Following the Government announcement of another national lockdown, it is expected that the morale of the nation will see a significant drop. With COVID yet again disrupting our plans and forcing most of us to continue working from home, it’s not exactly been the ideal start to the New Year. However, though the echoes of the first lockdown may still be fresh in our minds, this also remains applicable for all of the positives which were born out of this time.
Although the pandemic is continuing to have a wholesale impact on our everyday lives, there has been a vast variety of positives which remain just as noteworthy. Research from national biographer StoryTerrace highlights the achievements we made and the skills we learnt as a nation, which were all facilitated by lockdown last year. In particular, the nation saw a rapid increase in the number of people putting pen to paper for the first time, as almost 1 million Brits used their time spent at home to write a book. Alongside this, over 2 million Brits became new linguists, and nearly 1 million learned a new musical instrument.
StoryTerrace shares their national research, offering a snapshot of what people in Britain achieved in lockdown last year:
· 750,000 people in the UK wrote a book
· 1.1 million people ran their first 5k
· 1 million people bought a home
· 2.2 million people learned a new language
· 900,000 people learned a new musical instrument
· 540,000 people learned to drive
· 1 million people had a baby, or fell pregnant
· 1.2 million people fell in love
· 6 million people completed a long overdue renovation project
· 8 million people lost weight
· 2.1 million people got a new pet
· 5 million people achieved an exercise personal best
Many of us will currently have unfulfilled or new aspirations, in which lockdown can provide us with the opportunity to achieve them. Personal biography writing service StoryTerrace spent 2021 working with hundreds of people in lockdown, helping them to write their life stories with the help of a professional biographer.
Rutger Bruining, CEO of biography writing service StoryTerrace, discusses how lockdown can offer us an opportunity pursue our existing goals:
“The news of a new national lockdown is understandably not what the nation wanted to hear – especially jut as we begin a New Year. But if we look back at lockdown in 2021, we can see how, in many ways, it provided us with the opportunity to pursue our personal goals and aspirations. It was so pleasing to see how many people across the nation decided to begin the process of writing a book for the first time – something which many would not have done previously due to a lack of time available to them.
Additionally, it was great to see hundreds of people begin the process of writing their own life stories with StoryTerrace. We had the pleasure of hearing such a vast variety of inspiring stories and experiences, alongside also getting to know the interesting pastimes of people during their time spent at home. So although this lifestyle change feels frustrating in many ways, I’m nonetheless intrigued to see what new skills, projects and achievements people make in 2021, whether we’re in lockdown or not.”
About StoryTerrace
StoryTerrace helps people to turn their life story into a book. The company takes care of the whole process – matching clients with one of their 600 professional writers, interviews, photo gathering, editing, design and printing. Books are on average 100 pages long, meaning that everyone can have their life story – or the life stories of their loved ones – documented in a professionally curated autobiography, biography, or series of memoirs.
