Biking my way through lockdown

Hey, so my name's Kate, I'm one of the team at Headstrong, and this is my Covid diary. And I brought you up here 'cause I wanted to show you this amazing space, which is somewhere that I came a lot during lockdown and the Covid season. And this is my story about biking my way through lockdown, because lockdown, for me, has been kinda busy and tough.

So, I'm a psychologist, I'm a church leader, it's been a massive change for me. It took me by surprise completely. One minute I was planning this amazing summer full of festivals and busyness, and stuff, and then the next minute all of that was canceled, everything changed, and I've spent lockdown super busy supporting other people who'd been going through tough stuff, and so that's been hard work, and it's been difficult at times, but also, personally, for me, my best mates have been shielding. So, right now I haven't seen my best mates for over three months, and probably won't see them for at least another month, and so that's been hard. I'm used to seeing them several times a week, so that's been difficult.

And biking has got me through, has kept me sane, and it's been amazing. Right the way through, even when it was strictest that we'd been allowed to do this, that I'd still been able to come up here. So I guess I just wanna tell you a bit about why it has made such a difference.

And I guess there's a bunch of reasons.

First of all, I think it's about getting outdoors, getting out of the same four walls. It's weird, when you feel down, when you feel low, you feel really flat and lethargic. You don't want to get up. You don't want to come out. But you always feel better when you do, and sometimes I haven't wanted to do it, but it's always been amazing to come out here. So, getting out, there's something about the exercise that's good.

It's definitely something about the headspace too, though. Getting away. I'm a bit of an introvert, so it's nice to get away from people, just be alone with my own thoughts for a bit and have the space, and the peace and quiet up here. There's four of us in my household, so we've all been crammed in the same house, and it's been great to come out here and get some alone time. So headspace, definitely, and exercise.

But there's something about perspective, too. I mean, look at it up here. This is just one of the roads near my house. It's beautiful, and you can hear the birds out here, and I find just coming out somewhere where you can see the sky, beautiful clouds, and sometimes it's been blue, sometimes it's been pouring with rain. It's always different up here. But it helps you see things differently, and sometimes when you've been thinking about something for ages, and trying to finds a way through or come up with a good idea or you can't think of anything, and then you come out somewhere like this, and it changes everything, and you can get inspiration when you come out here. So, change your perspective.

And achievement! Lockdown's been frustrating. There's been so much I haven't been able to do and so much that I can't control, and some days, man, you just think you're gonna go crazy. Or you're just getting through, and the flipping internet goes down or something like that, and you think it's the final straw. And coming up here, this is the top of a big hill. You can see the hill down there. I'm gonna go down there in a minute. It's gonna be awesome. But you know you've done something, you've got somewhere, you've achieved something. That's been brilliant.

And then the most important thing, the reason this has got me through is I absolutely love it. I love to bike. I'm a bit of a biking fantastic. This is my joy, and pursuing joy in tough times is more than just getting a cheap thrill in the moment. It's about getting you through, and there's a verse in the Bible that says joy can be your strength. And literally, what it means is it's like a tower. It's your protection against the rubbish of life. And all the more when life is tough, I find biking gets me through because it makes me feel joy. So, in a minute, that hill down there, that one, I'm gonna go down that super fast, and it's gonna be awesome, and I'm gonna feel joy. And that moment of joy is gonna lift my mood in the moment, but more than that it's gonna get me through.

And lockdown isn't over right now, as I'm filming this. Covid isn't over. Who knows what's gonna come? But this stuff, this bike and me, and coming out here to this space is gonna get me through, so, yeah. My name's Kate, that's my Covid story. Thank you for listening.