2020-07-01RedUK

(Joyce) #1

EDITOR’S LETTER


3
July 2020 | REDONLINE.CO.UK

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I’m sitting at my kitchen table,
wondering when things will ever
get back to normal – or if there can
truly be a ‘normal’ as we previously
knew it. Many people have lost loved
ones, or their jobs, or the certainty
of how much money will be on their
paycheque each month. We are
now stepping forward with trepidation
towards something new, but we are irrevocably changed.
Yet for many of us – myself included – this experience
has brought some unexpected positives, too. With the
solitude and scaling back, we have rediscovered what it
feels like to have time on our hands, instead of the pressure
that comes with being permanently overstretched. There
is space to think, read and exercise. We have been able
to spend quality time (so much of it!) with our kids and
partners. We have found joy in the smallest places.
We will never take so much for granted again.
While homeschooling has been, frankly, torturous, I’ve
loved watching my daughters conjure their own creative
endeavours to get through each day, and in spending so

much time with them, I feel even closer to them than before.
And because I haven’t had my three-hour commute into
London, I’ve managed to paint two bedrooms, plant lavender
in the garden, bake in abundance and walk by the sea each
day. I’ve also devoured Normal People, Homeland and
Unorthodox, completed a month-long ‘glowy skin’ regime
with Balance Me, discovered cool new brands via styling box
service Stitch Fix and started a book/clothes swap/sourdough
club with the lovely women in my neighbourhood – each of
us leaving regular goodies on one another’s doorsteps.
I’ve also noticed I am sleeping better, looking better (apart
from the roots!), feeling healthier and, despite still fretting
about the economy/our amazing NHS/my elderly parents,
I’m generally less anxious and more balanced.
So my question is this: how do we return to our
‘normal’ lives, while retaining the versions of
ourselves we’ve become outside of them?

Editor Sarah Tomczak

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