A Mandurah mum of three young children has released an emotional and stirring video depicting her life in lockdown on Western Australia's southwest coast - just in time for lockdown 2.0.
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Passionate storyteller Tanya Regan says the timing was surreal - she released her video of last year's lockdown on Thursday and on Sunday it was back into lockdown.
"My mental health took a hit when the pandemic first struck," Ms Regan said.
"I...wanted to open the conversation that it is actually okay to not be okay. This is the thing about mental health, it is not comparative suffering. If a person is drowning in a 10cm puddle or a 5-metre pool, they are still drowning."
The video begins with the family's alarm during the start of restrictions and lockdowns in WA.
"I was so scared of society breaking down," she says.
"Suddenly our world became stuck. We didn't know if it was going to be six weeks or six months or a year. We had nothing to compare it to.
"On Facebook I'm seeing other mums share lesson plans and activities and there were photos of the kids having fun. It just wasn't working for us," she says in the footage.
"Our house environment became more and more stressful. The harder I tried, the worse things got.
"I felt like I was failing...it felt like on social media everyone else was doing okay because I was seeing all these happy, happy families...but I wasn't okay. I was struggling."
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She describes how time in nature, moments of quiet and calmness in morning walks "before she had to be the mum for the day" got her through in the end.
"From that, because I was feeling so good being outside, I then just decided my one thing to do with the kids each day would be to connect them with nature."
Will there be a video of WA's current five-day hard lockdown?
We will have to wait and see.
"I feel better prepared this time," Ms Regan said. "I know what to expect and what to focus on."
She said this time round she expected that many parents were already fatigued following the summer holidays.
"I was definitely looking forward to getting into that school routine," she said.
"Doing that one hour of exercise every day is definitely my strategy.
"My job in this is my mental health and my family's mental health."
Lifeline 13 13 14.
Daniela Cooper
Daniela has returned to her first love after a decade of working in local, state and federal governments, non-profits and the corporate world. She has a passion for injustice; to be a voice for those who don't have one; to hold power to account; and to bring readers the news without fear. She loves to explore new places and unfamiliar topics (both in her professional and private life) but her go-to loves are travel, health, social justice, foreign affairs and the outdoors. Email daniela.cooper@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Daniela has returned to her first love after a decade of working in local, state and federal governments, non-profits and the corporate world. She has a passion for injustice; to be a voice for those who don't have one; to hold power to account; and to bring readers the news without fear. She loves to explore new places and unfamiliar topics (both in her professional and private life) but her go-to loves are travel, health, social justice, foreign affairs and the outdoors. Email daniela.cooper@austcommunitymedia.com.au
