NOTTINGHAM Forest hover around the playoff zone. World Cup semi-finalists England march into Euro 2020. Dina Asher-Smith prepares her sprint double at the Olympics and the marathon World Record is set to fall at the hands of either Eliud Kipchoge or Kenenisa Bekele in one of the greatest showdowns in the history of the London Marathon next month.

And then there’s you. Little You; all set to head to the gym on this nondescript Thursday afternoon. Spin class booked in that thin hour betwixt work and picking up the kids.

Yet,

All the above is not happening. Forest aren’t going up, not beating Leeds into the automatic promotion spot. England aren’t getting knocked out on penalties by Bulgaria in the quarters. Dina isn’t taking to the podium and the marathon World Record is staying exactly where it is. And Little You is staying where you are, too. No gym for you.
Not today, or tomorrow, or the next day.

None of the above is happening because of something that has happened, and is happening.

Apparently there’s a bit of a bug ‘knocking about.’ Have you heard about it, or not?

Oh.

A mystery has dropped out from the sky and wiped sport off the face of the planet, wiped out life as we know it, for the time being, off the face of the planet too.

There’s more to life than sport but there isn’t more to life than life. Life is life, until it’s not.

So,

Whattawedo? What can we do, us Little People?

The answer is nothing. Nothing.

No-thing.

Nothing to do. Nothing but wait. Waiting on nothing. Nothing to do and nowhere to go.

Nowhere to be but here. There, where you are. Nothing but indoors and out of sight.

Interiors, inside your house and inside your head. A quiet place, a quiet place that needs looking after. A quiet place that needs preserving like a palace. A safe space for you and your fam. We don’t want a riot in the streets of your mind, a breakdown in the backyard. We have enough chaos out there so we don’t want it in here too. So be kind to yourself and use your time well.

Learn to separate the things we can control and the things we can’t.

Can’t control Corona itself, or the government that is dealing with it, or trying to deal with it at least. Can’t control Boris or bats or China or that negative voice on Facebook that said that about him who was only trying to defend her. Can’t control any of that.

But,

You can control you. You can control how you see things, how you choose to see things. Can control your thoughts, thus feelings. You can control how you roll, about how you spend this time. Indoors can be good. Indoors can be smooth. Your choices are still vast. Eat. Sleep. Think. Life reduced to a single point, a simpler form. Time with loved ones. Time by yourself. Time with your mind. Time with books. The books you’ve always wanted to read. A whole world of words at your fingertips. Endless library of wisdom and knowledge in the palm of your hand. Or 1 hr YouTube documentaries on the history of humankind, 60 minute slots with whole centuries inside them. Stuff you’ve always wanted to know. Things you’ve always wanted to learn. Or maybe the work you do, way you earn your crust. Time to dream up new ideas. Creative or commercial enterprise. Now could be the time. Now could be that time. One bout of hibernation with a thousand visions. Maybe just enjoyment for enjoyment’s sake, the pure bliss of being, fun and frivolity. Time with the children. Kids are a breath of fresh air at times like these, wide-eyed and worry-free, their large aliveness and oblivious spirit snaps us out of the grind and WOWS us with wonder.

What it was like to be them, and where they are now…

Fitness too. Ironically people seem to be switched-on to fitness more than ever. It’s like having it taken away from us makes us want it more. Again, options are endless. Press-ups. Sit-ups. Plank. Stretches. Resistant bands. A set of dumb bells. An hour out walking/jogging/running on the silent streets.

Train wisely. Track your progress. Make it a project.

See the simplicity of these times as a gift, not an ordeal.

Collectively it is good practice for our preparedness of the unexpected. Civic duties, communal awareness. Individually it can be a training ground to build our emotional fitness and resilience. How to cope creatively.

Earth being given a chance to breathe.

Everything that is supposed to happen, happens; for the simple reason, that it does.

So embrace this situation with calm and clarity and acceptance.

And wait it out, ride the storm, starve the beast, flatten the curve. Do your part.

All the while taking slices of lemon in a hot cup.

I hear that works a treat.

*Article provided by Joe Archer (Health & Lifestyle Correspondent).

*Main image @fatbitfun a cup of hot lemon provides vitamin C, potassium, calcium, pectin fibre and has antibacterial properties.