Virus or reset?

I am sitting here on a Tuesday afternoon after a week and a half of lockdown due to the Coronavirus that has swept from China across the world, and created a worldwide pandemic.

Planes are grounded, travel is banned, you have to queue 2 metres apart when you go shopping, people are panic buying food like we are going to war! We are in a way. Some things are getting hard to get, we are restricted on our movements with the government telling us to stay indoors and stay safe. We can only go out for essential food and medication, only one walk per day. I have not seen this in my lifetime ( I am a half century now), people have to stay at home there is no work unless you work for the NHS or food supplies or environmental workers.

Being a gym owner we closed on the Wednesday night after both Kerry and I discussed the health risks that would expose people coming to train. We had been washing everything at the gym for about 2 weeks before we closed, but we felt it was safer to close until we were told to go back. In a strange twist of fate the government told everyone to close gyms the following Monday, so we were ahead of the curve in keeping ourselves and students safe. I won’t go on about the virus as I sure you should know the best way to keep you and your loved ones safe at this time of great worry, I would like to focus on some small chink of light in these dark times.

According to scientists the earth is healing starting with the Ozone layer even Venice reported that its waterways were clear and fish had returned due to no traffic.

On a personal level in the Atkin house we seem to be getting on with it quite well .We have did DIY jobs that we had been putting off, but now we can tick them off the list for the near future, I have painted the outside of the house and the garden is looking the best it has for years, Kerry has ‘bottomed’ a few of the rooms, I think she means massive deep clean and tidy up, she has shredded a small rainforest of paper that she had not got round too, so much so the poor little shredder gave up the ghost on a number of occasions and needed a rest so it could cool down! We have started to watch Auf Wiedersehen pets from the start to lighten the mood !

Kerry is busy re-organising the gym’s memberships and children’s classes for when we return (hopefully soon), we are preparing for the future of the AFC. It is hard to judge when that will be but we have no income at the moment but the government should be able to help us sooner rather than later (here’s hoping).

We have been working out in the garden and doing exercises and coming up with videos to put on the AFC Facebook and youtube channel. I have been trying to look at my injuries and trying to fix them as we speak, I am currently working on a neck, shoulder, and lower back injury to fix. Hopefully with this time off I will be able to take the pain away and get myself healthy again, since last year was not my best year (sounds like another blog in the pipeline).
Our day consists of getting up between 8am-9am, walk Nev come back and fix breakfast, the girls do their work set by school and collage (we are so proud of them just getting on with it, with only a little bit of a whinge lol) while Kerry and I set about our tasks for the day. I am working on if it is sunny I work outside and if it is cold I work inside. Kerry if she is not in the office she is dismantling a room and putting it back together in her very organised particular
(OCD) way. We are trying not to put pressure on ourselves to do everything at once, if we don’t get to do the thing we had planned on doing that day we can do it tomorrow. I am finding this a little strange as we normally spend our lives fitting everything into the days we have available, but at the moment we have time. Something we had to manage quite keenly before lockdown. I keep thinking this will be over a few weeks and things will get back to normal but we just have to wait and see!

I think this is the perfect time to take stock of your life, decide what you like about your life, who you like in your life and when this is all over don’t take them for granted ; I feel that is a reboot or reset on life as we know it. Also think that some people will be changed when we come out of this knightmare for the better, but also will see people for what they truly are, unfortunately people are beginning to show their true colours and I for one will have less time for people that are selfish and unwilling to help people that need it!

It is true what John Edwards the medium says you should love and validate the people you love and tell them so they don’t have to hear it from him someday.

This time has given me a new perspective in my life, because I was getting jaded in my work at the gym as I have been training for nearly 40 years, teaching for 32 and full time coach for 27 years . My body has been through a lot and my mind has also had to withstand all the doubts and the haters, back stabbing and users that I have had to deal with and sometimes no matter how much I like to teach, you can fall out of love with what you are doing. This has been a wakeup call for the rest of my life and the way I could pass on knowledge without burning out ! I miss teaching so that is a good sign, but most of all I miss helping people that is my true passion, Myself and Kerry worry about everyone at the gym because we know how much the gym helps everyone with their physical and mental health ; we provide a service that is always given with love and we hope everyone can get back to training with each other as fast as possible. But until then we will continue to do these blogs and videos and training tips to help everyone to connect with each other and we will see you all on the other side of this !

Big love from the Atkin clan xxx