Laila’s Story

Hello, I’m Laila and this is how my lockdown went.

My lockdown was quite like everybody’s: boring, annoying and upsetting at times. But I am still quite happy that it did happen. During the six months I had away from normal social life, I learned to love myself and accept myself for who I am and what I am. I learned to forgive, forget and move on but I also learned that your real friends will stay and others will leave. I learned to accept the fact some things are meant to be and some aren’t. I changed myself in the course of this time for the best, I learned to be a nicer person and I struggled with how I approached some people because I never knew what would come out of my mouth, this is  still something I’m working on but I’m happy with where I am at with it right now.

A few things in lockdown that I did, I will admit I am ashamed about and wish I didn’t do. But I got the help I needed with my friends and family around me (which I am very, very grateful for). I learned to get out of bad habits such as biting my nails, arguing for unnecessary reasons and being childish and immature. I learned to be more mature mentally and physically by the way I acted and spoke. I am genuinely so proud of myself for the things I have overcome in these hard times. I started to focus on myself more than I did on others because I was trying so hard to make others happy when I wasn’t in the right mental state myself. To this day I continue to help make others smile but make myself smile too. I feel like throughout lockdown everybody’s mental state changed. There were people that realised their worth and became happy with their lives but there were some that downed themselves so much, tragic things happened. I went through hard times, but it wasn’t all bad, like I said, I learned to smile and accept myself for ME, get out of bad habits and into good ones.

When the Coronavirus was at its worst I started volunteering at my local community centre making food and hygiene parcels and delivering them to the less fortunate people and vulnerable people who couldn’t get out to the shops to buy their food because of their age or illnesses etc. At this moment in time I’m still not happy with my life; I am getting there at a fast pace with the help of the amazing people at my side. Remember, if you’re ever going through tough times you are worth it and you will make it!!!

You learn more from failure than from success. Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today 🙂