
It was 2020, the year the world as we knew it changed dramatically. With Covid-19 came lockdowns and suddenly the people around me were stuck at home, unable to visit friends or family, unable to eat out or travel - all the things I had adapted to rarely doing during the last 11 years of living with CRPS. The lockdown restrictions were my norm, as a result I was probably better prepared than most people.
2021 and the pandemic and flash lockdowns continue, I no longer need to try and explain why I can’t accept invitations because there are none, most doctors’ appointments are by tele health so unless I required a face to face consultation I don’t have to make the huge effort to get to the clinic which often results in increased pain levels.
I listen and observe how the pandemic affects my friends, there’s lots of depression and heart break, I try to keep in touch but it takes a huge effort because my inclination lately is to retreat into my own small world.
Alongside the pandemic my CRPS persists with the same ups and downs and I wonder how all the other CRPS people out there are doing. I continue to spend many hours in my studio, I feel fortunate to have art as a lifeline.
I still believe that every day is a gift despite all the horrid things worldwide that threaten to consume us, but accepting the things happening beyond our control is never easy.