad.
MENTAL HEALTH
All of this has resulted in mental health being in many cases severely affected.
People are unsurprisingly feeling cheated by
a) the pandemic taking away their normal way of life and subjecting them to restrictions and
b) not being able to fully return to that life and now having further challenges thrust upon them,
It is important that we do our best to take care of the mental health of ourselves and our families, by talking about issues which may be troubling and finding ways to address them.
HOW IS IT ALL BEING VIEWED?
This pandemic followed on by the current financial crisis has taken everyone by surprise.
There was little warning of the way lives were going to be altered. Now we all have to learn how to cope with all the changes and adapt.
This is a real mindset challenge.
Many will complain about the unfairness of it all and will suffer because perhaps the "good" parts of life cannot be replaced. Anxiety and depression may set in.
Perhaps finances don`t allow for travel and buying "must have" items. If that is the case then its possible that a miserable time is ahead. Always having to acquire things or be continually socially active, in order to feel happy will quickly show that doing these things is perhaps just papering over the cracks of a deeper problem and one that may have been around for longer than the pandemic.
It has been a very unsettling time for school children and for little ones starting out it has been a lot more confusing than might have otherwise been expected.
It is a credit to teaching and support staff who had the enormous challenge of not only having to implement an online programme of school work, but offer guidance and emotional help to the many children who were not only anxious and often frightened, but may have lost a close family member during the worst of the pandemic.
The implementation of social distancing, hand cleansing and mask wearing were all additional duties which had to be explained and handled by already stretched staff.
Children value their friendships in and out of school, and to have that disrupted could be quite devastating for many.
It is no surprise that the requests for additional mental health support for young people are nearing crisis levels and the services are woefully inadequate. Urgent investment is needed in this area.
Probably some of the most stressful examples of mind set challenges are people who are in business. Either self employed or larger enterprises.
The challenges for them are multiple.
They may have been unable to provide their service but at the same time have had to pay staff and overheads and stock. Government schemes may have helped, but they are now facing reality and any progress that may have been expected has been affected by the current financial crises.
One of the worst hit business sectors is that of hospitality.
Shortage of staff has proved to be yet another worry for them as many relied on workers from abroad who have now gone back to their country of origin or found work within Europe.
CHANGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
The current situation has been the turning point for many, and has shown how a change of mindset can bring about powerful change.
When faced with the Covid crisis, many business people, unable to sell their usual products, saw gaps in the markets, used their ingenuity and filled them in the short term.
Some may have found them a profitable way to run alongside their existing business or even in place of it.
A crisis will always create a need for something that wasn`t required before. There will always be opportunities, we are surrounded by them and even although life is so tough right now, there will be endless gaps in the market waiting to be filled.
Some will have come about through the unfortunate circumstances of others, while some will come about in order to help others.
It is having the mindset which is capable of seeing an opportunity, grabbing it, believing in it and running with it even although it might be considered a risky thing to do
In the words of William Shakespeare,"There is a tide in the affairs of men when taken at the flood, leads on to fortune".
MINDSET SHIFT
The same template can be used in so may different aspects of life.
Sometimes when the chips are down and there seems no way out, by calming things down and making some mindset changes, seemingly impossible situations can start to turn around.
When looking at the endless weight loss programmes, the one thing that runs through all of them is a change of mindset. None of them work without it.
Tackling a new job which you may have considered being out of your comfort zone, will require you to be calm and have a change of mindset.
Facing a relationship breakup or divorce will require a shift in mindset in order to move forward, and can often have the most dramatic results.
Changing mindset involves making little changes to your thought processes and beliefs which can then affect a change in how you would normally deal with a situation.
There are many books, videos and podcasts available on line for help and support, and are well worth investigating.
We will come through this spell of uncertainty, but it is very much up to us as individuals as to how we do it.
Regardless of whether it is our financial crisis, the war in Ukraine or some other challenge facing a nation, or country, it is the mindset of individuals which galvanizes action and change, in order to reach a better place.
We are in a different world now, in fact we are fighting to keep our world, as judging by the recent heatwaves, climate change is advancing rapidly.
There are different challenges and obstacles to overcome, but like the other creatures of the natural world we are equipped to deal with these challenges and create a more sustainable future.
It is the seizing of opportunity, having confidence, self belief, and the gratitude for what we have, which drives us forward.
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