Creative Catalyst Carole Bent lives in Old Town with her partner, renowned artist David Bent. She is a strong advocate for creativity in its widest sense and a shift from STEMtoSTEAM to include the Arts. Here is her voice.
LOOK UP
When Jamie asked if I’d be happy to write an article to share my personal experiences about recent weeks, I said yes.
Partly because Jamie is a good bloke and we really like Swindon Link and partly because if a single sentence is helpful to just one person , then it’s worth doing.
At the start of March, my diary looked like lots of other peoples - pretty full with a mix of work, family and other commitments.
Life close to home seemed the same as usual, though with a growing awareness of a pandemic sweeping the world, taking lives and livelihoods with it. We felt sad and concerned for everyone affected, but it hadn’t really hit home yet.
By mid March, life started to feel very different. Long standing work plans fell, family weddings and big birthday celebrations were put on ice. People were starting to panic. It felt like being on an escalator running in reverse. For 48 hours, life tasted like a sickly cocktail of shock, loss and confusion with just a tiny bit of light on the side. Like many others, we tried to make sense of it, but couldn’t.
The word ‘ lockdown’ entered our vocabulary. Fully accepting the need to do this, I still cried at the prospect. Dave has been as great as ever and I made a handful of decisions that have been helpful.
The first was to be really honest about how I felt. The next was to try to worry less about everything that I couldn’t do and to focus as much as possible on what I could, including deciding to word swap ‘ Lockdown' with ‘ Look up ‘ instead.
Each time I hear the word now, I look up at the sky, so blue in recent days and full of stars at night. Well worth doing.
I then started to ‘look up’ the phone numbers of people who I hadn’t called for ages and its been a genuine reminder of how important it is to hear everyone’s voices. I then decided to create a diary of posts to share on my Facebook page daily until Jan 1st 2021. Partly to add structure and to throw something positive ahead into an unseen future. The themes are professional and personal passions around creativity, work, home, Dave’s art and inspirational people connected with my STEMtoSTEAM commitments. I hoped that it might be a little uplifting for friends.
A comment added this week made me very glad to have decided to do this small thing.
‘I love this post Carole , every sentiment within it has either calmed me, inspired me or evoked joy in me, I’m going to savour the quote as I need to slow my mind. The act of the slow blink instantly soothed me. Also, I am going to consider a diary or daily moment of consideration after reading your week. I particularly like Sunday. Thank you, stay safe both of you.' Rio.
Rio is a key worker, Firefighter and friend. Thinking about her and how many people are being extraordinary across our town at this time is very humbling – including friends working hard at the Great Western Hospital, teachers and parents working out the best ways to educate children at home, volunteers and all delivery drivers, and refuse & recycling collectors who work hard every day. Best wishes to all.
Carole Bent : Creative Catalyst : April 11 : 2020
Swindon Link is calling on its readers to write to us about their experiences for our campaign called 'Voices from The Coronavirus'. The idea is that we can share our experiences underlining that none of us are alone.
We want to hear from you from whatever walk of life you come from to hear how you are dealing with this new reality. Everybody has a story to share from keyworkers to teenagers. It doesn't matter what your writing ability is, the whole point of this is to make sure every voice is heard so that people don't feel that they are battling this alone. We will try to publish your story on our website no matter who you are.
All you have to do is write to us with your experiences to [email protected]. Please make sure that you send a picture of yourself to go with the piece and try and keep it under 500 words. Please also include some basic details about yourself. For more details press here
And for previous entries into our Voices from The Coronavirus series press here
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