#StayInForLGBT – LGBT people share their top tips for staying busy during lockdown
Like millions of people across the country, Stonewall staff are working from home for the foreseeable future.
We’re adapting to social distancing, but we’re not finding it easy!
Something we have found helpful is sharing with each other hints and tips about what’s keeping us busy, and what’s cheering us up, during this difficult and uncertain period.
So today we’re launching a new hashtag – #StayInForLGBT – and asking you to tell us how you’re spending your time while we’re all social distancing.
Here are some of our ideas to get you started:
1. Nick
Nick said: ‘Baking has been a big comfort and source of mindfulness/self-care for me during isolation. It’s a non-screen-based activity, it takes up lots of time, it’s a creative output, it makes the flat smell great and it doesn’t matter if it goes wrong because it’s only you eating it!’
2. Jai
Jai said: ‘I've got a running Hangouts call with some friends while we WFH. I’m also helping out people in my community with my local mutual aid group, having cups of tea in the garden, rearranging my bookcases, and knitting!’
3. Adelaide
Adelaide said: ‘Like many people, I have been escaping into peaceful video games to take my mind off things. My little character on Animal Crossing makes sure everyone knows that her island is an LGBT-friendly space!’
4. Ez
Ez said: ‘I have taken up doing watercolours of butches. I paint during the daily Government update. It’s a way to calm my mind as I process the information as well as helping me deal with how much I am missing all the butches from the Stonewall office.’
5. Yeme
Yeme said: ‘We’ve been keeping busy by having skill swaps. Tajah is teaching Spanish, Mae is teaching French, I’m teaching German, and Tajah and Marcus are teaching sign language. I’ll be teaching some origami soon as well! I’m also moving away from the comfort of knitting scarves to basically knit everyone in the flat a hat, and maybe some gloves if I dare …
We’ve also been learning dances together. We were quite proud of our ‘All in this Together’ dance from High School Musical and we’re now tackling famous KPOP dances.’
6. Tom
Tom said: ‘With the world on lockdown, losing myself in the simple joy of a puzzle helps me take my mind off things. This one has an adorable puppy on it, and is deceptively hard because of all the blurry foliage in the background.
Sometimes I put on a podcast to puzzle along to – I’m a big fan of the Reasons to be Cheerful podcast with Ed Miliband.’
7. Erin
Erin said: ‘I have no plans to shave my head, but I did bleach my hair and then dye it pink. Here’s the evidence – along with a demonstration of the 90s lesbian classic bandana being used in a 2020 way. Perfect for daily walks.’
8. Maddy
Maddy said: ‘Me and my flatmates have been dedicating (some of) our evenings to re-watching the L Word. It’s the perfect distraction – we’ve never needed to live vicariously through Shane more than we do now. I also learned how to use self-timer to take this photo, which is another new skill for me!’
9. Ted
Ted said: ‘During isolation I have been filling my time by bedazzling everything, making beautiful food, and partying with my friends every Friday for Queer House Party. I also learnt how to roller-skate in the garden!’
10. One final suggestion, from our Fundraising team: get your pets involved in meetings!
