Six Weeks, Six Different Wellness Challenges
How I’m using the quarantine to get to know myself.
Illustration by Ally Hart
DAY 23 Do not bleach your own hair.
Hi. My name is Kat and at the time of writing this, I have been in lockdown for 23 days.
Technically, not a lot of us are *really* isolated. Merriam-Webster’s definition of isolation reads; “An individual socially withdrawn or removed from society.” I wouldn’t class getting drunk with your friends on a Zoom call as true isolation. If I’m going by Merriam-Webster’s all-knowing classification, the only people who are truly practicing social distancing are those who reject technology and live in the woods with the squirrels.
But my isolation is in a close-enough sense to this definition. With multiple immunocompromised people back at home, I began my isolation a little before the UK was officially on lockdown, stuck in the four walls of my bedroom. Before that, I was using the London underground on a daily basis, working my last days at a retail job, and touching a lot of things that other people had either touched, or had planned on touching.
I’m not alone in the classical sense. I live at home with my family, so there are three other people under this roof...and none of them are dealing with this very well. More on that later. You don’t need me to tell you this isolation has brought on an incredible, different kind of boredom, do you? It’s a sentiment that half the planet are feeling in this harmonious, communal boredom. This droning, exhausting, terrible boredom.
So, if you’re reading this in a fit of COVID-19 induced boredom, welcome! I’ll be checking in with you on a weekly basis to share with you a host of the things that I have learnt about myself each week in lockdown, as well as a Lockdown Jam of the Week, which is a song I’ve been fixated on over those seven days, or just want to share with the world.
A bit about me: My name is Kat. Did I mention that earlier? Yes, I did. I’m based outside of London, England, and I’m a third year university student. I will not be getting a graduation ceremony this year thanks to the pandemic, and my thesis will probably go up a grade out of pure pity, but it’s not as if my biggest passion in life is doing a good job on it, so does it really matter?
To be honest, this column is a bit of relief for me. Like the majority of people who are going through this shared experience, I’m not used to being alone. Being alone has often been a choice that came at times of overstimulation. In the most selfish way, I have always chosen to be isolated when I feel stuck — and now I feel stuck because I am isolated. I hope that by sharing my frustrations, I can help you centre your worldview via what is wonderful, and what is not worth your time. I used to hate getting up in the morning because my workload brought my dread, and now I spend my days waiting for the hour that I get to sit in the back of my dad’s car as he runs an errand. To roll down the window as we tentatively shift through the British country, that’s the highlight of my week.
So, in this inaugural week, what have I learnt about myself? Well, I’ve learnt that I’m a pretty piss poor hairstylist. It seems that everyone with an Instagram is posting their quarantine makeovers. Some are shaving their heads because the spirits said so, and my entire friendship group are using months old bleach to impress their dog, or their nan. I did the latter, ran out of bleach halfway through, and ended up looking like the ripest of bananas. You know, the kind that people are using to bake delicious banana bread during this terrible, weird time.
In the end, I bought some emergency bleach, patched up the ripe banana section of my head, and found that blonde Kat was the exact burst of energy that I needed for my quarantine makeover. I’m pretty sure there are still a couple of stray brown patches, but as the lockdown continues, I’m not all that concerned about salon perfection.
Are you looking to find yourself in quarantine too? Tweet me @mossheadlives. I’d love to hear about how it’s going. See below for my lockdown jam of the week.
See you next week, universe!
