Part 1 of our new series: What I'm Grateful For in 2020
To say that 2020 has been a tough year is an understatement. It has challenged each of us in profound and different ways, leaving many feeling mentally fatigued and physically exhausted at year's end.
But for UNE Professor of Social Work Myfanwy Maple, 2020 has been positively life-changing.
For four years this busy academic has maintained a large research portfolio, teaching responsibilities and the care of her four children while living with an auto-immune condition. When the COVID-19 pandemic left her highly vulnerable and lockdowns put an end to interstate and international travel, Myf was forced to "slow down and live more simply and local". What happened over the next six months has surprised her.
"In February I had a massive flare-up of my condition and was in bed for a week; it was very confronting. For the most part, my illness was invisible and hadn’t required me to explain my limitations to others – but I had already been thinking I needed to change the way I did things to prevent worsening of my condition, then COVID-19 hit and suddenly everything did change.
"I had to pull back from a lot of things that I would normally do and explain that I wouldn't be coming back into contact with people anytime soon. Of course, everyone understood this as we were all becoming used to physical distancing! In my old way of thinking I would never have reduced my level of activity that much voluntarily.
"I have a really big job, which means there had been constant tension between work and spending time with my family and friends. Slowing down gave me a chance to reassess the balance.
More mindful
"The hour a day I used to spend commuting to and from work I was able to invest in my physical health. I made sure that I did some form of exercise every day, and was able to also spend more time with my children and partner, to hear what was going on for them. I became more mindful about how I spent my time.
I am now much more conscious about what I do.
"I now spend an hour each Sunday putting everything, including exercise, into my diary for the upcoming week – this limits any overflow work taking away from my precious weekends. I make sure that I only work eight hours a day; otherwise all the busy stuff begins seeping back into my personal life and I lose the work/life balance that is so important to all of us. This has allowed me to take back some control and to be productive in other ways.
"I've tried to be really mindful and positive, and to focus on what I do have, rather than what I've lost. I've focused on how lucky I am to have my family around me, to have stable housing and to be able to put food on the table. This is so much more than many.
"And, over time, I've found that my physical health has improved. From a very low base at the beginning of the year, I can now ride for a long period of time on my bike, something which I had lost hope of being able to do. I have confidence in my physical health again and I am super grateful for that.
'It's not worth my health'
"I look back at all that rushing around I was doing – mostly for face-to-face meetings, trying to fit too much into every day – and think it was ludicrous. I think we'd all just got into the habit of being busy and over-consuming, and being self-focused rather than grateful. COVID has opened up different ways of seeing the world and moving through it with greater awareness and authenticity, and I hope that lasts. I really hope every workplace, business and school reassesses whether the way it does things is conducive to people living quality, healthy lives.
"I won't go back to what I was doing before. It's not worth it to my health. Saying no or advocating for doing things differently will be really hard, it will take a lot of confidence and self-control and very conscious thinking and decision-making, but why would I compromise my own health and limit what I can do in the future?
It's been very easy this year to see the negatives, but when you break it down there are many things every day to be grateful for.
"My condition will be with me for life, but for the first time in four years I have confidence in what my body can do. And that is freakin' awesome."
Also in this series:
- Part 2: 'My workmates gave me strength when I was on my knees'
- Part 3: A new appreciation of the essentials - the people around us
- Part 4: Back in the arms of family after months of separation
- Part 5: Adventure vs the quiet life: Lifelong traveller ‘lucky in lockdown’
- Part 6: Regional life: A gift in the year of lockdown
- Part 7: Meditation, exercise, family ... and wi-fi
- Part 8: 'My optimism has surprised even me'
