Blog - Voices From the Bush
How is social isolation treating you?
- Philippa Rumble, Tenindewa, WA – Farmer and Rural Ambassador
Some may snicker at that, as I did a few weeks ago; after all, for those of us who live on rural properties social isolation is more or less a way of life for us! However, if I’m honest I’ve been struggling of late. Life amid this Covid-19 craziness has thrown my carefully regimented and highly organised life out of whack and I’ve had to develop a few new ways of coping to find my new normal and I feel it’s been slow to load- my internet connection has a lot to answer for really.
But all jokes aside, life has been a bit tumultuous. From my university lectures being moved online, my three young children now relying on me to crisis school them and even our normal fortnightly grocery shop completely blown out of the water. It reminds me of those early newborn days when life as you know it has been shaken up so much you no longer know what normal is. I (mostly) still remember those first six weeks, when advice came thick and fast, but never seemed to solve the problem of HOW you were going to get some rest and still get clothes washed / dinner cooked/ stay sane.
I’ve found lately that these strange weeks of online learning, rationing liquid soap and flour (thankfully we are well stocked with TP… for now) and explaining to the kids why we can’t go and play at the neighbours’ house to be a formative experience, much like those first weeks of being a new Mum. Although we might be finding it daunting, scary, bemusing or overwhelming, it will eventually be over and we will emerge from the other side 5 kilos heavier than planned and appreciating the simple joy of drinking a coffee at a café or doing a grocery shop without stress (and getting everything on the list).
Here’s to those simple things in life ladies, I know I’ll appreciate them an awful lot more when this craziness is over., until then you can find me hiding in my office listening to the dulcet tones of my 3 boys squabbling over who found the best stick to play naughts and crosses in the dirt with. Philippa Rumble, Tenindewa, Western Australia.