With our city of Auckland going back into another Covid Lockdown this week, I’ve been thinking about how I’ve started to get more used to living life in lockdown. Naturally we’ve all gotten a lot better at using Zoom, Teams, Sharepoint and the other hosts of computer applications to keep us connected.

But I’m aware of another change too that I’ve started to make which is an internal one – to shift into a ‘lower gear’ in my mind. When we’re driving a car uphill (assuming it’s an automatic), the gears will drop down so that the car doesn’t grind to a halt. The lower gear enables the car to keep moving, given this new uphill terrain. I’ve taken this illustration to heart and tried to apply it to my life too.

What does it mean for me to shift into a lower gear? It’s hard to nail it down directly, but I’m aware of a few things that I’m doing differently. For one, I’m reminding myself to celebrate the small wins and to be content with any progress that I can make. I’m also trying to take more breaks across the day, and deliberately attempting to do certain things more slowly. The aim being not to try to quickly nail everything (like I usually do) but to be more intentional and methodical in what I’m working on.

I think last year the main mistake I made was feeling like I needed to double my effort when I was in a lockdown – this year, I’m finding that if I relax and take things a little more slowly that I’m actually able to do a lot more, without feeling overwhelmed. It’s a small change, but certainly one that feels like it’s making a difference.