Lockdown: A ‘self-love’ kind of thing

Lockdown with your family: no stress. Join guest blogger Georgia Gilbey as she navigates living back with your folks, sacking off dating apps, being single in lockdown and the ultimate quarantine bae. Spoiler: they're closer than you think. 👀

Now in the fourth(?) month of quarantine, many are either on the verge of breaking point or still, more worryingly, enjoying the ease of not socialising. I say “worryingly” with every positive wish in the world. What is there not to love about being alone or surrounded by a small collection of loved ones for a prolonged period? Time to gather your thoughts, focus on yourself and figure out what you really want in life. With Instagram and other social platforms now a hub of lockdown one-up-manship, from people running 5K’s to knitting themselves a new wardrobe, being online can be overwhelming and quite frankly boring as bat shit. Instead, focusing on your offline self, social bubble and more importantly figuring out what that self is what I have been doing, well, trying to do…

As the months have gone by, I’ve been witness to a number of relationship scandals, you name it, I’ve seen it. From online cheating to spontaneous isolation move-ins, and at risk of sounding like a love hater, I’ve never been so happy to be single in my life. When Boris first declared total lockdown, I found myself downloading, deleting and re-downloading both Tinder and Hinge, clutching at straws to find some sort of romantic spark. After several failed talking stages and painful conversations, I concluded that rather than finding reassurance through online romances the best way is through yourself. I realise that this probably sounds like the most cliché discovery and definitely can be found plastered over every fast fashion graphic t-shirt but it's true. The only way to true love is through self-love.

With a twin sister who is now more attached to me than my shadow, finding time for myself has never been something that has come easy. Instead, I’ve started going on walks and runs, in an attempt for some time alone. Whilst running, I tend to blast music and I’ve discovered that there is, in fact, the perfect volume, somewhere between bursting my eardrums and not drowning out thoughts (although naturally my mum still thinks it’s too loud). I find through running and listening to music there is a certain release of thoughts and emotions, that helps you think, learn more about yourself, and most importantly find this love for yourself. 

Danish author Hans Christian Anderson says,

“where words fail, music speaks”.

Although it is yet another incredible cliché, there is so much truth in this, music says things and makes you think about things in a whole new perspective. Along with Hans Christian, Maya Jama, one of my favourite celebs, says that listening to music in the morning and dancing like no one is watching in the kitchen is one of the only ways to set her on track for a good day, and I couldn’t agree more. So as I run music set to the perfect volume, I find myself thinking about things, from what I had for breakfast to what I want to do in life, oh and the odd “he's fit” at the hunks passing by. 🏃‍♂️💨

With music and running being my main quarantine discoveries and journey to learning to love myself I feel there are many other things I have yet to discover, so… if you’d be so kind, comment in the HANX Life forum and let us know how you learn to love yourself.