Since lockdown started, have you found that you've had to take on new roles? Take on responsibilities you wouldn't have otherwise and never have tried before?
Recently, I've found myself forging ahead into a new world of the unknown to me - hairdressing. Now, I've been known to trim a fringe before, or tidy up the ends a little when desperate times and needs have arisen, but not a proper a haircut. Not until now anyway! It's daunting, it really is, to stand behind someone who's sat waiting, completely at the mercy of the scissors you wield. They know - you know - you're the one now in charge, and yet you don't have the faintest clue where to begin or what direction to start in. This was the position I found myself in last week.
Questions started popping into my mind, doubts, fears. Do I err on the side of caution and just snip a little here and there? Or should I be bold and take off the same amount I've seen the hairdresser or barber do, the amount I know really does need to come off? I wanted to turn and ask someone for help or hints. But standing there in the middle of the kitchen, I felt very alone.
It's not just David's hair that has needed cutting and left me feeling all at sea either. The dog is also now sporting a very roughly cut beard. I've had to teach myself to create and write this blog - and many of you know how comfortable I am with a computer! We've channeled our inner Monty Don's to grow a range of fruit and veg. Some of you have become teachers and had to help with the home-schooling. And some of you have had to overcome isolation week after week, when normally you'd have active social lives.
A lot of us have been feeling like we don't really know what we're doing. How best to go about these new tasks. Is it best to just jump in the deep end? I think so. Fear has done nothing but slow us down and hold us back with some of these tasks, and sometimes the best way for us to learn is to try. To try, and maybe fail. But maybe to try and succeed. We shouldn't be fearful of failing, but rather seize it as the opportunity to try again, improve - and maybe, succeed.
The following poem is by another poet Becky has introduced me to recently. A Canadian poet who has risen to fame with his short, aphoristic poems and using the social media platform, Instagram, as his launch pad, 'Atticus' writes all of his poetry pseudonymously, the Banksy of the poetry world perhaps!
Our Brave Life - Atticus
