Lowestoft, England
john@livingmentalhealth.com

Back to School

There is no "I" in struggle

Back to School

Hey everyone. I hope you’re all well and in good mental health. Today, I’m going to talk to you about my school life, and how I think I would be struggling or coping with that under these current Covid-19 restrictions. I think we’re now going to have to put in more safe measures, with more lessons on coping techniques or mindfulness practice sessions. With children going from full-time schooling, to home schooling – or nothing – and also not seeing their friends for months, I personally think it’s going to very challenging for the current school generation.

When I was at school, I would struggle in all subjects apart from physical education: that was my escape route from school life and was really good for my mental health. I could kick and throw a ball as hard I could, and that felt great, because I was releasing all my stress.

I found the half-term breaks and the six week summer holidays really hard to handle, because they took me out of my routine; I would finally get into a new one during my time off, and then it would be time to go back to school. If I’d been a child during the pandemic, having all this time off school would have initially sounded great to me, but after a while I would have been stressing that I was falling behind with my work, and I would have worried about not being in contact with my friends. Because under the Covid restrictions we’re not allowed to mix with each other, I think I would have started to withdraw from things, gone to a very low place and lost my self-esteem.

I’m worried for the teachers and children going back to school, because for the last year they’ve both been in out of the school routine. They’re suddenly going back into full time education, and I think there are going to be problems: stress levels are going to be high for both teachers and children, and their parents are going to be worrying as well, because there are no clear instructions about returning to school: Do they get their children vaccinated? Do they have to wear a mask? In a few months’ time will schools be shut again? Will children have to do exams, and how will they get their results so they can move on to the next step in their lives, whether it be education or getting work? There are just so many opinions from everyone. It’s difficult to know who to follow – and to where – because of fake news and real news.

Thank you for reading. I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog. I wish you all good mental health and hope you find some time to recharge your batteries.

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