A day in the life: youth worker in lockdown
Mary Croft,
19th Apr 2020
Tags:
Life
Blog
Gratitude
Purpose
Work
There are a few things you should know about me before I share what my days are like at this time.
- I am an extrovert. Not being around people is super draining for me.
- I love musicals, and I’m constantly singing them around the house.
- Disney+ has been a godsend. I’m currently going through the Marvel movies in order, and ‘High School Musical’ is also getting a lot of love.
Morning
I begin the day with a lovely cuppa and some eggs, usually poached. Curiosity question: Where on the colour scale do you enjoy your tea? I am definitely a day four tan line kinda girl!
After breakfast, I put some music on. It’s usually Christian worship music, I have been loving ‘Surrounded/Fight my Battles’, ‘The Blessing’, and ‘God is’.
Music helps me focus. I listen to worship music when I want to focus on God, or I listen to other styles, see point 2 above, when I want to dance around the house and be happy.
Some artists I love listening to, that always put me in a good mood, are: For King & Country, Sheppard, and the Jonas Brothers.
After this, I read a book.
I’m currently reading three books, yes I like multi-tasking. I’m reading ‘I Declare War’ by Levi Lusko, which looks at how to always live in overflowing joy and stop the negative thoughts from winning.
I'm reading the second book with a group of friends, it's called ‘How to Pray’ by Pete Greig. This is great because we are able to meet up via Zoom and pray together, discuss the book, and socialise.
For the last book, I’m re-reading the ‘Noughts and Crosses’ series by Malorie Blackman. This was the first book series I'd read, and I fell in love with it. 10/10 would recommend this.
I've loved to get creative in my work.
After spending some time reading, I've loved to get creative in my work.
We’re constantly finding fun ways to engage with others on social media, e.g. with videos, questions, and challenges, such as toilet roll football or dressing gown catwalk.
We’ve also been creating workbooks to help people engage with the church on Sunday mornings since we’re not able to meet as a youth group.
Afternoon
After lunch, I usually go for a walk in the park. It’s a big park so I'm able to social distance very comfortably, and enjoy some fresh air, which is so needed by this point.
I’ve been getting my extrovert out in the afternoons and having lots of phone/video calls with people.
We have been doing Bible studies, hanging out virtually, playing bingo, doing Kahoot quizzes, and Netflix watch parties.
I’ve also been scrolling through Instagram and different youth pages like Youthscape for more resource ideas. And I’ve enjoyed hearing encouragements from different Christians on IG live. Justin Bieber’s has been a lot of fun recently with his TikTok’s and church services.
Evening
After having my dinner, I sit down and watch either a movie, see point 3 above, or a series, Gilmore girls and the National Theatre live streams are getting a lot of attention right now.
I like to finish my day with writing 25 things that I am thankful for. I started doing this during Lent so that at the end of the 40 days I would have 1000 things to be thankful for.
Everything I’m doing right now is to try and help me stay positive, keep looking forwards, and trust that God is protecting me, and he has a plan to use me for good at this time.
In the bible, 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, “Be thankful in all circumstances…” It says “in” all circumstances, not “for” all circumstances.
We can choose how we respond in those ‘not so good moments’.
Sometimes things aren’t good, but we can choose how we respond in those ‘not so good moments’ by staying thankful for everything we still have.
So, there we have it. That is what a day in the life of a youth worker looks like in self-isolation. What are your days looking like?
