Luke Kirkness: What I've learnt after spending lockdown with me, myself and I

I've been waking up with a spring in my step this week — something I put down to us leaving alert level 4.

It was a great feeling on Wednesday, waking up and knowing we were at alert level 3.

In the morning before work, I went for a walk around the neighbourhood, which was considerably busier than the days previous.

Tradies had returned to worksites, people flocked to bakeries and, surprisingly, there wasn't much of a queue at the local fast-food joints. More vehicles appeared to be on the roads and plenty of people were out and about walking.

I'm sure you noticed a difference too. It's amazing so many people can get out and about or back to work with one alert level change. It's a stark difference between how things were on Tuesday and the fortnight before it when the nation was forced into a lockdown.

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My lockdown probably looked a bit different to yours. My lockdown was similar to the Billy Idol song Dancing With Myself. You see, Billy and I share the same hair colour and, secondly, I spent the majority of lockdown alone after my flatmates decided to seek refuge in Hamilton.

Mount Maunganui surfers catching a break after level 4 restrictions eased. Photo / George Novak

Being the big boy I like to think of myself as, I thought I'd get through it no trouble at all and for the most part, I did. However, there was an uncomfortable period over the weekend.

I was permitted to work in the office during level 4 and so were two of my colleagues, so I got to enjoy socially distanced conversations with them during the workweek.

That all changed on the weekend when I was all alone, but I knew I had to take action.

Health officials, the Prime Minister, and mental health experts have harped on all lockdown about the importance of getting exercise, eating right and keeping up conversations with others to help battle poor health.

After grabbing some exercise, getting a good lunch in me and catching up with some friends over drinks over a video call, my tune quickly changed.

People aren't meant to be isolated. Well, some people might prefer it but on the whole, most people like to belong to a community.

As the social butterfly I am, spending this lockdown with me, myself and I was a strange experience. I would be able to do it again, though I'd prefer not to.

The reality is if the pandemic weren't taking place, then I wouldn't have found myself in that predicament, but there's not much that can be done about that.

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I think some of us wrongly thought we had left Covid-19 behind as 2020 ended, but we've been starkly reminded, we're not.

In June, director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said: "This pandemic is probably not even halfway through."

As far as the virus is concerned, we're a long way from being out of the woods.

If there's one thing I've learnt from this past lockdown, it's that a slip-up is just around the corner and it doesn't take much for an outbreak to ignite.

Early birds ensuring they were among the first in the queue for McDonald's on Wednesday. Photo / George Novak

This time we were lucky. To be fair, so often in this country we have been lucky during the pandemic.

We caught on to the outbreak early and were able to shut it off quickly — away from Auckland at least. Cases in the City of Sails appear to be dropping off too, with health officials saying the lockdown up the road is clearly working.

My great hope is people will learn from this outbreak and be prepared for something like this to happen in the future.

The alert level 4 lockdown ended at 11.59pm on Tuesday. Photo / George Novak

Loneliness is hard to tackle during a lockdown, especially if people are living alone but it's something to think about. My employers were great, as were my friends and family.

As a boss, friend or family member, you should be talking to people who are on their own during lockdown times to ensure they're okay.

You know your body best so if you're feeling down, you probably know what works best for you and for me, it's exercise and talking to friends.

After my walk and a few cold ones over Zoom, I was quickly dancing by myself.