Report transcript in: COVID Young Person Reflective Interview

Please Report the Errrors?

questions,

actually,

um,

so how did you feel at the start of lockdown?

It was weird because,

you know, you're in college one minute

and you just see, you know, you everyone in your class has had sanitizers and wipes,

and everyone's being panicky.

And then

the next day that happened, You're off because you've got it.

And then a couple of days later, you're like, Oh,

I just set out these techniques and then

a box of all 11 stop

down and kick it. And then I

think it was the Friday

It was an outside buildings locked out.

And I was like this. I wasn't very good at saving.

Uh, I used to go out

to see my friend,

but we used to, like,

stand the park and it was really weird ourselves because the other day

they always used to go around to us, and then all of a sudden

he sat over there. Our guy sat over a

I didn't feel almost

I don't know. You're sort of distant to everyone.

And I don't think that's ever gone away.

That

how distant you feel from socialising

the way I used to be from covid. I think I've changed because of covid.

You don't want to be

feel a lot more distant from people.

And, uh, sometimes I don't know how to

communicate with different people sometimes.

And I think that

all high hiatus of

nonsocial interaction really

changed me as a person.

So when you did have covid,

did you, Um

what sort of support did you get?

No, I just stuck it out in the

Was that

Was that difficult for me?

Not really. Because it it just felt like night time book every day.

Because at night, you sit down in bed and you watch TV, don't you?

So it felt like night night time books, like, three months.

So it was all right. So

I can

But what? Yeah,

Yeah. What was the what was the biggest change for you?

I think because I moved

house during covid.

That affected me, too, because it was a change that I could never get back.

And I felt like,

I don't know, I felt like never revert back to the way I was

because life was different in so many ways.

And now, after covid

covid hasn't gone, but

we desperately and decline in it

as I've noticed,

and I don't think I could ever go back to the way I was because of covid.

Interesting.

It's really good. Um,

so what have you kind of,

uh, what was difficult?

think

all the stuff

at first was stated

because, you know,

I was in

This was about a year and a half.

Two years having it.

So I was I was about

already. 17 year old will tell me that that's

how

I get out with that

cat and yell at me.

They're all out. They're always out with friends.

when I couldn't see friends, So

kind of affects me a bit because it's kind of like this isn't

I'm not a stay at home kind of guy. I

like to be out. I like to do some the,

uh you know, I used to just go on a bus and travel around Manchester and then come back.

I used to like to be out and to be in the outside world, but

that was taken away. It was kind of hard because there's no how to

entertain myself except write, act and

watch talent

and that girl violence. This endless routine.

You know what I mean?

I will definitely say my appetite. Did Donald a hell of a lot

of it?

And I, uh, I have done

thank you.

Not

we're not

spring,

but that.

Could

you do that?

Um,

have you ever tried?

Um,

so how did you sort of engage with those? So I know you talked about, like, drama,

uh, scripts and things like that.

How, Like, in what ways did you engage with that side with that hobby? And like,

how did that sort of support you through your isolation again?

I think because I got to

I have a I have a big imagination. I like to make belief. I like to

make worlds and characters. And when you're on stage, you get to be in that world. So

I guess it took me away from the world. I was like, I did at that sort of time.

And I got to live in

other people's worlds or the

Do you know what I mean? The script writers, I I

got to understand their motives, and

in some way I think being away from socialising

through writing and acting and looking at how people interacted on on paper.

It got me to understand how people

how people used to be.

And I remember, like, four months in to it. I saw

the stage by there was a crowd of people, and it seemed very foreign to me.

I saw a group of people. I was like, Oh, wait a minute.

So now

I got used to the idea of their contact.

So I guess,

in a way,

you know, it's just weird. Like, did did you ever have that fear in life?

Uh, during covid

a lockdown where you saw, like, a fill of people walking down the streets.

You you look at that and you go, Oh, I missed that.

Oh, I remember that. But what was Where is

you kind of forgot what things were like beforehand. You know what I mean?

You kind of you know, I said to my friend, I don't remember what life used to be like.

I know what life used to be like, but I can't remember it

because it's what I'm used to now. So all I'm

remembering is this This is

you know what I mean.

You know what life was like, but you can't remember

what life was like.

It's like the feeling of it.

Yeah, And then what?

So when you did get back out of the house and like, things started to

come out of lockdown and restrictions lifted and stuff like that,

how did it make you feel

every day.

so was it like you didn't feel anxious or worried about anything? I think I was.

Very I do have social anxiety, and I think

lot of that.

