Ideas for Lockdown – Blog 8: Checking in on People by Themselves?

Lockdown has hit everybody, each in its own way, but to the people that are living by themselves, it can truly be a daunting and horrible experience to be living in. Being by yourself isn’t a nice position to be in, even in the best of times, and the Lockdown that we are currently facing simply adds to the issue. This is what we will be looking at in today’s Ideas for Lockdown blog!

Hello and Welcome to Sweeney’s Blogs!

Today’s blog is the eighth blog in the “Ideas for Lockdown” series and is all about checking in on people who are by themselves. This is a topic that I have been interested in covering on the page for quite some time now and feel like it is a great fit inside the”Ideas for Lockdown” series!

As mentioned in the introduction to this blog, being alone is not a nice position to be in, even when everything is normal, let alone amidst a country wide Lockdown. It can be an extremely stressful situation for people to feel in and sadly most people will not directly ask for help and support, even when they do really need it.

I fully understand that people need time to relax and spend time with their families, but we do need to take a minute to think of the less fortunate people in our society. I go on a walk everyday and pass a lot of people who live by themselves, either when I pass their house or if I walk past them whilst they are walking. I’m not saying that I stop and have a full blown conversation with every person I see on my walk, as it simply would not be true, but checking to see if someone is alright is just common courtesy, no?

Ever since I was a young boy it has been embedded into me to say hello and how are you doing to people as I walk past them. It is not a massive thing that you are actually doing, simply saying hello, but it does make a difference in the grand scheme of things. The world can feel like a very big and scary place when we are by ourselves, it is a feeling that we need to help people get past.

Lets take a look at an example here. Lets say you are living by yourself and go for a walk everyday. Lets say that on this walk you past quite a few people each time. Now there is two different angles that we can take for this story and for the sake of the blog, I will take a look at both sides.

Lets say that everyone you see on the blog completely blanks you when you say hello to them. Being ignored is not a nice feeling to have ever, but when you are living by yourself, with the added pressure of the Lockdown, it makes it even worse. If no ones says hello back and you have nobody phoning you to see how you are doing, you are slowly going to start to feel really lonely and you may start doubting your true worth, something that people should never be forced to do.

Lets now take a look at it from the other angle. If you say hello to people you pass on your walk, or they say it to you, it does maker you feel a little better about yourself. Small gestures of kindness do make a difference, it is far too easy to just brush them off and say that they don’t, but they can help in the grand scheme of things.

There are tonnes of ways that you can check in with people, you can phone them, write to them, email them, text them and so much more. If you know somebody who is living by themselves, why not take a few minutes to see if they are okay? A quick phone call checking in on someone can really make a difference. I know it may seem like I am just repeating myself, but it is a really important thing to do.

People generally do not go out of their way to ask for help, even when they need it, it is simply human nature, a thing that we are always trying to change and overcome. One of the things that I don’t hear mentioned enough is that this extends further than just checking on older people. I strongly feel that checking up on older people in our society is an amazing thing to do and is something that we should keep on doing but they are not the only people living by themselves. We all need to take a minute and really look at how big this issue can be and how much bigger it can grow in the future, if it is not addressed properly.

I just want to come back to what I said at the start of the blog, I know that Lockdown has been very hard for everybody, it has hit everybody in its own way and the wider effects of it have not yet even been thought of. Taking just a few minutes to phone in and check on someone, even if you don’t think will help much, really can help. We are all people and we are all a part of society, lets put that into practice and try and help each other through this truly difficult time.

That’s all I want to talk about in today’s blog! Thank you all for reading! What do you think? Are you enjoying the Ideas for Lockdown series? Are there any activities that you would like to see me cover next? What are you doing to get through Lockdown? Let me know either in the comments below or through our Facebook page, Sweeney’s Blogs!

Thank for reading and I hope you have a great day!