Bounce Back, Spruce Up.
I was listening to one of my favourite breakfast shows, Chris Evans on Virgin, and the big discussion was Britain Bouncing Back. It’s a phrase I’ve been hearing a lot. A newspaper is running a promotion using the phrase and commentators throw the words into their reports. All this got me thinking how we as individuals bounce back from problems life throws at us. Speaking personally, after I’ve dealt with the intimate practicalities of whatever the life shock has been (anything from minor illness to family disruption to my divorce), there’s always been a pattern of behaviour that involves a considerable amount of tidying, clearing and putting back in order what I see around me.
Sense Of Order
This gives me
a) A distraction
b) A clear head
c) A return to
my calm mental
state
d) A renewed ability
to make decisions
e) The platform is clear to rise up from. So, if I was influential in Government matters, I would suggest that for the nation to bounce back we need to look around, clean up and regain a sense of order. When we do this it has a visceral effect. We feel uplifted and confident. I propose a national spruce up with all councils encouraging those who’d like to donate their time and skills to join in. This would help people who are feeling lost to wake up with purpose and get involved. There’s a block of council-run apartments near to me where the garden has become an overgrown mess. Every time I walk past I think there must be people living in those apartments who’d love to help and meet others, thus forming a more proactive, safer community. Across the country I want to see thousands more street cleaners oozing with pride over their Key Worker jobs, having the responsibility of reporting what needs attending to – broken paving, benches or graffiti. I have never seen our home in such a mess – blown litter, debris by motorways and don’t get me started on weeds! My other bugbear is overgrown roundabouts which could be sponsored by companies happy to fix them in exchange for advertising.
Further Than The Gate
This is not about vast sums of money, it’s upcycling, clearing, making good with our individual responsibilities, going further than the garden gate until we turn it into the norm and we all become more invested in the way our country looks. There’s nothing better than Bouncing Back with pride in your scrubbed-up appearance – ask anyone who’s been dumped!
Love, Anthea X