And then

I'm not saying, um,

Covid caused it because I definitely had social anxiety when I was younger,

but I think covid definitely contributed to

that social anxiety from not socialising with

people and from not talking to people as much as you used to.

You kind of forget how to

I don't wanna respond, react and talk to people if you know what I mean.

And because there was stuff going on in your life, you were just sitting down eating,

watching you, telling,

you know, whenever you had a conversation with someone, it's kind of like, Oh,

what did you do with that?

just ate watch TV and then regretted what he ate. You know what I mean,

yeah.

what sort of, um what advice would you give to yourself?

If you could speak to yourself and start a lockdown?

What advice would you give to you?

Down.

But don't go into one of those, like memes.

Like I remember doing one of those rooms where you just used to sit down and go. Oh,

this is crap. This is I hate this. This is

I don't like this.

Uh, I'd say to myself to accept the fact that it's happened

and do stuff to better yourself and

really does

what I saw. I wish I could go back and redo it,

not redo it again.

But if I got the chance to redo the first lockdown, I would

because I work on myself more.

I feel like that was a missed opportunity to find who I was

and to find,

you know, to work on myself. So I think just a

after covid,

I'm sort of finding who I am again and rediscovering new things at who I am.

And

because after covid, I felt like I lost a part of myself.

And gradually I'm finding

the pieces of myself. And then

what's what's like some of the things that you

found out about yourself since coming out of lockdown.

I like my own town

as much to like to talk to people and to interact and to engage.

I I've read that going out I be with people at this time isn't the best

just because you can do it because you do it all the time. Sometimes you talk

to yourself and sometimes you need that

quiet time. You know what I mean?

Do you?

Do you think that there's a pressure for young people to want

to go out and want to be with the friends and do

things?

I think it's a pressure. I think it's a need.

If anything, I think it really develops who you are,

Who are the people you hang out with and the people you interact with.

I think other people give you those pieces of who you are

as well as you do. I think we all give each other a bit of

ourselves because we get to know different

people and we get to discover different things

and different hobbies, and if you have the same interests and someone who else could

get you up to some animals. And you like that other thing because of that.

So I think,

Well, I

think interaction for your people is

a most

because,

you know,

how can I explain it,

right, He

that's fine. Do you remember the the friends you broke out with when you were 16?

Yeah.

And do you have those fond memories of those friends for when you were 16?

Some fond memories. Yeah,

you know what I mean?

You remember those people, and

though they may have left your life now, I've lost some friends,

but I still remember the family memories of them,

you know? And I have lost friends

after Covid just lives in touch or whatever, but I still remember him,

and I still hold him dear to the heart. You know what I mean? So I feel

for a 60 20 year old to want to go off and interact with friends is a boss because,

you know, I don't sound like an old man, but we we always used to say between 16 and 23

other years, you'll always remember,

and you may enjoy your adult years,

but you always remember that those memories Unless you get the

ship and

I don't

that

or, you know

we can. We can edit stuff out if you don't want to

be in

book

that

wow,

I love I've got

So I

love

that

very

good

point.

So if you could If you could summarise your experience of covid in one word,

what would it be?

Challenge it

Because there's some stuff I really enjoy, like the

after.

Sorry. After a while, I think you become your own best friend.

Because you like all the stuff that you like.

You have to save interest. So I think after a while it's like, Oh, what do you do?

Oh, Liam, what do you want to watch? Oh, I wanna watch this. Yeah, me, too.

There's no argument, you know, when you get to do what you want to do.

But I guess just

I guess the thing that

I would say I didn't like was losing social skills

and losing that confident, keep talk to people and to

interact with people. I'd say that was the hardest thing.

And still, it's the hardest thing. I think

So is there Is there anything that's helping you at the

minute like build your confidence and get your social skills back up

by acting classes

by college. Uh,

I'll be honest.

Uh, when we first had to sit in in front of each other,

I froze and I just stood there and I sang and I looked nervous.

But over time, I've gained confidence. I've gained friends

like they're such lovely people, like there's 26 of us

our house and we all sit together

in the hotel. So there will be 26 students in one car and just talking to each other.

And it's brilliant because it's kind of like, Wow, this is

There's no individual groups or friends or you're all together.

And I think for life,

especially as an actor, I get to go down as a person. So what?

We are actually you know what we are saying or doing a

project together.

It's

more enjoyable because

of that.

And you

you got that?

Yeah.

Is there anything else you'd like to say before we before we finish?

Well, thank you very much. I'll stop it there

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Posted By

Author

Georgia Davenport

Post date

13/10/2021