Life after Level 4 lockdown at Warblers Retreat

Life after Level 4 Lockdown

After 4 weeks in lockdown in New Zealand, we enter into level 3 and it's pretty much the same as level 4 for us, in terms of life and work. During the level 4 lockdown period, we have only seen our neighbours from a distance, have experienced an online funeral of a friend, have had two supermarket excursions, one excursion for chook food, and have been in the company of one another for the whole time. Now this could be good or bad!

So what’s changed for us?

We have had the best time ever! We have been given the gift of time. Time to do the things we really want to do, and to do them with no pressure, no guilt but with absolute passion. It’s given us the opportunity to actually stop and smell the roses, to do everything that we do in a more relaxed and healthier way. We have inadvertently been more focused and more productive than ever been before. So why can’t we be like this all the time?

Hitting the re-set button

We can, and now is a great time to hit the re-set button. To think about doing things differently. To question what things are negotiable, and what things we have decided to DEFINITELY change. We've had those conversations, and I think there will be many of you doing the same. Life is going to be different after lockdown. So what’s going to change for us?

Food Shopping

There’s a great opportunity for change here! Normally I always do this thankless task, and while I say that, I am very grateful, as I think of the many starving people around the world at this present time. Luckily, we do have a fruit and vege section in our backyard, so the grocery list isn’t too long. I have discovered that if Dave runs out of beer, he is more than willing to go down the road to stock up on supplies. So, being the male, ‘hunter and gatherer’, it makes sense that he should go and get the ‘beer essentials’, which includes a few food items that get tagged onto the list! So, if it’s ordering online, or actioning my ‘MAN’, to do the task, I feel excited about this one!

First Things First

For myself, the other thing is having a really, good balance of mental and physical work in a day. Of doing, first things first. Sometimes we do put a lot of pressure on ourselves specially when we're self-employed. An early morning routine of doing my office work, often from as early as 3am, has given me a sense of achievement, so that I can go on to carry out the outdoor chores, with complete and utter freedom. Then I call it fun, not work! Spending time in the garden, and especially the bush, is nature therapy for me. As a kid, I spent hours playing in the bush with my brothers and I just love it! It keeps my body strong and I don’t feel guilty, because I have done the hardest things first. That’s one of Stephen Covey’s top tips, in the book, ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’. It’s a good one!

Personal Challenge

At the beginning of the lockdown, I challenged myself to write a blog everyday. The first ten blogs went onto the website, then the rest were Facebook posts. I actually got to enjoy it after a while, even though it was quite a commitment to stick to it. The interesting part about all the blogs and posts I made, is the post that was the most popular. Funnily enough it was the post with a photo that I was initially not too sure about posting. It was Dave showing off his inaugural lockdown shopping spree acquisitions, his ‘beer essentials’ in the fridge. Kiwis are Kiwis – priorities! Another tick for getting rid of the shopping portfolio.

Having a Project

Men need projects! As do women, but if a man has a project, it keeps him particularly focused; there’s a purpose and reason to get out of bed every morning. Currently, Dave is as happy as a sandboy. He is doing what he loves, using his creative mind and clever hands to build our new glamping area, out of as many recycled materials as possible. He's just loving it, and says, ‘it's the best time of his whole life.’ He feels free to do what he wants. A sense of freedom, he says, he has never ever felt in his life before. Freedom is very important for all of us. Dave believes we have both used our gift of time very wisely as we prepare ourselves for the future. I guess you could call us, active relaxers. We are grabbing the opportunity to do what we want to do, for the rest of our lives. We have both been through big crises in our lives, have developed resilience, and look forward to moving on. We have become more focused than ever before, thanks to this special gift of time. And, we have great hopes for the future.

The Future

We’ve been spending time looking at how we can move into the future because the majority of our guests have been from overseas, and for us, the future will be a little bit different. We are in the same situation as many other small accommodation suppliers throughout New Zealand. It's been great keeping in touch with others in the same industry via Facebook groups and chat groups. We believe, there’s a massive opportunity for New Zealand to create a whole new level when it comes to tourism.

Sustainable Tourism

New Zealand has a wonderful opportunity to become world leaders in sustainable tourism. To provide quality experiences for travellers, not quantity experiences. To have longer stays in one place, less travel and more indepth quality time. To enjoy what’s right under our nose first, before we explore at an arm’s length. It’s an opportunity to rebuild from scratch, although it's going to be difficult for a lot of people initially. We need to look at rebuilding an age old industry with not only ourselves in mind, but the environment around us. Mother Earth has shown us she’s not happy, and we have been given a chance.

As the founder of ‘Cookie Time’, Michael Mayell once said, “the bigger the crisis, the bigger the opportunity. That's how we feel at the end of Covid-19, level 4.