I hadn’t planned on writing about my personal life and thought that I could just talk about Comms and Marketing – I was wrong. 2021 entwined the two together in the form of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Not only have I been working from home, I’ve had to communicate with my whole team and indeed our organisation through new methods like video calls and instant messaging. I think the ‘how’ we accomplished that is a whole other blog and I’ll give you my thoughts and tips on how we survived working that way.

What Coronavirus has done to all of us

We have all been affected by COVID-19 around the whole world – yep it’s a pandemic – not something anyone could have predicted when but we knew it would happen one day. We have been affected by having to be in lockdown, with less freedom, family and friends testing positive for COVID-19 and of course, the worst of it all, losing our loved ones to this deadly virus.

I found myself drawn to the numbers every day. Checking how many people caught the virus, how many were hospitalised and how many people died. Somehow knowing these numbers was meant to tell me something but instead, it made me more anxious and I didn’t go out anywhere – even to get some exercise or to do the shopping. I let my husband do that because he wanted to get out and do something different.

Thank you, NHS

NEW ENTRY – 04/01/2024
I was back on the blog again and saw that I didn’t actually post the above post – it is still very relevant today. COVID is still around – not as bad but certainly making its presence felt!

Our way of working has changed – not everyone is going back to the office full-time – people realise that we can work from home and go in a few times a week and have the best of both worlds. Personally, I found I’m more productive at home and I am still strict with myself to finish on time (unless I have a tight deadline), I really enjoy going into the office once a week and those days are for team bonding and collaborative working.

Another thing that has changed is our social engagement and now people are thinking more about their wellbeing and giving it the priority it deserves – I love it! Give ourselves permission to say no to going out or give ourselves permission to think of ourselves first and not feel guilty about it.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love going out but now I don’t feel guilty for not wanting to go to the pub after work – I just want to go home.

I started this post by talking about the NHS – it is still a fantastic thing – unfortunately, I’ve had a few hospital stays in the last few years and every time I have had brilliant care and I just wanted to say thank you again. So, UK Government, please pay NHS staff what they are worth because they do a fantastic job and we wouldn’t have an NHS if they didn’t do the jobs they do. My mum worked in the NHS and was a nurse until retirement. The passion and commitment that NHS workers have is incredible – don’t take them for granted!