Three things I’m grateful for during the coronavirus lockdown

It’s safe to say the whole world is crazy right now. The phrase we’re living through unprecedented times is often thrown around, because…well we are.

One of the best ways to deal with overwhelming feelings of negativity and feeling like there’s nothing to be positive about, is to write down things you are grateful for. It can be anything from being grateful for having a really great morning cup of coffee; to feeling grateful for the support of a loved one.

Remember though, it is ok to not feel very positive during this period, but if you can use this exercise to make yourself feel slightly more gracious about the things that you have instead of the things you don’t, you might start to feel a bit more hopeful.

Here are three things I am grateful for

1. technology

Now more than ever I feel grateful for technology. It’s really hard not being able to see my family and friends, but being able to video call my loved ones makes me feel so much better. Phone calls just aren’t the same as being able to see faces.

I’m a huge fan of the app House Party where you can play games such as quizzes and guess who..

2. not living alone

I am really grateful that during these times I don’t live alone. I really struggle with spending too much time on my own, I don’t enjoy big groups but I love being around a small group of family or friends.

I am thankful that I live with my boyfriend and that we have managed to keep each other entertained. I am aware of some of my friends and family that do live alone so I’ve made the extra effort to reach out and check-in with them because I know how isolating this lockdown is.

3. community spirit

Lastly I am grateful for the community spirit online that has been born out of this pandemic. I’ve seen loads of beautiful acts of kindness, people offering to volunteer to help elderly and vulnerable people, and all of the weekly clapping for the NHS and key workers. I feel like although we are all physically apart there is a sense of coming together to help each other out through these tough times. .

I work for the newspaper and digital publisher ChronicleLive in Newcastle, and on Wednesday I hosted a Facebook Live pub quiz on the page to offer some light-hearted entertainment. This was a great success as over 19,000 people have viewed this quiz to date. The followers were really enjoying the quiz and it was so lovely and heartwarming to see people’s nice messages. It is this kind of community spirit that I am really grateful for. In times of darkness we can find new ways to be creative and connect with each other.

If you would like to join in with the pub quiz, I am hosting another one this evening at 7pm you can join the event here and play along.

Let me know what you are grateful for in the comments below!