Man cannot live on Banana Bread alone #14 #cong20

We were not equipped with a set of instructions for how to cope in a Global Pandemic. So whatever you’re doing to keep yourself sane, do it.
Most importantly though, don’t be afraid to reach out to people for no good reason. We can get zoom fatigue and we need to make it OK, to say, I’m just calling because I need social interaction

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1. We’ve been here before (sort of)
2. There is no manual
3. Do whatever keeps you sane
4. Reach out for nothing, sanity is key

Ailish has worked in the education and non-profit sector, community integration and enterprise projects.  She is passionate about helping people to solve their own problems through resilience and a positive attitude.  She has a huge interest in STEM and in promoting employment opportunities in technology, particularly in rural areas.  When not working she is a wife to one and mammy of 3 and is usually found huddled on the side of a GAA pitch, planning on buying a warmer jacket..

You can connect with Ailish on Twitter, LinkedIn or via email..  

By Ailish Irvine.

Man cannot live on Banana Bread alone.

Sometimes I have terrible ideas and sometimes I have great ones. At the start of this year I said to my husband, “i’d like to do up a room as a home office for myself, not a dumping ground, a nice space where I’d like hanging out and working”

I also said, “Let’s not wait until Summer for a holiday, why don’t we go away in February this year?”

Prophetic I hear you ask, I’m beginning to think so. Those two simple things have helped me to stay relatively sane in 2020.
We have always worked remotely and our kids are well used to having to pretend they live in the basement and don’t exist in our lives. Heaven forbid that they be seen in the background of a call or that people at work find out that we have a life outside of the 9 to 5.

Remember this guy.

He made it OK for all of us to have children appear in the background. Now it’s something that lightens people’s mood. We need more of our home life/work life co-existing. It needs to work to give the people at home a chance too. They shouldn’t have to hide.

We need a culture where it’s ok to say, I can’t do that because, I have school runs, training, football games etc

These past few months have made me think carefully about how our ancestors coped during crises in the past. I often wondered how people coped with the fear in wartime. The impending sense of doom and the never knowing when it’s all going to end. I then remembered that during wartime, people were very clear on who the enemy actually was. Now we really aren’t quite sure. Is it the person in ALDI without a face mask? The person you met out walking who walked a little bit too close beside you? Is it perhaps a work colleague you met for coffee who had a dry cough? It’s very difficult to know and in order to stay sane, I think, we have to realise that we are facing an unprecedented set of challenges. We don’t know how to be prepared emotionally for all this.

One of my favourite comedy clips is Catherine Tate . Here she is singing one of my favourite songs, which will be stuck in your head for the rest of today. (You’re most welcome) It depicts an old fashioned view of , keep calm and carry on.

I think our modern day response has been to bake banana bread. I know I can hear you now.

Patient: Dr. What do you think I should do? There’s this fear I have everyday of getting sick, possibly dying, losing a family member, my house, my job.?

Dr. Well I’m glad you asked, I recommend that perhaps you reacquaint yourself with Tony Soprano or Breaking Bad. Invest in huge amounts of toilet paper because this thing can get nasty. Lastly however I’d buy shares in flour companies as I feel like there is a banana bread wave about to hit. You know what else you can do?

• Don’t worship at the shrine of amazon (Buy from someone who can’t get PUP)
• Don’t do ALL zoom calls, it’s exhausting.
• Have crappy dinners on the days you can’t muster the enthusiasm.
• If you’ve not had a good nights sleep , take it easy. Be kind to yourself.
• Ring your friends for no reason, the art of chatting about nothing is lost in this pandemic.

And if all else fails. “Let’s all go down the strand and have a banana.”