Tooltique is a small family business, selling refurbished traditional hand tools.
Their advantage over eBay, is that their wares are sold fully refurbished and sharpened – ready for use by those who appreciate fine tools for quality work. I regularly recommend them to fellow students.

Today, I received the following message from Tooltique:

Self Isolation And How Hobbies Can Help

March 18, 2020 by Tooltique

Those who already have hobbies will undoubtedly have more to keep their minds occupied and bodies active through what looks to be a torrid time ahead with the COVID-19 outbreak. I know that we are grateful to have a large workshop and plenty to do during this time. 

After the initial preparations are made, there are going to be a considerable amount of people out there that will refrain from their usual activities, due to social distancing or self isolation.

 All active people are going to need something meaningful to do with their time which can be done alone, creating space around the family.      

Many are active online but it’s very easy to become overwhelmed with negative information which causes anxiety and will undoubtedly cause considerable affects on people’s mental health. It doesn’t have to be like this, if you use the internet to learn new skills, people like Paul Sellers amongst others are a really good start. Expand your searches via YouTube and you will be amazed how encouraging others are with sharing their knowledge. If you lack space explore things like leather working, woodcarving, model making, etc. 

There have many been people who have started their woodworking hobbies in few past years and believe me they will all be glad they took these first steps. It’s probably a time to practice things like saw sharpening, you only need a junk saw and it can engross you for days, especially with working on the set up, making a saw vice and understanding how the tooth geometry helps with different woods, etc.   

In this busy world many will have never considered home based hobbies such as woodworking , but it’s certainly has additional benefits as your confidence grows, especially around the home. Over the next couple of weeks we will try to keep the blog updated as much as possible with interesting ideas and tips to help keep everyone’s spirits up.

We wish all our customers well and hope they can keep on creating nice things. 

I have highlighted in bold, the section that caught my eye. I am certainly not belittling the situation, or the concerns and fears that abound. However, there is too much hysteria and melodramatic pronouncements that can all too readily sap the morale of readers/recipients.

A sense of perspective is needed here: sure, there will be many sad premature deaths, but the majority of us will survive this crisis. And, there is a lot we can do to mitigate the risk to ourselves and our loved ones.

What is most important is that we all do what we can to support each other – practically, emotionally and spiritually. Humour, positivity, kind conversation, good wishes, and expressions of love will do a great deal to help those that are concerned/fearful – far more than negativity and talk of doom and misery.

We are going to see the worst of human nature, not least stock-piling and flouting of public health advice. But, we may also see the best: encouragement, practical support, phone calls to family and friends, and help for vulnerable neighbours.

Yes indeed, “… it’s very easy to become overwhelmed with negative information which causes anxiety and will undoubtedly cause considerable affects on people’s mental health. It doesn’t have to be like this… “

Keep safe and let’s look forward to getting to the other side of this crisis.